Elton John - The Complete 1986 Madison Square Garden Engagement (September 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Elton John
The Complete 1986 Madison Square Garden Engagement
Live in New York City
September 11-12-13-14, 1986
Today I’m sharing something extremely interesting for any Elton John fans fascinated with his 1986 tour and what happened with his voice.
This video compiles together complete (or nearly complete) recordings of every night of Elton John’s four night stand at Madison Square Garden during the "Ice On Fire” Tour.
When Elton began the Europe leg of the tour in March his voice immediately began to deteriorate, with his vocal range and falsetto becoming constricted. As the tour progressed, he went through a significant vocal timbre change, ending the Europe leg in April with a husky, chesty baritone sound.
The reason for this, which Elton wouldn’t learn until it was far too late in November 1986, was his pot smoking habit. He smoked excessively-at one time claiming he smoked up to 40 spliffs (joints) a day. This can be a disaster for your voice-which was the case with Elton. The irritation his vocal cords experienced when singing after smoking caused the loss of vocal range-and it is assumed he suffered some kind of vocal scarring/trauma in April from the smoking and singing while his voice was impacted, which led to the shift in his vocal timbre.
When the USA leg of the tour launched in August, he immediately had to cancel the first two shows due to ‘laryngitis’. The truth of the matter was, Elton had continued to abuse his voice during the four month touring break, and he was now beginning to develop vocal nodules. Through the first handful of shows he never operated at 100%, some nights struggling immensely. His condition would only get worse, with the first notably horrific night happening on 8/30/1986 in Saratoga. It was downhill from there, and the run of shows from 9/5/86-9/8/86 finally did him in. His voice was in such poor shape on 9/8 that he offered the audience their money back. He finally decided to visit a doctor-two days before his opening at MSG.
When he saw a doctor, he received the news he had developed vocal nodules. However, the decision was made to continue the tour, and the problem had to be dealt with however it could be for the time being.
It’s theorized he likely had to be given some sort of treatment, likely steroids, to bring down the inflammation in his vocal cords and get him thru the remaining dates. Whatever they did, it worked quickly enough for the opening show at MSG.
The 9/11/86 show is interesting. He’s clearly still spooked by the previous show on 9/8, and he sings with extreme caution through the night, and you get the feeling he never quite knows what he should or shouldn’t try when it comes to the more challenging bits, and seems to just be feeling things out on a case by case basis. That said, he turns in an overall consistent and pretty solid show with a lot of very vocally gutsy moments. Despite his vocal timbre sounding a bit worn down/tired still, he sounds good overall.
9/12 is likely the best show of the bunch. His confidence seems boosted from the night before, and he navigates his voice with more assurance and confidence. He seems to be in great spirits and is extremely high energy through out the night, it makes for a great and fun show.
9/13 continues this lucky streak. He had yet to be able to turn in three consistent shows in a row on the tour, but here there’s very little, if any, noticeable difference from the night before and he gives another solid show.
9/14, however, was nothing short of a disaster, such is the unpredictable nature of vocal nodules. One day you can be in good voice, and you’ll wake up the next morning hardly able to speak, which seems very much the case here. If he was given steroid treatment it’s very possible the effects of it wore off, and the strain on his voice from the previous three nights began to set in. Regardless, Elton found he could hardly sing the set--straining, airing notes, and cracking all over the place, with hardly any of his vocal range intact. It has some of the most painful vocal performances of his career, and is tied with only one other audio tape for the worst concert recorded.
The remainder of the tour would be all over the place. He could give a weak show one night, and a strong one the following day-though strong shows became very few and far between.
As we all know, the continued use of his voice led to his vocal cords becoming so damaged he ended the year suffering from nodules, vocal cord edema, and coughing up green pus when singing--therefore needing vocal cord surgery to have any chance of having the voice he’d had before.
This run of shows is significant for the recovery of his voice from the prior shows and amazing consistency of the first 3 nights and the shocking state of his voice at the closing show, and the engagement's place in the timeline of Elton’s vocal decline. They’re very worth listening to, and they're all presented here.
Enjoy, and leave your thoughts below!
