ELTON JOHN & band
Cape Town (Sud Africa) - Sahara
Park Newlands 13 gennaio 2008 |
Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
The Bitch Is Back
Madman Across The Water
Tiny
Dancer
Levon
Believe
Take Me To The Pilot
Goodbye Yellow Brick
Road
Daniel
Rocket Man
Honky Cat
Sacrifice
Someone Saved My Life
Tonight
I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
Sorry Seems To Be The
Hardest Word
Candle In The Wind
Circle Of Life
Benny And The
Jets
Philadelphia Freedom
Sad Songs (Say So Much)
I'm Still
Standing
Crockodile Rock
Saturday Night's Alright (For
Fighting)
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
Your Song
© Michela
Walzl 2008
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 ELTON
JOHN LIVE IN CAPE TOWN
BE THE FIRST TO KNOW!
94.5
Kfm presents Elton John live. This Superstar will be in Cape Town for
the first time ever thanks to 94.5 Kfm!
He will be performing
live at Sahara Park Newlands, Cape Town, on Sunday the 13th January
2008!
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THE WAIT
IS OVER! SIR ELTON JOHN HEADS TO SA!
 BIG
Concerts, 94.5 Kfm, 94.7 Highveld Stereo and East Coast Radio are
delighted to announce that legendary singer, songwriter and
entertainer, Elton John, has confirmed dates for his first South
African tour. The critically acclaimed superstar will be kicking off in
Cape Town in January 2008, before he and his band move on to
Durban’s
ABSA Stadium on the 16th and finally Johannesburg’s Coca-Cola
Dome on
the 18th. "Elton John is timeless and a core artist for both 94.7 and
94.5. He has topped our charts over the years with a string of No.1
hits, and we are proud to be associated with his upcoming SA tour"
commented Dex de Bruin, Marketing Manager for the Primedia Broadcasting
Group.
Naveen Singh, East Coast
Radio’s Programming Manager, added "Elton John
is a much-loved artist and we are excited to present a star of such
magnitude for the first time on the East Coast." A legend in his
lifetime, a great humanitarian, a multiple Grammy winner, a flamboyant
superstar and a hero of our times, Sir Elton John is the most
enduringly successful singer/songwriter of his generation. His current
shows, including a run at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, have already
grossed over $60 million in ticket sales, and have received rave
reviews. The show reflects his peerless musicianship, and audiences are
treated to his phenomenal back catalogue of hits such as
“Rocket Man”,
“Candle In The Wind”, "Your Song", "Don't Let the
Sun Go Down on Me",
"Crocodile Rock", "The Bitch is Back ", "I'm Still Standing", "Saturday
Night”, "Bennie & The Jets" and "Sorry Seems To Be
The Hardest Word"
Celebrating over 40 years
of touring, Elton’s musical life is marked by
a startling resilience, openness and refusal to let his talent simmer.
Don’t miss the chance to see Elton John and his band, LIVE in
SA!
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da SouthAfrica.com
Elton John Touring South
Africa in 2008
Elton
John
has the reputation for being a great humanitarian
and is one of the most successful musicians
of his generation with a career spanning some forty years, during which
time he has been the winner of five Grammy
Awards and one Academy Award. South
African fans are thrilled that Elton John will be performing in South
Africa in January 2008. His first performance in South
Africa will be in Cape Town on 13
January, followed by a concert in Durban
on 16 January and two concerts in Johannesburg
on 18 and 19 January 2008.
Although
this is the first time Elton John and his band will be performing in
South Africa, it is not his first visit to this country. On Wednesday
12 January 2005, he officially opened the Elton John Masibambisane
Centre in Eldorado Park, Johannesburg. The building of this centre,
that runs life skills projects for abused, neglected and orphaned
children, was funded through the Elton John Aids
Foundation. During his visit to South Africa he hosted a charity dinner
in Cape Town, where approximately R7-million was raised for the fight
against HIV/Aids. The Elton John Masibambisane Centre works closely
with the local community, clinics and schools to assist children in
need. There are counselors who visit families in their homes to assist
the entire family to deal with the devastating effects of HIV/Aids on
families. He also visited a number of projects in KwaZulu Natal that
receive support from the Elton John Aids Foundation.
