Elton John Plays Melbourne Concert Tonight

Sir Elton John's Melbourne Concert will be held tonight 18 November at Rod Laver Arena.

Sir Elton John said ““I have been touring Australia regularly since 1971 and it is always a joy to visit this huge, amazing country. Wherever we play we are always invited back, but we also try and visit cities where we haven’t played before. Melbourne was not in the original schedule for the 2012 tour but it is now – the fans have made it very clear that we have to play there! I am very much looking forward to seeing all the enthusiastic and loyal Melbourne fans.”

This tour coincides with the brilliant success that Elton is currently riding with the release of Good Morning To The Night, a collaborative album with Australian electro-pop duo, Pnau, that rocketed to #1 on the UK Album charts upon it’s release.

Back in 2010, Elton John granted Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes access to his old masters spanning 1970 to 1976, the result is this much anticipated release which debuted at #1 on the UK charts. With the release of Good Morning To The Night, comes the second official single from the album - the ironically upbeat and blissfully melodic Sad. Hitting the Top 15 in the UK Airplay Chart on it’s release, Sad includes elements from no less than five different Elton John classics, including the #1 hit, blended with a distinctive genius that can only be described as PNAU. The album’s lead single Good Morning To The Night was handpicked as one of five official songs for the London Olympic Games.

Forty years ago, during April 1972, Elton John's single Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long Long Time) was released around the world. Performing with a full band, these shows will commemorate the 40 years since the release of Rocket Man as well as being a celebration of Elton’s greatest hits. Fans can expect to see this timeless entertainer take them on a journey through his mutli-decade career, backed by his ever-magnetic touring band.

The single, Rocket Man, was a global success, breaking records in multiple territories around the world and achieving the highest chart positions ever held at that point by any Elton John single.

More than just a charting success, Rocket Man held esteemed critical acclaim across the globe garnering reviews following the 1972 release such as this from UK music bible, Disc magazine; “This is by far the best thing Elton John has ever done - it's quite superb...this band is great, the song is great, Bernie Taupin's lyrics are great and if the Honky Chateau LP is going to be like this you're going to have to listen to it in little doses or you'll go mad. After two hearings I was so busy singing along that I couldn't get myself organised into taking notes about the structure of the record. Consumer, not critic, that's me, and I can consume music like this for evermore.”

Beyond these many accolades, Rocket Man also held with it a cultural and historical significance that remains unrivalled by any other song. Elton's American record company connected the release of Rocket Man to the launch of Apollo 16, and took out press advertisements saying 'On the morning of April 16, 1972, Apollo 16 was launched into orbit on a journey to the moon. A few mornings earlier Uni Records launched a new Elton John single into a world-wide orbit. WHAT A TRIP! Both launchings bound to set new records.'

On 28 April 1972 Elton and the band played a concert at Hofheinz Pavilion, University of Houston, Texas, the second date of their 1972 American tour. Ahead of the show, the Rocket Man met the 'Rocket men' at the Manned Space Centre in Houston, Texas, where Al Worden, Apollo 15 command module pilot, took Elton, Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson and Davey Johnstone on a conducted tour of the NASA headquarters.

In April of this year, Elton was told that European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut André Kuipers had made a special point of playing Rocket Man over the airwaves of the International Space Station (ISS) on the song's fortieth anniversary. André said, "This song has been an inspiration to many people who are interested in space, and especially those who wanted to become astronauts, including myself. It is certainly one of the most played songs here on the ISS, and we know it will accompany more astronauts into space in the future."

Elton John’s stage will be opened by some very special guests, Croatian duo 2CELLOS supporting at all shows, and German chanteuse Schmidt in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne only. Gifted cellists Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser, aka 2CELLOS, first hit our shores last year bringing there dynamic dueling cello interpretations of Michael Jackson, Guns N Roses, U2, Coldplay and Kings of Leon, after having become an internet sensation when their reimagining of Jackson’s Smooth Criminal became a viral knockout receiving 5 million hits on YouTube within its first few weeks.

Berlin-born songstress, Schmidt, is set to open the stage in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, bringing her musical combination of 1920s jazz and modern pop. At the tender age of 22, this modern-day Marlene Dietrich has been called a “pearl of pop noir” with her bohemian, coquettish ballads.

Be sure to join in the celebration of this landmark anniversary.

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