Elton John played his 3,000th show on Saturday night at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace during the current run of his show The Million Dollar Piano.
Elton John. Photo by Ros O'Gorman
Elton has averaged upwards of 75 shows a year since he played for the first time on March 25, 1970 at the Revolution Club in London.
Since 1970 Elton has played and replayed the alphabet of cities, from Aalborg, Denmark, which he played on June 6, 2004, to Zurich, Switzerland, which he has played sixteen times in his career. Elton has performed concerts in 74 countries, some of which have changed names, and in some cases political systems, between his performances. Still today he is actively seeking to increase the number of countries in which he has played.
Elton has played the most concerts in the US, with a total of 1,608 performances. In fact, Elton has played concerts in every one of the 50 states. Great Britain comes next (497), followed by Australia (138), Germany (133) and Canada (102). The remaining countries have less than 90 shows each.
Breaking down those 3,000 concerts by decade, Elton performed 616 in the 1970s, 537 in the 1980s, 590 in the 1990s, an astonishing 1,064 in the 2000s and, so far, 193 in the 2010s. On two occasions he has performed at two cities on the same day. On September 18, 1971 he played in Oakland and San Diego, while on July 2, 2005 he played at Live 8 in London and at R.D.S. Arena in Dublin, Ireland.
The Million Dollar Piano, which is finishing up its current booking, will return to Las Vegas February 9-12, 14 and 16-18, 2012.
The set list for the Million Dollar Piano:
Main Set
The Bitch Is Back
Bennie and the Jets
Rocket Man
Levon
Tiny Dancer
Your Song
Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
Better Off Dead
Indian Sunset
Blue Eyes
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues
Philadelphia Freedom
Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me
Hey Ahab
I’m Still Standing
Crocodile Rock
Saturday Night’s All Right (For Fighting)
Encore
Circle of Life
