Video Whitney Houston, Pavarotti, Sting, Elton John

Video Whitney Houston, Pavarotti, Sting, Elton John

Photos Elton John in memory of Whitney Houston

Elton John and Whitney Houston - The 73rd Annual Academy Awards 9th Annual Oscar party to benefit the Elton John Aids Foundation, March 25, 2001

Photos Elton John and Whitney Houston

Photo James Taylor, Whitney Houston, Tammy Wynette, Elton John, and Sting

System overload for Elton John tickets sells out in 20 minutes

Elton John fans line up at Wings Stadium, Tickets scarce online by 10am

http://wkzo.com/news/articles/2012/feb/11/elton-john-fans-line-up-at-wings-stadium-tickets-scare-online-by-10am/ 

Saturday, February 11, 2012 12:19 p.m. EST

Elton John's Wing's Stadium concert sold out in 20 minutes Saturday morning.

Tickets for Sir Elton John's performance at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo went on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. Wings Stadium opened up their parking lot and lobby area early Saturday morning.  

People lined up to be the first to purchase tickets. By 10:01 a.m. fans using the internet based Ticketmaster system were already getting the no more tickets available message.  A website check late Saturday morning showed no tickets available through Ticketmaster and just over 450 tickets still available at ticket reseller Stub Hub.com.

Elton John concert in Kalamazoo sells out in 20 minutes; 

hundreds lined up outside Wings Stadium for hours (with photo gallery)

Published: Saturday, February 11, 2012, 2:12 PM     Updated: Saturday, February 11, 2012, 2:57 PM

 By Jef Rietsma | Special to the Kalamazoo Gazette 

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2012/02/elton_john_concert_in_kalamazo.html

Jef Rietsma / Special to the Kalamazoo GazetteKim Powell, of Three Rivers, was first in line Saturday to buy tickets for Elton John's March 21 concert at Wings Stadium. She waited nine hours; the show sold out in 20 minutes.

KALAMAZOO — Kim Powell was the equivalent of a lottery winner Saturday morning.

Her prize was being the first to purchase tickets to Elton John's March 21 concert at Wings Stadium, where the high-in-demand commodities went on sale at 10 a.m.

The 54-year-old Three Rivers resident, bundled in multiple layers of clothes, originally showed up at 5 p.m. Friday to begin her wait, but was told by security that waiting in line would not begin until 2 a.m.

"I came back about 1 a.m. and just sort of mixed in with the crowd that was leaving (a performance Friday night at the stadium)," she said. "Nobody asked me what I was doing so I just stayed put and wound up being first."

In hindsight, Powell's strategy paid dividends, as the majority of the people who showed up later in the morning — Wings Stadium opened its doors to the lobby at 6:30 a.m. — left empty-handed; the show sold out in 20 minutes. A crowd of more than 500 people filled the lobby area by the time tickets went on sale.

EnlargeJef Rietsma | Special to the Kalamazoo GazetteKim Powell, of Three Rivers, buys her tickets at the Wings Stadium box office for the March 21 show.Elton John tickets sell out gallery (5 photos)

Andrea Pluta, Wings Stadium events coordinator, said about 600 of theshow's 6,000 tickets were sold at the box office. The rest were purchased either over the phone, online or at other Ticketmaster locations.

The few lucky ones at Wings Stadium included a trio behind Powell. Sonja Smith and Tim Koquom, both of Battle Creek, and Mark Fritts, of Wyoming, brought folding chairs and were bundled in layers as they started their wait around 1:30 a.m.

Fritts said the long, overnight wait allowed him to grab front-row seats when John played at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids about a decade ago.

Smith, meanwhile, expressed thanks that a 24-hour Speedway gas station and an all-night McDonald's were walking distance from Wings Stadium.

Likely the youngest on hand, a trio of co-workers was next in line. Megan Boyle, 20; Hilary Solleveld, 21; and Kaila Hull, 20; said they owe it to their moms for being Elton John fans.

"We grew up listening to mom play Elton John records and (audio cassettes), so we know a lot of his music," said Solleveld, a recent WMU graduate. She and Boyle, a Kalamazoo Valley Community College student, agreed "Bennie and the Jets" will be the highlight of next month's show.

Hull, a Jackson-area native and KVCC student, said "Tiny Dancer" is her favorite track from the 64-year-old entertainer.

The three crammed into a two-person tent and benefited from a portable space heater while they waited outside. They said the 14th-row tickets they eventually secured were worth the wait.

Kim Wilcox, of Vicksburg, said he learned from an experience he'll never forget to not pass up the opportunity to see a legend.

Wilcox, 58, said he declined a friend's offer to see Elvis Presely in Indianapolis back in June 1977. The performance, of course, proved to be the King's last concert.

