Fan review by Simon Owens.

From the moment Elton John came bounding onstage to "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)" at this Harrogate concert, the audience knew that he would be in top form. Running on to the opening chords, and buzzing around the stage to work up the audience response, he was quite clearly a performer intent on putting on a show. As an attendee of Elton concerts for some fifteen years, I can hardly remember seeing him appearing as energised, or as happy to be performing. Sounding in great voice in spite of his recent respiratory illness, Elton sang melodies and played piano licks that sounded spontaneous and borne of a genuine enthusiasm to play the set.

The set itself was an excellent mix of vintage Elton and well known hits, with a leaning towards the "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" album that will please many fans; as well as hearing "Candle In The Wind" in an arrangement very close to its original form, the audience was also treated to the epic "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding", a bouncing hit-up of "Bennie And The Jets", a tight, rollocking version of "Grey Seal", the concert opener ("Saturday Night's Alright") and the album's anthemic title track. The set was generally upbeat, with numbers possibly unfamiliar to casual fans such as "Grey Seal" and "Hey Ahab" winning standing ovations.

The rockers were smartly separated by flawless performances of "Tiny Dancer", "Daniel" and a fantastic version of "Nikita", solo, which was one of the concert's highlights. Possibly the finest moment of the night, though, was a superb arrangement of "Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters", which was greatly served by Davey Johnson's mandolin and the wonderful quartet of backing singers - this was the finest arrangement of this song that I have ever heard, and a moment not to be missed on this tour.

For all of that, it was just a great pleasure to see and hear Elton John in such good form, both musically and personally. In almost thirty concerts, I can't ever remember seeing Elton looking so happy and buoyant in his performance. A great highlight was when, during "Sacrifice", between lines that were sung, he used to the microphone to encourage a couple to continue their slow dance near to the stage. The entire audience took to their feet to watch, and at the end of the song, Elton walked across to applaud the couple in question.

As the audience rushed forward for Elton's usual barnstorming finale, they were rocketed from being in the palm of Elton's hand into hysteria. The ovations were lengthy, and despite some potentially controversial comments from Elton about current England manager Roy Hodgson, this marvellous concert will hopefully be remembered for all the right reasons.

Following is the complete set list of the Harrogate show on June 5, 2012:

• Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) 
  
• Bennie And The Jets 
  
• Grey Seal 
  
• Levon 
  
• Tiny Dancer 
  
• Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters 
  
• Philadelphia Freedom 
  
• Candle In The Wind 
  
• Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 
  
• Rocket Man 
  
• Hey Ahab 
  
• I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues 
  
• Sacrifice 
  
• Funeral For A Friend 
  
• Love Lies Bleeding 
  
• Honky Cat 
  
• Nikita (solo) 
  
• Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (solo) 
  
• Sad Songs (Say So Much) 
  
• Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
  
• Are You Ready for Love  
  
• I'm Still Standing 
  
• The Bitch Is Back 
  
• Crocodile Rock 
  
  
• Your Song

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