Sir
Elton Hercules John was
born as Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25
March 1947. After leaving school, Elton John immediately started to
make his mark in the music world, forming
his first
band, Bluesology, in 1961. He took his stage name from the Bluesology
saxophonist Elton Dean and frontman, Long John Baldry. Elton John met
Bernie Taupin in 1967, starting a songwriting relationship which proved
to be very successful. Elton John’s first album with the hit
“Your
Song” put him in the international spotlight in 1970 and from
that time
until 1976, the duo produced fourteen albums including
“Captain
Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy” which featured
“Goodbye Yellow
Brick Road” – a song that has become a classic.
This was just the
beginning of a very successful career that has had many highlights
including being knighted for his significant contribution to the music
industry and his humanitarian acts.
There
is no doubt that
Elton John has consistently produced quality
music throughout his career and he continues to be a dominant and
influential force in popular music. Fans have been singing along to
Elton John’s timeless hits for years and are looking forward
to the
whole experience of a live concert by this popular musician when he
visits the cities of Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg in sunny South
Africa.
da www.livenews.com.au
Elton John set to rock South Africa
.
As ageing British pop star Elton John prepares for the start of what
has been billed his first tour of South Africa at the weekend, locals
were recalling his real first in front of South African audiences at
the height of apartheid 25 years ago.
John's
tour kicks off in Cape Town on Sunday before moving to the port city of
Durban on the 16th and winding up in Johannesburg on the 18th.
"Don't
miss the chance to see Elton John and his band, LIVE in SA," a press
release issued by the concert promoter Big Concerts urged, presenting
the tour as a first.
But thousands of South Africans have
already hopped and bopped to Sir Elton's Crocodile Rock, packing out a
series of his concerts at the infamous Sun City casino complex
north-west of Johannesburg in October 1983.
John's appearance at
Sun City came at a time of growing mass resistance to apartheid in
South Africa following the establishment of the United Democratic
Movement, a non-racial coalition of civic, church, student, worker and
other groups.
While the UDM and the African National Congress
were trying to topple the racist system Sun City's brazen boss Sol
Kerzner was trying the break the cultural boycott of South Africa by
attracting
top acts to his hilltop resort.
If Elton John can
claim today he never played in South Africa it's because Sun City back
then was located in Bophuthatswana - one of the
nominally independent, overcrowded "homelands" where the apartheid
state dumped millions of blacks.
Yet
to play Sun City, dubbed Sin City by whites who travelled there to
gamble and ogle topless dancers (pleasures denied them in puritanical
South Africa) was to recognise the puppet "homelands" in a way the
international community never did.
"Bop was a joke," says art
critic Diane de Beer, who attended several concerts at Sun City during
the 1980s. "It was right in the middle of South Africa. If anyone
looked at a map they would have known."
Musicians like Frank
Sinatra, Rod Stewart, Elton John and Queen who chose to play along with
the Bop farce did so, according to de Beer and fellow critic Peter
Feldman, because they were paid top dollar to perform there.
"They
used to say 'We're doing it for our fans, we're not politicians' but
the truth is they didn't care. They were being paid millions to perform
there," says Feldman, who interviewed Elton John and Queen, among
others, for Johannesburg's Star newspaper.
For South African pop fans the arrival of big international acts was
like manna from heaven.
"When
Sol Kerzner starting bringing in those top guys it was huge. People
here were so hungry (for contact with the outside world)," de Beer
recalls.
Sinatra was the first big performer to appear in Sun
City's Superbowl in 1981. Elton John's mind was made up after he was
flown out to the resort in July 1983 to surprise his buddy Rod Stewart
onstage.
"He
was blown away by the place. He had a really good time," according to
Hazel Feldman, Sun City's former entertainment director.
