Someone, save my life tonight. Or at least inform me of a date.
October 29, 2012 2:47 PM Subscribe
Surely some mefite is an Elton John enthusiast who can tell me when he played a show at (probably) Exhibition Stadium in Toronto in the early nineties, or else set me right on this.
Some twenty years ago I bought a musical instrument (a Chapman Stick) in Toronto and, through bad planning, wound up dragging it all over the city all day (including to the Canadian National Exhibition). I am trying to work out which year I bought the thing, and know it must be in the early nineties. I have long since lost the receipt. I could pin down the year and indeed the exact day if I could find the date for one detail:
I was at the CNE with a friend that day and I recall that the concert promoters were giving away tickets to the Elton John show that night (apparently ticket sales were slack and they did not want him to play to a partly-filled stadium). We turned down the tickets, but I am certain it was Elton John and 90% sure that the show was there at the Ex.
The Ex runs from mid-August to Labour Day, so there is a window of about three weeks a year where this could have happened.
The friend I was there with I first met in early 1989; I do not think this happened that first year, but it is not impossible. I know I was playing the Stick onstage the night of O.J. Simpson's legendary drive in the white Ford Bronco, which was June of 1994.
So this must have been 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, or 1993. I tend to think it was toward the end of that stretch. I am not much of an Elton John fan (at least post-Madman Across the Water), so I know nothing of his tour dates. A casual perusal of Wikipedia and a couple of Elton John fan sites suggest that all of his Toronto shows around that time were at the Skydome, which opened in 1989. I suppose it is possible that organizers trying to unload tickets might have hit the Exhibition a few klicks away to take advantage of big crowds with free time.
Was there an Exhibition Stadium show that I can find no reference to? Was there a tour that had notably soft ticket sales in the Canadian venues that all John fans know about? Did you see me walking around the Ex at some point carrying a big grey blocky case?
Some twenty years ago I bought a musical instrument (a Chapman Stick) in Toronto and, through bad planning, wound up dragging it all over the city all day (including to the Canadian National Exhibition). I am trying to work out which year I bought the thing, and know it must be in the early nineties. I have long since lost the receipt. I could pin down the year and indeed the exact day if I could find the date for one detail:
I was at the CNE with a friend that day and I recall that the concert promoters were giving away tickets to the Elton John show that night (apparently ticket sales were slack and they did not want him to play to a partly-filled stadium). We turned down the tickets, but I am certain it was Elton John and 90% sure that the show was there at the Ex.
The Ex runs from mid-August to Labour Day, so there is a window of about three weeks a year where this could have happened.
The friend I was there with I first met in early 1989; I do not think this happened that first year, but it is not impossible. I know I was playing the Stick onstage the night of O.J. Simpson's legendary drive in the white Ford Bronco, which was June of 1994.
So this must have been 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, or 1993. I tend to think it was toward the end of that stretch. I am not much of an Elton John fan (at least post-Madman Across the Water), so I know nothing of his tour dates. A casual perusal of Wikipedia and a couple of Elton John fan sites suggest that all of his Toronto shows around that time were at the Skydome, which opened in 1989. I suppose it is possible that organizers trying to unload tickets might have hit the Exhibition a few klicks away to take advantage of big crowds with free time.
Was there an Exhibition Stadium show that I can find no reference to? Was there a tour that had notably soft ticket sales in the Canadian venues that all John fans know about? Did you see me walking around the Ex at some point carrying a big grey blocky case?
Response by poster: Yeah, I saw that page but the only unknown Toronto show in the years in question looks to be 27 Sep 1989, about three weeks after the Exhibition would have closed on Labour Day. Could be Exhibition Stadium, but I could not have been at the Ex then.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:56 PM on October 29, 2012
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:56 PM on October 29, 2012
How About 1992? http://www.world-theatres.com/CNE.html
posted by dismitree at 5:01 PM on October 29, 2012
posted by dismitree at 5:01 PM on October 29, 2012
He played the Skydome Aug 19 1992.
You can see all tours (with dates) here: http://www.eltonography.com/tours/index.html
posted by davebush at 5:24 PM on October 29, 2012
You can see all tours (with dates) here: http://www.eltonography.com/tours/index.html
posted by davebush at 5:24 PM on October 29, 2012
Response by poster: Yeah, I am starting to think it was the 1992 Skydome show that promoters were trying to fill. Thanks, all.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:18 PM on October 29, 2012
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:18 PM on October 29, 2012
Response by poster: Also 1989
Again: pre-Labour Day. I am going with 1992.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:45 PM on October 31, 2012
Again: pre-Labour Day. I am going with 1992.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:45 PM on October 31, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by koroshiya at 2:52 PM on October 29, 2012