14. Passengers (Elton John - Live In London: 12/18/1985)

All right you wunderbar people, this next upload is dedicated to a couple of subscribers who are actively looking forward to this show being posted! I am talking about “Ethan Thompson - Murray” and “ncf1.” For tonight’s upload, Elton’s second-to-last Wembley Arena show from 1985 will be featured! Compared to earlier versions, this copy of the recording has great audio quality and isn’t plagued by digital noise issues. With the recording also being musically complete, this makes it a very good show for somebody new to this tour leg to get into.
With a number of consecutive shows under their belt, the band are smoking hot on the eighth Wembley Arena night. While the famous show from December 14th displays fantastic musicianship, this show from four nights later is essentially an upgrade of that. The entire band (especially the rhythm section) deliver one of their best performances from this leg of the tour and it’s fantastic to hear everything in high quality! Despite sounding a bit rough in spots (especially earlier on in the set), Elton maintains his strong voice and still manages to sing some fantastic renditions of songs. On this show, he puts much more emphasis on raw power and belting compared to the previous Wembley Arena performances. While there is a bit less of a dynamic range to his singing (softer sections of songs are sung with more force, more overdriven vocals appear, etc), if you enjoy Elton’s “harder” voice from this era, you might love this gig! Now… time to go through the performances!
“Tonight” has Elton sounding pretty coarse throughout, but the falsetto tone still sounds nice. “One Horse Town” has Elton sounding stronger and more confident as the song progresses (especially on the falsetto lines - they improve as time goes on). “Better Off Dead” has Elton pushing his voice for an aggressive edge and the backing vocalists sound fantastic on this rendition. “Rocket Man” doesn’t have the strongest start as Elton has a couple off vocal moments, but he gets his bearings and the improvisation section contains some fantastic vocals. “Honky Cat” has Elton frequently overdriving his voice (at the cost of the dynamics) and some of the intonation is unclean. “Burn Down The Mission” has a few inconsistencies with Elton’s intonation, but the raw vocal power is there and there are some nice phrasing choices during the verses. “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” is an excellent version as Elton belts the hell out of the song (even the outroduction is sung with more force compared to previous versions) and the band sound splendid. “The Bitch Is Back” is one of the best versions from the tour leg as Elton sounds more “warmed up” compared to earlier songs and delivers a mighty vocal performance. The band is also in top form during this performance and Fred Mandel’s guitar solo is one of his best on the song. “Song For You” is very soulful and dynamic (which is in contrast to most of the other songs at this gig) with great vocal strength shown from Elton. “Blue Eyes” features some nice phrasing choices from Elton. “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues” has a powerful vocal with plenty of overdrive on display. “Restless” has an extremely forceful vocal delivery where Elton overdoes it in spots. The rest of the band match this mad effort and play an amazing rendition. You can pick out any band member and praise their performance! Even the Onward International Horns give an extra effort during the outroduction section! Concluding this section, “Passengers” has the “wheels upon the train” lyric, great energy from Elton, and a crazy trombone solo from Rick Taylor.
“Bennie And The Jets” has Elton aggressively delivering the song and he does his usual goofy phrasing in the last chorus. “Sad Songs (Say So Much)” has a punchy vocal with great harmony work by the backing vocalists. “Shoot Down The Moon” has Elton cutting off some notes and rushing some bits, but the musicianship is amazing (especially David Paton’s bass work). “This Town” is a spirited rendition with Elton singing with vigor and the band responding accordingly with first class musicianship. “Nikita” has Elton flubbing the lyrics in the first chorus, but otherwise delivers a nice rendition of the song. “I’m Still Standing” has Elton easing off some of the typical embellishments and he sings the final chorus uniquely. “Your Song” has Elton sounding great on his part of the duet. “Wrap Her Up” has Davey starting off the song in the wrong key, Elton singing “Kiki Dee” (instead of Alan Carvell), and flubbing lyrics during the outroduction section. “Candle In The Wind” has had better deliveries from the tour leg as Elton doesn’t sing the ballad as smoothly and some of the intonation is questionable. “Kiss The Bride” has Elton pushing his voice with enthusiasm and the band deliver an excellent version of the song. Lastly, “Can I Get A Witness” features Elton fumbling around with the words, but the energy and musicianship make up for it!
ENJOY!!!

[@ncf1]

Another top rendition. the trombone solo, no.. i'll never get used to that. I'm trying!! but no. it drives me nuts.

[@GregsynthWizard]

Maybe if his wheels were upon the train, you'd like it more?

[@ncf1]

@@GregsynthWizard not even if it were an 18-wheeler i'm afraid. or is that for trucks, i dont know :D

[@GregsynthWizard]

@@ncf1 Haha!