Пікірлер: 19
TIMESTAMPS! September 11, 1986: 00:00:04 Tonight 00:07:15 One Horse Town 00:12:50 Better Off Dead 00:16:05 Rocket Man 00:25:50 Philadelphia Freedom 00:31:00 Burn Down The Mission 00:36:58 Someone Saved My Life Tonight 00:44:10 The B*tch Is Back 00:48:43 Song For You/Blue Eyes/I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues 00:57:05 Levon 01:02:40 Paris 01:06:38 Restless 01:11:45 Bennie and the Jets 01:24:37 Love Song 01:28:47 Sad Songs (Say So Much) 01:32:41 This Town 01:36:36 I’m Still Standing 01:43:57 Nikita 01:50:17 Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting 01:57:25 Candle In The Wind 02:01:04 Daniel 02:06:34 Your Song September 12, 1986: 02:10:37 Tonight (incomplete) 02:11:40 One Horse Town 02:17:53 Better Off Dead 02:21:07 Rocket Man 02:30:55 Philadelphia Freedom 02:36:09 Burn Down The Mission 02:41:32 Someone Saved My Life Tonight 02:48:58 The B*tch Is Back 02:52:41 Song For You/Blue Eyes/I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues 03:00:43 Levon 03:06:45 Paris 03:11:18 Restless 03:16:36 Bennie and the Jets 03:29:43 Love Song 03:33:43 Sad Songs (Say So Much) 03:37:38 This Town 03:41:36 I’m Still Standing 03:46:32 Nikita 03:53:01 Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting 03:58:53 Candle In The Wind 04:02:29 Daniel 04:06:19 Your Song (incomplete) September 13, 1986: 04:09:14 Tonight 04:17:41 One Horse Town 04:23:16 Better Off Dead 04:26:37 Rocket Man 04:35:58 Philadelphia Freedom 04:41:39 Burn Down The Mission 04:47:30 Someone Saved My Life Tonight 04:54:35 The B*tch Is Back 04:58:10 Song For You/Blue Eyes/I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues 05:06:48 Levon 05:12:25 Paris 05:16:25 Restless 05:20:43 Bennie and the Jets 05:30:28 Love Song 05:36:48 Sad Songs (Say So Much) 05:40:56 This Town 05:44:52 I’m Still Standing 05:49:16 Nikita 05:56:50 Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting 06:02:33 Candle In The Wind 06:06:30 Daniel 06:10:04 Your Song September 14, 1986: 06:14:15 Tonight 06:22:15 One Horse Town 06:28:21 Better Off Dead 06:31:24 Rocket Man 06:41:21 Philadelphia Freedom 06:46:32 Burn Down The Mission 06:52:36 Someone Saved My Life Tonight 06:59:43 The B*tch Is Back 07:04:06 Song For You/Blue Eyes/I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues 07:12:17 Levon 07:17:51 Paris 07:21:49 Restless 07:27:05 Bennie and the Jets 07:41:12 Love Song 07:45:37 Sad Songs (Say So Much) 07:49:34 This Town 07:53:33 I’m Still Standing 08:01:13 Nikita 08:08:59 Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting 08:16:15 Candle In The Wind 08:20:35 Daniel 08:25:53 Your Song
I LOVE how he shouts out "He wAAAaAaAAntz to go to Venus " On September 11th
You know what'd be interesting? The band's perspective on Elton's voice. Especially those who were with him for the full decline, starting from his undeniable peak with the early '84 shows, running himself ragged by the end of the tour, relatively strong (but more conservative) performances in 1985, and of the course the implosion in 1986. What would someone like Davey have to say about it?
@PaperbackWriter92
Жыл бұрын
I hadn't even thought of that before but yes, that would be interesting. I'm 31 and to me this is probably without question the saddest chapter in his performing history because he was doing so well before the 1986 vocal tragedy. I was also thinking how wild it would be to read concert reviews from people who remembered these 1986 shows during the period when Elton's voice was in real trouble or whatever the press may have been writing at the time, especially about the more disastrous shows like 9/8/86 in Philly (where I currently live). Just to get another perspective on the whole thing but of course there was no internet back then.
Love this! Gives a deep insight on Elton's vocals through these performances at the Garden!
Where do you get these recordings... wow. No words. Thank you for the detailed story in the description as well. Your efforts are deeply loved by many. Thank you for posting.
it's fun to listen to the end bit of Tonight side by side, every night is different :)
Tonight from 9/11/86 immediately stuck out to me. There isn’t any “angry birding”, no grit, no pushing/forcing, and he’s floating up there without too much strain. It shows how hit or miss this tour was.
was any of this remastered? my copy of the Sept 13th show sounded more muffled, but here sounds very crispy
Lol, as Elton begins to play Love Song on the 9/14 show, you can hear a lady in the background screaming - "SIT DOWWWWWN! SIT THE FUCK DOWN! SIT DOWN, ASSHOLE! SIT DOWWWWWN!"
@eltonherculesjohngigs2498
2 жыл бұрын
It's At 7:41:23!
@gaminglegend
Жыл бұрын
Elton's not the only one on drugs that night
@GAR1947
Жыл бұрын
@@gaminglegend worst part is that hes completely sober. i mean he is very aware of how fucked his voice is.
His range for “Tonight” on the first day of the MSG engagement sounds brilliant. Voice struggles on that tour aside, his piano playing is always flawless.
This is kinda like the Everywhere At The End Of Time album, it just gets worse and more unlistenable as it progresses
What the hell happened on the final night?
@blueflame1856
Жыл бұрын
@@Bruh1986. no his voice just packed in, steroids or not, it’s not a guarantee that it’ll work
@liamtakesthewin
Ай бұрын
After the awful September 8th show, he saw a doctor who probably gave him a treatment of steroids. They worked for the first few days, but apparently on the last day they wore off and caused him to have voice cracks and a terrible singing voice.
most of these are i crap sound quality