Elton John in Guangzhou
(written by Cait)
Ads for this concert are up all over the city-even two months later.
Walking along the sidewalk, arm in arm, towards the Elton John concert my friend Jess and I were singing ‘Tiny Dancer’ along with Elton, whom we could not yet see, only hear. Chinese passerbyers were giving us stranger looks than usual, but we continued to sing (horribly) anyway. The concert was being held at an outdoor theater along the Zhujiang River, which happened to be in my neibhorhood. The plan was to not buy tickets, but to watch from the promenade along the river. Six screens stood tall behind the stage so people from all around could see whatever activity the stadium had going on.
As we got closer, to my dismay, the police blocked off the sidewalk along the river, so we had no choice but to walk along towards the park. The giant screens at the stadium were definitely not down, but we could here Elton just fine. So, instead Jess and I leaned against a blue plastic barrier and hummed along, taking sips of beer and a snapping a few pictures here and there while we waited for Brad and a couple other friends to arrive.
I spotted our friend Matt’s bearded head above the crowd and waved him over. “This is the best we can get,” I informed him.
“Well, we go tickets. We’re going to go see if they’re real.” He and Steve, another teacher, held up tickets.
“How much did you pay?”
“90 each.” That’s less than $15 USD.
“Cool. Let us know if you get in, then we might try to buy some.”
Not long after that, Brad showed up. He had been teaching an extra class that night, which was why he was late. “We’ve got to go in!” he’s unusually excited, but very determined. Who knew he was such an Elton John fan?
We bought scalped tickets for 50 RMB each, about $8 USD, and Brad ran in, while Jess and I waited for Eric, another friend. Suddenly, streams of people are coming out. I check the time, it’s not even 9pm.
“Do you think it’s almost over?” Jess asked.
“I don’t know, I hope not.” I was tempted to dash in after Brad, but I couldn’t leave Jess out there on her own.
“Is it over?” Jess asks the crowd in general. Some random girl turns around and says, “no,” and continues walking.
“So why is everyone leaving?”
“I don’t know, I just want to get in there!”
Finally, after what seemed like forever in my impatient brain, Eric comes around the corner walking at high speed. “Hi, here’s your ticket, let’s go!” I shoved the ticket into his hand.
We breezed through the ticket gate and security without a single staff or security guard blinking an eye. Hmm…whatever. We find Brad and the other guys in the lower level off to the right. Seriously awesome seats! There he is! Sir Elton John. Whew! I took a deep breath. After running around all day thinking I might miss the concert, I was finally here.
I get emotional everytime I hear the Circle of Life-gets me every time!
We were definitely in the foreigner crowd, because everyone was singing along and standing in their seats. The rest of the “fans” in the stadium were sitting down. Every song Elton played I knew and sang along to. I’m guessing he’s been performing for over 30 years, maybe 40, and to my great surprise his voice sounded wonderful. HIs voice sounded quite healthy, unlike singers who burn out their voices (Steven Tyler pops into my head). He performed for another solid hour. Elton John in Guangzhou-I still can’t get over it.
Friends and colleagues: from left, Eric, Brad, Matt, Cait, Jess, Steve
In America, or the UK, these tickets not only would be difficult to get, but extremely expensive. We paid about $8 USD. Along with the price and our close seats, I don’t think we could hope for anything better.