are always welcome
It certainly is a week for milestone concerts! Following on from Davey Johnstone's 2000th concert with Elton, the Bristol, UK, concert on June 13 marks drummer Nigel Olsson's 1500th Elton John concert. Last month Noreen Romano from Nigel's official web site interviewed our favourite drummer ahead of the Bristol concert. Here is her report:
When 21-year-old drummer Nigel Olsson played his very first gig with Elton John and bassist Dee Murray at The Roundhouse in London on 21st April 1970, he could not have possibly imagined that thirty-nine years later, at the age of 60, he would still be one of the mainstays of Elton's touring band and be racking up an impressive 1,500th concert with Elton. How fitting that this milestone, which we join him in celebrating on June 13th, will take place in Bristol, England, back in the land where it all started for him and for Elton.
While in Las Vegas on May 28th for a private gig with Elton and the band that evening, Nigel took a moment out of his busy schedule to reminisce about some of the most memorable times of his long career.
"The first time that Dee, Elton and I went to play in Tokyo [1971]-Japanese audiences are very polite-they don't know any English, but they know all the words, they sing every single song, it's amazing. Elton said "Come down to the front" and they thought it meant "Come on stage"-we thought there was going to be a riot. They came up and they didn't know what to do-they wandered around the stage and went off the other side. We had a good laugh about that!
"One of the highlights of my career was when John Lennon came up on stage with us at Madison Square Garden [1974]. We rehearsed I think three or four songs with him and he was frightened to death. He was so nervous that Davey had to tune his guitar for him. When we finally had him up on stage, the audience went ballistic-when you hear stories about the Garden rocking, it really does-the floor shakes. I had to re-plan when I hit my cymbals because they were moving too far for me to reach them. The floor was bouncing! Yoko came up, this was when they were separated, and that's when they got back together. In 1982 after we did Empty Garden at the Garden, we didn't know Yoko and Sean were there, and we were floored when they came out at the end of the song." Once again, Nigel found himself experiencing the quaking of the stadium as the audience went berserk in the presence of Lennon's widow and young son.
"We've had a great time in Las Vegas for five years-we made a lot of great friends, and we hope to be there again. Now we're taking the Red Piano show around the world. We'd love to come back to Vegas, and we're all in agreement about that!
"It's great being part of musical history and being part of Elton's history, and playing Elton and Bernie's music. The worst thing that happened was losing Dee, and there's not a day that goes by when I don't think of him. I'm very happy and honoured to still be a part of the extravaganza, and hopefully I'll be able to do another 1,500 shows-if my little feet don't wear out!"
