Tonight, Ted and I went to the free concert at Chesterfield Amphitheater to hear Dogs of Society, an Elton John tribute band. (“So goodbye, yellow brick road / Where the dogs of society howl. . .”) They. Were. Great.
This is from the band’s website, and that’s exactly what I said to Ted after the concert and before I even looked at the website.
As we headed for the concert, the weather radar looked like this. The rain went just northeast of Chesterfield. Whew!
Tonight was our first visit to this venue. It was really nice. We sat in the center front section on the fixed chairs, although we had our lawn chairs with us, just in case the limited number of fixed chairs was filled.
As we’ve seen at the other summer concerts, security was tight. (Or at least present.)
Unfortunately, the warm-up act was “special guest” Ricky Kiel. These guys need a lot more warming up themselves before they can be “special.” I don’t think anyone (except their attending family members, if any) paid attention to them during the 30 minutes they played.
If the start of the dancing indicates the quality of the band (see my “Music at the Meadows” and “Music on Main” posts), Dogs of Society wins. This guy was ready to dance 30 minutes before the concert began.
. . . And then Dogs of Society came onstage. They played nonstop Elton John music for 2.5 hours!
When Jeff was still living at home, I remember having a discussion with him about how many notes it takes to recognize a song. (Think Name That Tune.) I said I can name some songs after one note, but Jeff insisted that was impossible. To give him the benefit of the doubt, he was younger then, so maybe he didn’t know as many songs or hadn’t heard them often enough to recognize them that quickly. I can recognize quite a few songs by the opening chord, and I’m not the only one who can do that. Dogs of Society played the single opening note of “Bennie and the Jets” and then just waited for the applause to die down, because the entire crowd knew which song was coming next.
“Sir Elton” claimed he only wears this jacket when he plays Elton John’s music.
This couple wore their E.J.-style eyewear.
People started dancing during the first song, but when “Crocodile Rock” and “Saturday Night’s Alright” came up, there were so many dancers, there wasn’t room to do anything except bounce in place. Before starting “Pinball Wizard,” the band members sent four silver beach balls into the crowd to mingle with the other beach balls already going around. One is in the upper center of the photo.
What a concert! Ted and I wanted to hear Elton John in Las Vegas last fall, but he wasn’t in town on the same days we were. This concert was definitely the next best thing–and it was free, not $400+ per ticket for the cheap seats in Vegas. Seriously, I think Dogs of Society could play Las Vegas. Another great evening of summer music and the best so far!