Review: Rocket Man – a tribute to Sir Elton John

Anne Bunn reviews Rocket Man – a tribute to Sir Elton John, which she watched at The Playhouse in Weston-super-Mare on Thursday 15 August.

Now, Sir Elton Hercules John and I go way back, and his music was a big part of my chaotic college days; “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” was one of the albums that blasted out from my room on innumerable occasions, usually accompanied by raucous personal renditions!

That being the case, this show was likely to bring out the harsh critic in me (yes, honestly!), and I was quite prepared to be underwhelmed, but what a surprise awaited.

The opening song was a slow build up, with a lone bell tolling and an eerie whooshing sound filling the theatre, and then Jimmy Love bounded onto the stage, sat at the archetypal white piano, morphed into a young Elton bouncing us into “ Pinball Wizard” and I was hooked from that very first number.

Hit after hit followed, from “Daniel” through to “Sorry seems to be the hardest word”, and I loved the verbal asides that accompanied his repertoire; the observation of “ It’s not often I have a man banging away so enthusiastically behind me” being my obvious favourite!

Andy Crosbie is a young man who doesn’t need the razzamatazz and overly flamboyant costumes so strongly associated with Elton John, as he has a fantastic voice, a cheeky but very endearing personality and is one hell of a pianist. His band members are also a talented bunch, and the “ Don’t go breaking my heart” duet with Kelly Marie Armstrong in the Kiki Dee role was brilliant.

Along with the rest of the predominantly female audience, I sang and bopped along all evening ,had a great time and left wanting the opportunity to see this very talented young man return to our Playhouse again and again; a superb Elton tribute performer but undoubtedly a star in his own right!

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