Sir Elton John returns to Ipswich’s Portman Road this Saturday for the first time in more than a decade.
Here are some interesting facts about the Oscar, Tony and multi Grammy and BRITs award winner’s Wonderful Crazy Night Tour.
• Try our quiz to test your knowledge of Sir Elton John.
13 - How many years it’s been since he last performed in Ipswich
860 - How many songs he’s performed on the North and South America leg of the Wonderful Crazy Night Tour
5,000 + - How many minutes he’s spent on stage during the North and South America leg of the tour
144 - How many glasses of sparkling water he drank during the North and South America leg of the tour. Sir Elton drinks around three-four glasses of San Pellegrino water on stage per show to keep hydrated
5 - How many full days it takes the 32-strong crew to build the 18ft wide and 55ft deep outdoor stage which measures 60ft to the top of the roof. It takes two days to take it down. It’s built using an 80 ton crane, three forklifts and a very large cherry picker
102 - How many people comprise Sir Elton’s touring crew. There are 30 technicians - sound, lights, video, backline, stage management, etc - eight truck drivers and four bus drivers plus another 60 local technical crew employed on the day to help assemble the stage set and equipment and then get it out and away at the end of the day
13 - How many hours it takes to set up each show. This includes eight hours to load the stage equipment and sound check it all, another two hours to focus and programme the lights for each show and then another three hours to get it out again after the performance
113 - How many shows were recorded for Sir Elton’s archive last year
6 - How many cameras the show is shot on. These include four operated by professional cameramen, one locked off for a fixed shot and the other is a robot-camera all shot in HD. The footage is then broadcast on two 6m wide by 5m high screens left and right of the stage each weighing 1.3 tonnes
400 - How many meals the tour’s caterers will serve to the musicians and technical crew per day during outdoors shows
5 - How many people are in the band. Nigel Olsson, Davey Johnstone, John Mahon, Matt Bissonette and Kim Bullard have some favourite items which are included on their dressing room rider, these being potato chips, Pepsi, Coconut water, Green juice and Starbucks decaf coffee
6 - How many pianos are used on tour. Kay, Nina, Nikita, Aretha and Winifred join them on tour. Blossom is used in Las Vegas. Pianos are tuned once or twice a day and re-checked before Sir Elton takes to the stage. His own piano tuner travels as part of the crew
3 - The number of drum systems Nigel Olsson tours with. They are named F-1, Annett and the NO aviator. The primary snare drum head is changed daily to avoid failure and Nigel uses three sets of new sticks per show, in that way there is no chance of the stick breaking during the show
14-16 - How many guitars and basses are maintained, cleaned, tuned and restrung on a daily basis for use in the show
140-160 - How many minutes the show will last, including a set list of between 24-28 songs
5 - How many continents Sir Elton will perform on this year, spanning North America, South America, Australia, Asia and Europe
46 - How many concerts he will have performed so far by the end of Saturday night’s gig at Portman Road gig
33 - How many studio albums he’s released, Wonderful Crazy Night being his most recent
250million + - How many records Sir Elton’s sold worldwide
4,000 + - How many times he’s performed since launching his first tour in 1970
30million + - How many streams support act Jake Isaac had before signing to Sir Elton’s management company. The singer-songwriter, who hails from South London but has Caribbean roots, recently released his debut album Our Lives. He’s sold out headline shows in the US, Europe and the UK as well as having previously supported Ella Eyre and Paloma Faith
See our full review plus photographs from the concert online Saturday night
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