August 9, 1976 review: Elton John at Rich Stadium, with Boz Scaggs and John Miles

 

Now that all the organizational issues for Rich Stadium concerts were ironed out, Mother Nature decided to throw a curve.

August 9, 1976

Elton John Pours It On

For Rain-Soaked Fans

Elton John was amazed.

“I thank you for standing out in the rain and sitting out in the rain,” he remarked as he strode out in a Stars & Stripes Uncle Sam outfit in Rich Stadium Saturday afternoon for the first of three encores. “You deserve a medal of honor.”

Instead of medals, the drizzle-soaked, wind-chilled crowd of 52,560 got a whale of a concert from the supermost superstar of the ‘70s.

In fact, such was the energy of that first encore – everybody shouting along to the chorus of “Saturday Night’s All Right for Fighting” – that the rain faltered and it seemed like the sun would awaken for a guest appearance.

But it didn’t. It was miraculous enough that Superfest 10 beat the deluge. The promoters rushed to fit it all in, forestalling an epidemic of rockin’ pneumonia and the boogie-woogie flue.

* * *

A SIZEABLE number of fans came dressed for a day in the sun. Instead, the temperature plunged to 60 degrees with a stiff wind that made it seem even colder.

“We haven’t had much trouble with drugs or alcohol today,” a doctor observed in the uncommonly tranquil medical station. “But I imagine there’s going to be a lot of respiratory sickness next week.”

There wasn’t much trouble anywhere. There were few fights, minimal security problems and only two arrests for drugs. Fireworks popped occasionally, but they popped more for Peter Frampton in July.

Tight backstage security left the usually crowded dressing room tunnel deserted.

* * *

“IT’S REALLY boring back here,” said a radio deejay ensconced in a trailer beyond the end zone.

The rush to beat the rain meant new British singer John Miles went on 45 minutes early. He finished before the scheduled 1 p.m. start.

This reviewer caught only his final “Roll Over Beethoven,” but he reportedly got rapt attention and strong applause from the crowd. Neither he nor Boz Scaggs took encores.

Elton, fresh off a 13-limousine motorcade from the airport, danced on the sidelines in the middle of Scaggs’ hour, momentarily arousing fans up front.

* * *

SCAGGS, WITH a disco beat and a bluesman’s silken sense of love’s longings and retributions, finally clicked this year and his big 11-member aggregation punched him across at his best.

His final “Dinah Flo” saw a sprinkle of rain. Out came the ponchos. But the skies didn’t start spritzing seriously until the curtain parted and Elton’s massive blue velvet stage crept out on coasters.

It was an electrifying sight – Elton standing atop a silver piano that looked like a jumbo jetliner amid a forest of Art Deco arrows flashing colors. The throng cheered and surged forward.

Soon, however, it became a contest between the music and the weather. The drizzle deepened as the opening “Grow Some Funk of Your Own” slid onward into “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Island Girl” and “Rocket Man.”

* * *

ELTON, MEANTIME, was a compact, supercharged figure, full of the sense of the ridiculous. His clothes, as usual, showed it.

With a green jacket embroidered on a South American banana motif, he wore red sneakers, a black jumpsuit with silver stripes on the leg seams, a variety of caps and a golden banana dangling rudely from a long chain.

His trademark, the crazy glasses, came out conservative. White plastic frames. (Actually yellow, as the photo testifies.)

He danced about, threw his piano bench strong-man style in “Hercules,” applied a couple soccer kicks to an oversize beach ball and dodged everything from frisbees to wine skins tossed at him during his two hours and 40 minutes on stage.

* * *

THE RAIN nearly quit at the show’s first peak – “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding,” with its taped intro.

It rallied, however, into a steady drench that sent the fainthearted flowing to the exits about 5 p.m. during the quiet of “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.”

They left just in time to miss the second peak – red-haired singer Kiki Dee and the Number One hit duet, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.”