"I didn't want to tell people I blew a chance to see Elvis and then Elton John 35 years later," Wilcox said, noting he hasn't been to a concert since 1976, when Nazareth, Heart and Ted Nugent toured together and made a stop in the area. "This is a big deal and for me to be here, it's not just any musician I'd do this for."

Wilcox arrived about 2 a.m. and passed the time talking to the people in line behind him, Tim Lucas, 42, of Battle Creek, and Dan Klein, 51, of Coopersville.

Klein may have cemented the award for "Husband of the Year," as he isn't planning to attend the concert. He said he offerd to wait and buy the tickets for his wife and her two cousins.

"I got here around 3:45 and I don't mind waiting," he said, adding his wife has seen John more than a dozen times. "Everybody's pretty mellow … we were cold before we came inside but it's been fun."

Despite his intimidating looks and rock-star long-hair, Lucas said he's a fan of John's mellower songs. He said he's looking forward to hearing "Rocket Man," "Candle in the Wind" and "Your Song."

Mike Dee, associate director of engineering, said in his 20 years as a Wings Stadium employee, John is the biggest name he's known to play the venue.

Dee helped with crowd control once the clocks hit 10 a.m. and the roar of cheers and clapping erupted within the lobby.

"Very well-behaved, a good group of people here in line," he said. "I got here at 4:30 and opened the doors at 6:30, and despite the cold and waiting, everybody acted fine."

Pluta, meanwhile, said the show will start promptly at 8 p.m., there's no opening act and there will be no intermission.

"He has a lot of songs to cram into one show," she said. "It'll be interesting to see what he does and doesn't perform."

She said tickets to John's show at a larger venue in Madison, Wisc., – where he performs the night after his Kalamazoo concert – went on sale Friday and sold out almost as quickly as they did Saturday.

Gallery: Elton John tickets sell out 

Description: Hundreds of Elton John fans waited in line to buy tickets to his March 21 show at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo.

 

 

Elton John tickets sell out quickly

from Jef Rietsma 

Elton John tickets sell out quickly

from Jef Rietsma | Special to the Kalamazoo Gazette

Elton John tickets sell out quickly

from Jef Rietsma | Special to the Kalamazoo Gazette

Elton John tickets sell out quickly

from Jef Rietsma | Special to the Kalamazoo Gazette

System overload for Elton John tickets

http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3468417 

More than 400 people lined up at the Grande Prairie Crystal Centre waiting to buy Elton John tickets, Friday, February 10, 2012. AARON HINKS/DAILY HERALD-TRIBUNE/QMI AGENCY

By AARON HINKS Herald-Tribune staff

Posted 19 hours ago

Managers at the City of Grande Prairie Crystal Centre want to extend an apology to those who wanted to purchase Elton John tickets online or over the phone.

With a packed parking lot and more than 1,500 tickets sold through the box office, Crystal Centre Manager Jane Cada-Sharp recognizes that its online and phone system failed them, and failed the city.

Tickets for Elton John’s ‘Greatest Hits Live’ concert went on sale at 10 a.m., Friday.

Throughout the morning, the online ticket purchase service was cutting in and out and the phone lines were tied up until tickets sold out. Cada-Sharp acknowledges that the Crystal Centre could have done more.

"The number of people that wanted to come to the show overwhelmed our system. We're not going to run from that, we're not going to hide from that,” Cada-Sharp said. “That's exactly what happened.”

"For that, we're really sorry and extremely apologetic. I know that it's not going to go far with some people that were not able to buy tickets."

There's no point in deflecting, dodging or dancing around what happened, she said.

"Bottom line is, we were severally overloaded. I don't know the word that is beyond severally, but when you have somewhere of an upwards of a 4,000 peak of inquiries, that's never happened here."

The amount of traffic to the website and phone lines not only knocked out the Crystal Centre website, but it disabled the City of Grande Prairie website. City cell-service towers were completely overloaded; it disabled cell-phone calls throughout the city.

"It's unheard of, unprecedented volumes that we've never had to deal with," she said.

Cada-Sharp added the Crystal Centre did take measures to beef up its system, but it was simply not enough.

The centre had four people on the phones selling tickets and up to five people working the box office.

"Normally, having the number of people we had on the phone today is more than enough, in fact it's overkill. But today, it wasn't," she said.

The centre also beefed up its Internet capabilities to withstand more traffic, she commented.

"Were we expecting a ton of traffic? Absolutely," she added. "Did we expect it to take out our ticketing and the City of Grande Prairie website and mess around with cell service? No."

A lot of questions surfaced on social media websites asking why the city didn't use a major ticket-selling provider, such as Ticketmaster.

The Crystal Centre has an agreement with the ticket-service provider Audience View.

Cada-Sharp says she doesn't want to put the blame on them, but nobody was prepared for the amount of people that wanted to see The Rocket Man.

"We had a dedicated person from our ticket-service provider in Toronto keeping an eye on us. We had the entire IT staff today working at this," she said.

"Could we have done more? Obviously. I can't deny that."

Cada-Shape says the online system worked sporadically throughout the morning. She was documenting reports while the online system was working and it was selling hundreds of tickets in a five-minute window before it would crash.

Red Deer is hosting Elton John on April 25. The Red Deer Centrium sold out of Elton John tickets in less than 10 minutes. Red Deer used the provider Ticketmaster to sell its tickets.

"If there hadn’t been an issue, we probably would have been done in likely less than an hour," she said.

Cada-Sharp wishes the system failure had never happened, but it's time to move forward with future planning.

"What are we doing from this point forward? Our IT folks are working very closely with our box office (and) are working very closely with our ticket service provider to get systems in place to make sure that this will never happen again,” she said.

"You never have enough, but we're going to darn-well make sure that we have a zillion times more than what we have now."

On a lighter side, Cada-Sharp is excited for Elton to make his stop in Swan City.

"We have a sold out show. Elton John is coming to Grande Prairie and I'm not letting anyone take that away from this community,” she said.

In approximately four hours, the Crystal Centre sold a total of 3,936 tickets. A total of 1,527 tickets were sold at the box office, 1,422 tickets were sold over the Internet and 987 tickets were sold over the phone.

Elton John will play his solo concert in the Crystal Centre on April 26.

aaron@dailyheraldtribune.com Twitter: @DHTAaron

 

Elton John, Paul McCartney among stars to perform at big bash for Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

http://www.thespec.com/whatson/article/667129--elton-john-paul-mccartney-among-stars-to-perform-at-big-bash-for-queen-s-diamond-jubilee 

Elton Elton John: 'going to be fun.'

Ronald Reyes/The Associated Press

LONDON Some of the world’s biggest pop stars will perform in front of Buckingham Palace on June 4 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, palace officials said Tuesday.

The lineup will include singers Elton John and Shirley Bassey, former Beatle Paul McCartney, and popular boy band JLS. Longtime favourites Cliff Richard and Tom Jones will also perform.

Concert organizers said that many more stars, including some from America and Australia, will also be on the bill, with details to be released in the coming months.

“It’s going to be fun,” Elton John said in a video shown to reporters at Buckingham Palace.

The event is a centrepiece in the queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, which have already kicked off to mark her 60 years on the throne.

It follows a raucous Golden Jubilee concert in 2002 that featured a rendition of God Save the Queen by Queen guitarist Brian May performed in the open air on the palace roof.

Take That star Gary Barlow, charged with organizing the gala event, said he hopes as many as half a million people are able to see the concert from the public areas in front of the palace. It will also be broadcast on television and radio.

“The whole world will be watching,” he said, while acknowledging it may be hard to top May’s performance at the 2002 gala.

“We all remember that and we will try to come up with something newer and better,” he said.

Some 10,000 tickets will be awarded by lottery. Tickets will also include entry into the palace garden for a jubilee picnic, with food provided by the palace.

The queen and husband Prince Philip plan to attend along with other senior members of the Royal Family.

Barlow said that the Queen’s grandsons Prince Harry and Prince William had suggested some performers who may be added to the list. Officials said the queen is “content” with the musical program.

He said the goal is the have music from all the decades of the Queen’s reign incorporated into the program

$25K to party with Elton John and Steven Tyler?

http://blogs.ajc.com/the-buzz/2012/02/07/25k-to-party-with-elton-john-and-steven-tyler/ 

12:32 pm February 7, 2012, by Jennifer Brett

Photo courtesy of Wire Image

Elton John and Steven Tyler would love to see you the night of the Oscars. It’ll cost you, though.

Tyler is auctioning two spots at his  table at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party dinner on Feb. 26. The event will be hosted by John and partner David Furnish in West Hollywood.

Tyler struck a jovial tone in a statement about the event:

“How would you have to dress if you were sitting next to me at a banquet table at Elton John’s Oscar Party? Sounds like a loaded question, eh? Put your money where your mouth is and arrive as you will and come as you are to help me support the Elton John AIDS Foundation!”

The evening includes a cocktail reception, dinner by “Iron Chef” Cat Cora and a performance by Foster the People following the Oscars telecast.

Over the years the fete has drawn A-listers such as Halle Berry, Nicolas Cage, Kevin Costner, Kevin Spacey, Denzel Washington and Catherine Zeta-Jones, while musical entertainment has been provided by artists including Mary J. Blige, James Blunt and John Legend, Grace Jones, and Florence & the Machine.

The current high bid is $13,500. The experience is valued at $25,000. Proceeds benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation. If you win you and your guest will be subject to security screening. You have to get yourselves out there and find your own place to stay. And you cannot resell the item.

Here is the link if you’d like full details and the chance to place a bid.

- Jennifer Brett/The Buzz/jbrett@ajc.com

BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL - Smash Hit Tony Winner Leaps To Broward Center

Read more: http://florida.broadwayworld.com/article/BILLY-ELLIOT-THE-MUSICAL-Smash-Hit-Tony-Winner-Leaps-To-Broward-Center-2012020713#ixzz1lk12qXE2 

Tuesday, February 7, 2012; 02:02 PM - by Beau Higgins

(Photo By Michael Brosilow)
“BILLY’S THE BEST. IT’S GOT HEART, PASSION AND THE BEST Elton John SCORE EVER.”
NEW YORK POST
THE 2009 TONY AWARD-WINNING BEST MUSICAL
ELECTRIFIES FORT LAUDERDALE
FROM FEBRUARY 29 – MARCH 11

(Photo By Kyle Froman)
NETworks Presentations, LLC brings the multi-award-winning Billy Elliot the Musical to Fort Lauderdale from February 29 – March 11. Based on the international smash-hit film and featuring music by Elton John, book and lyrics by Lee Hall, choreography by Peter Darling and direction by Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot the Musical has earned critical acclaim on Broadway including 10 Tony Awards.

Billy Elliot the Musical is the joyous celebration of one boy’s journey to make his dreams come true. Set in a small town, the story follows Billy as he stumbles out of the boxing ring and into a ballet class, discovering a surprising talent that inspires his family and his whole community and changes his life forever. 

(Photo By Kyle Froman)

In addition to the Tony Award for Best Musical, Billy Elliot the Musical received the award for Best Direction of a Musical (Stephen Daldry); Best Book of a Musical (Lee Hall); Best Choreography (Peter Darling); Best Orchestrations (Martin Koch); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Ian MacNeil); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Rick Fisher); Best Sound Design of a Musical (Paul Arditti); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish); and Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Gregory Jbara). 

Read more: http://florida.broadwayworld.com/article/BILLY-ELLIOT-THE-MUSICAL-Smash-Hit-Tony-Winner-Leaps-To-Broward-Center-2012020713#ixzz1lk0zIrtZ 

Paul McCartney to Lead Elton John, Annie Lennox at Queen’s Jubilee Concert

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-07/paul-mccartney-to-lead-elton-john-annie-lennox-at-queen-s-jubilee-concert.html 

By Mark Beech - Feb 7, 2012 12:46 PM GMT-0200

Enlarge image

Paul McCartney sings during a live concert. The former Beatle has been touring with a show that features music from across his career. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Former Beatle Paul McCartney will star in a London concert to mark the U.K. queen’s Diamond Jubilee on June 4.

McCartney will be joined by other musical knights including Elton John,Tom Jones and Cliff Richard for a show on a temporary stage designed by architect Mark Fisher near the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, the event’s organizers announced in an e-mailed release today.

Dame Shirley Bassey and Annie Lennox will also take part. Newer pop stars will be showcasing their hits too -- boy band JLS, as well as Jessie J, 23, known for “Price Tag,” and Ed Sheeran, 20, with his song “The A Team.”

Britain is planning a summer of shows tied in with Queen Elizabeth II’s 60-year reign and theOlympic Games, which are staged from July 27 through Aug. 12.

Event co-coordinator Gary Barlow wouldn’t say if his band Take That! would perform. More acts from outside the U.K. will be added to the list, he said. Classical music will be represented by Chinese pianist Lang Lang and British tenor Alfie Boe.

Tickets for the free event are limited to 10,000 people. The British Broadcasting Corp., which will put the event on live television and radio, is to organize a national ballot, which will have an online and postal application process open until March 2.

Jubilee Picnic

Some tickets will be given to representatives of charities. Ticket-holders are invited to a Jubilee picnic in Buckingham Palace Gardens in the afternoon before the evening concert.

Both the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry had requested that certain artists take part, Barlow said, declining to say which ones. The Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the British royal family will watch the 2½-hour show, which may include a ballet display, Barlow said.

For the Queen’s Golden Jubilee concert in 2002, guitarist Brian May played the British national anthem on the palace roof. Barlow said the plan was to better the last show.

By moving the stage from the rear of the palace to the front, it opened it up and organizers said as many as 500,000 people may gather in the Mall and Green Park nearby for transmissions of the show.

Information: http://www.bbc.co.uk/diamondjubilee.

To join the ticket ballot, click on that page or send a postcard to The Diamond Jubilee Concert 2012, PO Box 798, Manchester M60 1WU, U.K.

(Mark Beech writes for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Mark Beech in London at mbeech@bloomberg.net orhttp://twitter.com/Mark_Beech.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff atmhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.