While
Feldman cannot remember exactly how many shows he performed that
October - between eight and 10 - she's adamant the tickets - more than
50,000 in total - sold out.
Throughout the 1980s headline acts, including British rock group Queen
and Canadian-born crooner Paul Anka, flocked to Sun City.
Their
complicity, unwitting or otherwise, in the apartheid system so outraged
one group of artists calling themselves Artists United
Against Apartheid they recorded the hit single Sun City in 1985, vowing
never to play there.
Elton
John did return to Sun City in 1993, performing an outdoor concert
remembered by critics for his irritation at being swarmed by
insects and an abrupt interruption of the show.
"It's
very easy for people to look back now and criticise (Sun City
performers)," says Feldman. "It was a time and place in South Africa."
On
his last visit to South Africa in 2005 the 60-year-old singer devoted
himself to charitable activities, opening a centre for orphaned and
abused children in a Johannesburg squatter camp and visiting other
projects funded by his AIDS foundation.
| Sir Elton jets in from bush break
(da www.thetimes.co.za) |
| LAUREN
COHEN |
Published:Jan 13, 2008 |
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READY
TO ROLL: Sir Elton John arrives at Cape Town International Airport
yesterday ahead of the first concert of his SA tour this evening
Picture: ESA ALEXANDER |
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BRITISH pop star Elton John
has been pampering himself at an exclusive game reserve in Mpumalanga.
The 60-year-old singer relaxed
in the bush ahead of his tour of South Africa, which kicks off in Cape
Town tonight.
Sir Elton and his partner David
Furnish arrived at Royal
Malewane in the Thornybush Game Reserve, on the western fringe of the
Kruger National Park, last week.
A ranger who works for another
lodge in the reserve said
Sir Elton was spotted on the back of a game vehicle on Monday, covered
in sunscreen and looking rather hot in the African sunshine.
The ranger said they saw two
lions and a waterbuck kill.
The colonial-style
reserve’s Royal and Malewane suites
are the largest in Africa at 210m². Complimentary services
include a
butler and chef, private game drives and daily massages —
luxuries Sir
Elton clearly appreciates as this was his third visit to the lodge.
The star, who jetted into Cape
Town Airport yesterday
afternoon from Hoedspruit Air Force Base in a Gulfstream V private jet,
will stay at the newly built La Residence in Franschhoek, which, like
Malewane, is owned by Liz and Phil Biden’s Royal Portfolio
group. The
couple are said to be friends with the singer.
A Franschhoek resident said
about 30 security guards
inspected the property, expected to be reserved for Sir
Elton’ s
exclusive use, on Tuesday.
Sources in the guesthouse
industry said he would also be
staying at a private cottage in Hermanus, managed by the Royal
Portfolio group.
Sir Elton’s spokesman
in the UK, Gary Furrow, confirmed
on Tuesday that his client was in South Africa and would
“arrive in
Cape Town in a private plane on Saturday”.
“He won’t be
giving any interviews while on tour,” Furrow told the Sunday
Times.
The star, knighted in 1998 for
his contribution to the
British music industry, has been touring for more than 40 years. He
will perform hits such as Candle In The Wind, Don’t Let the
Sun Go Down
on Me and Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word.
While he has been funding the
Masibambisane Centre for
orphans and vulnerable children in Johannesburg since 2003, assistant
director of the establishment, Poppy Mashego, said no visit was
scheduled.
“Elton has renewed
his funding to us, but we have not heard anything about him
visiting,” Mashego said.
He also has other causes in the
country which benefit from the Elton John Aids Foundation.
He will perform in Durban on
Wednesday, followed by two concerts in Johannesburg on Friday and
Saturday.
It was announced this week that due to the
Hollywood writers’ strike, the Golden Globe Awards had been
cancelled,
causing concern the Academy Awards might follow suit.
But PageSix.com reported that
Sir Elton’s annual Oscar
bash and fundraiser for his Aids Foundation would still go ahead if
this was the case.
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