As they finished, Elton stepped forward and said to his sopping faithful: “I can’t see why you can get wet and I can’t. I shall have to throw water on meself.”

* * *

AND HE DID. Poured a glass of water over his head, then piloted his piano for an incredibly rousing “I’ve Got the Music in Me,” Dee’s big success in 1974, followed by an equally revved-up “Philadelphia Freedom.”

High spirits prevailed as the encores progressed to the final “Pinball Wizard.” Guitarists Davey Johnstone and Caleb Quaye tried to kick hats onto each other’s heads. Elton stepped forward to shake hands along the stage, then said:

“This is the last time I’ll be doing this sort of thing for a while and I think this has been a lucky song for me. I dedicate it to you. You’ve been incredible.”

It was “Your Song,” the most loved of his many standards, and it quieted any lingering suspicions that Elton’s just a jaded pop star. The music and the rain-soaked devotion on the field touched a place beyond stardom.

* * *

THIS WAS the second and final Rich Stadium concert of the summer. Negotiations fell through for a third date featuring the Beach Boys. Festival East now plans to present the Beach Boys Sept. 2 indoors in Memorial Auditorium.

* * * * *

IN THE PHOTO: Elton John at Rich Stadium (97 Rock photo).

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE: This was the next-to-last stop on Elton John’s “Louder Than Concorde (But Not Quite as Pretty)” American tour, which gave a nod to the U.S. bicentennial in music and costume and concluded with a record-breaking seven sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Buffalo date coincided with “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” his duet single with Kiki Dee, ascending to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, a position it occupied for the entire month of August.

By this point, Elton’s superstar status was taking a toll on him. Addicted to cocaine and booze, he also was bulemic. He announced that he was going to give up live performances after this tour, a pledge he kept until 1979. He was about to break up with his longtime collaborator, lyricist Bernie Taupin. And in an interview for Rolling Stone magazine right after the Madison Square Garden dates, he declared that he was bisexual.

Needless to say, he dismissed the band when the tour ended. It included the aforementioned guitarists Davey Johnstone and Caleb Quaye, Kenny Passarelli on bass, James Newton Howard on keyboards and Roger Pope on drums. Among the three backup singers was Cindy Bullens (now Cidny, having transitioned into a man), who did a lot of work with Elton around this time. It’s unclear to me whether longtime percussionist Ray Cooper had recovered by this date from the illness that knocked him out of a dozen shows on this tour.

Here’s Elton’s set list, courtesy of setlist.fm:

Grow Some Funk of Your Own

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Island Girl

Rocket Man

Hercules

Bennie and the Jets

Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding

Love Song

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me

Empty Sky

Someone Saved My Life Tonight

Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (with Kiki Dee)

I’ve Got the Music in Me (with Kiki Dee)

Philadelphia Freedom

We All Fall in Love Sometimes

Curtains

Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting

Your Song

Pinball Wizard

Originally, this was an all-Brit rock show. Dave Mason of  Traffic fame, who had been on earlier dates in this tour, was supposed to be performing the middle set. His name was on the posters and the tickets. Boz Scaggs was a late replacement. 

It's hard to believe that Boz wasn’t a major attraction already in 1976, but he didn’t score his first hit single, “Lowdown,” until that summer. The “Silk Degrees” album, on which it appeared, was his  seventh LP. His band in those days included future members of Toto – pianist David Paich, bassist David Hungate and drummer Jeff Porcaro. 

There's no Boz song lineup on setlist.fm, but here’s what he did a week earlier at Wollman Rink in New York City, according to setlist.fm:

Lowdown

You Make It So Hard (To Say No)

What Can I Say

Slow Dancer

It’s Over

Angel Lady (Come Just in Time)

Runnin’ Blue

Georgia

Jump Street

Lido Shuffle

Dinah Flo

(and the encore he didn’t get to use in Buffalo)

I Got Your Number

You’re So Fine