mar 25, 1970 - First Trio Gig
Revolution Club, London
Description:
"The one early gig I remember most vividly though was apparently the first gig he played with Dee and Nigel. This was at the revolution club at the end of March of 1970. This started out like a fairly normal gig as I had seen the guys rehearsing so i knew what to expect. The audience were a little bit better and more receptive. However toward the end of the gig Elton was I think doing a new song Burn Down the mission. It then went into a bit of a rock and roll medley. This was different and I wasn’t quite sure if I was into it yet. I really cant remember the songs he did could have been Beatles get back or Jerry Lewis my baby left me. Anyway he suddenly stood up from the piano stool and stopped playing, got a tambourine and was whacking it on his bum. I was feeling very uncomfortable now and a bit embarrassed to be honest. I thought, what is he doing! He’s going to blow it. As I looked around the audience though I could see they were getting into it and the atmosphere was changing. This was the first time I had seen Elton lift the audience to another level. They were now more in his control. He was getting them to clap along, this bit of showmanship was really working and now I was relaxing into it too. I could see the point of it and when he went back to the piano To join the band the concert was at another pitch atmosphere wise, roaring in fact, as we would say in those days. At the end of the song the audience me included was on its feet. He’d done it. He’d won over them over and it was a great feeling. I used to often at Elton gigs previously tell people who were chatting away to shut up and listen. I could see that might not be necessary in the future". - Epps
Added to timeline:
Early Elton Milestones
Date:
