EJ Performing Question

Cafe Society
1

I’ve been watching a few Elton John performance videos and noticed that on the left side of his piano there is a video monitor of some type with something displayed on it.

I had assumed this was a set list and that he had memorized all of this songs, but looking at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8EPiKdv8Lk&feature=player_embedded#at=113 I noticed him glance down once in a while which leads me to think this may be a scrolling display of lyrics to his songs.

I can’t confirm just by watching videos, but I was wondering if anyone knew if in fact the lyrics are being displayed, it is simply a set list, or if it’s something else.

Anyone know for sure?

2

I can’t see the video at work, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was in fact the lyrics. One’s memory does start to get less reliable with age.

Seems to me I heard Daltry, or was it McCartney, or was it Jagger had a floor type version of this with scrolling lyrics.

3

Without looking, I am sure it is a teleprompter.

If I was a big-time pro musician, I would totally have one, even though I would have written all of the lyrics and know them in my sleep (hey, it’s my fantasy). There are SO many ways you can be thrown off - an errant flash bulb, a bad meal beforehand giving you gas, a distracting problem with your gear, some off-stage shmo trying to get your attention mid-performance, etc. - having a go-to backup for lyrics makes perfect sense and should NOT be taken as a sign of laziness.

4

I’m not 100% convinced that’s a teleprompter. It looks more like a static piece of paper taped to the piano to me. If it were a teleprompter the words would be scrolling down the screen karaoke-style, and they’re not. I think it’s just a setlist; there’s no need for him to waste brain space remembering the order of the songs.

He’s just glancing at his left hand when he looks down, IMO. Or he’s either backing away from the mic to clear his throat or looking at his drummer. I will agree that at 2:41 it does look awfully suspicious, but I still don’t think it’s a teleprompter.

5

I wasn’t suggesting that there was anything wrong with it being song lyrics, just couldn’t figure out what it was. I certainly wouldn’t be able to remember every word to 20 songs, but then again he’s had a lot of practice. If you sign the same song 1,000 times is probably gets ingrained in your head.

BTW… he didn’t write the lyrics to any of these songs AFAIK.

6

Yeah, sorry - I didn’t meant to imply you were taking a shot; I was just commenting in general.

And, fwiw, I find that I remember the lyrics of other folks’ songs better than mine - they were favorites I learned and burned into my brain…