What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. But not with Sir Elton John, who last week brought the Red Piano Show that has thrilled audiences at Caesar’s Palace for two years to London’s O2 Centre. While not yet etched in legend quite as deeply as Sinatra’s residency at the Sands, or Elvis’s performances at the Las Vegas Hilton, this was still pretty amazing stuff, not least because this particular knight was only performing on this particular night.
Sir Elton has made a bit of a thing in recent years of going ‘back to basics’, especially with his excellent 2001 album, Songs from the West Coast, which pared down to its essentials the style he has developed with his lyricist Bernie Taupin since their first recording, ‘Scarecrow’, in 1967. But there is nothing pared down about the Red Piano Show, his collaboration with the flamboyant fashion photographer David LaChapelle.
The man himself, once a drug-crazed demon in spectacles and platform boots, bouncing and stomping his way through a set, sauntered to his scarlet Yamaha keyboard and pretty much stayed there for the duration of the show.
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