MUSIC REVIEW | Elton Out of the Closet

I was pleasantly surprised when I realised that, out of the shimmying moshpit of tipsy baby-boomers, I was dancing and laughing the hardest. I didn’t expect my career in music journalism to take me to the premier of an Elton John tribute show but I’m now so very thankful that it did.

Elton: Out of the Closet is the brainchild of Novocastrian Jason Paris: IT professional by day and Crocodile Rocker by night. The show, three years in the making is a celebration of 70’s-era Elton at the peak of his pop-stardom and scintillating costumes.

‘Elton’ sashayed onto the stage of the Charlestown Bowling Club covered head-to-toe in innumerable rainbow feathers. The likeness was uncanny, even down to the iconic gappy front teeth and buoyant mannerisms.

The commitment extended to the backing band as well styled as the classic lineup of Davey Johnstone, Nigel Olsson and Dee Murray, clad in flares and androgynous hairstyles. My personal favourite being the guitarist whose Tom Petty locks made him look accidentally like tidier version of Ariel Pink.

The four of them jammed out the hits from the Rocket Man early 70s to the Disney’s The Lion King-era 90s. It was impossible not to be taken in by it. I can confidently say I wasn’t the only audience member waving their Bic lighter along to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

It was a very sweet insight into one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century. The research was meticulous but more importantly, Jason really aligned himself with the persona. The brief backstories given before each song were genuinely very illuminating and more so, a refreshingly humanising take on the megalithic diva that is Sir Elton.

I was still buzzing from the final number (an ecstatic Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting sung by the crowd as directed by the go-go booted Elton, towering over us from atop the concert piano) when I bee-lined backstage through the milling crowd. I think I’d expected a late twenty-something, maybe one that had graduated from HSPA in the last decade with the sheer vivacity and number of times he’d donkey kicked to parallel with the piano whilst still playing it.

Instead a polite, salt-and-pepper-haired man welcomed me into the dressing room for a post-concert interview. We chatted about developing the show, Information Technology, marriage breakdown and a lifelong love for the music of Elton John.

I left the venue grinning and charmed by the irony that a show based on the impersonation of a renowned diva was one of the most wholesome and unpretentiously good live music event I’ve had in recent memory if not, ever. After the success of its premier, Elton Out of the Closet should be hitting a string of venues locally and nationally.

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Elton Out of the Closet: Website Elton Out of The Closet: Facebook