Posted Jul 14, 2008, 5:23 PM
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Moderator
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: B3K Halifax, NS
Posts: 9,444
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Halifax Concert Thread
I figured we could do with a concert thread for HRM. In the paper this morning:
Quote:
Elton John coming to Halifax
Pop star bringing tour to Metro Centre in September
By GREG GUY Arts&Life Editor
Mon. Jul 14 - 1:57 PM
Elton John will be making his Atlantic Canadian debut in Halifax in September, The Chronicle Herald has learned.
The Academy Award-winner and five-time Grammy-winning singer-composer-pianist will be performing solo for the first time at the Halifax Metro Centre on Sept. 26 and 27 as part of the 2008 tour Rocket Man — Number Ones.
Tickets go on sale 9 a.m. Friday and will cost $99.50 and $149.50, plus service charges. The price includes GST.
The Elton John AIDS Foundation will receive $2 from every ticket sold. Tickets will be available at the Ticket Atlantic box office at Halifax Metro Centre and at all participating Atlantic Superstore outlets. Charge by phone at 902-451-1221 or go online at www.ticketatlantic.com.
There will be a four-ticket limit per customer.
There had been speculation for several months that the Rocket Man was heading our way.
Fred MacGillivray, Trade Centre Ltd.’s president and CEO, said he and his team have been working for "many, many months" with Montreal-based Gillett Entertainment Group to bring these Elton John concerts to Halifax.
"This is a biggie," MacGillivray said Sunday. "We are absolutely thrilled to be hosting the fantastic Sir Elton John for two shows at the Halifax Metro Centre.
"He is such a huge draw. I expect it will sell out within minutes."
In June, tickets for Sir Elton’s concert in Regina sold out reportedly within four minutes. Between his gigs at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, he has been playing smaller Canadian arena shows in places like Sudbury and Kitchener. He plays Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg on his way to Atlantic Canada.
MacGillivray said the city has welcomed many top entertainers in the past and compared the Elton John concerts to the likes of the Rolling Stones and Garth Brooks.
"When we ask people what entertainer they would like to see, nine times out of 10, they will say Elton John," said MacGillivray, admitting that the British pop star has been high on the list of performers Metro Centre officials have been trying to land for years.
"I guess it’s been at least four or five years working through Gillett Entertainment that we wanted to get him here."
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has also planned shows at Moncton Coliseum on Sept. 28 (with tickets on sale Saturday), Harbour Station in Saint John, N.B., on Sept. 30 (with tickets also on sale Saturday), and Mile One Centre in St. John’s, N.L., on Oct. 2 and 3 (with tickets on sale Friday).
Elton John has sold more than 200 million records, has had 29 consecutive Top 40 hits and has had 35 gold and 25 platinum albums.
In March 2007, he released Rocket Man — Number Ones, which debuted in the top 10 and features newly compiled and digitally mastered hits spanning the first three decades of his career.
Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in March 1947, the young British singer was a piano prodigy, first hitting the keys at age three.
By 1967, he teamed up with Bernie Taupin, who became his longtime writing partner, and they recorded the tune Scarecrow. It was that year that Dwight changed his name to Elton John. He came up with it by combining the first name of saxophonist Elton Dean, who he played with in his first band, Blues-ology, and the name of British blues legend Long John Baldry.
By 1970, the John-Taupin tune Your Song, hit the U.S. top 10.
The flashy, flamboyant singer with the outrageous costumes and eyewear became a pop-rock superstar. He entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998.
In December 2005, he entered a civil partnership with Toronto-born filmmaker David Furnish, who directed the documentary Elton John: Tantrums and Tiaras
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