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MOVIE INFO

Director:
Chris Gero
Cast:
Elton John
Writing Credits:
Various

Synopsis:
Elton John's The Million Dollar Piano is a residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The show has been running since September 2011 with the most recent leg being 16 shows between March 29 and April 26 2014. This film features classic Elton John tracks from across his extraordinary career performed either with his band, with percussionist Ray Cooper or solo. The multimedia staging is extraordinary with vast screens behind the stage illustrating the songs, and the piano itself acting as a screen for graphics and animations. Elton John is the ultimate live showman and this is the definitive Elton John concert experience.

MPAA:
Rated NR

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
English LPCM Stereo
Subtitles:
English
German
Spanish
French
Italian
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English
German
Spanish
French
Italian

Runtime: 111 min.
Price: $19.98
Release Date: 7/1/2014

Bonus:
• “Making the Million Dollar Piano” Featurette
• Four Bonus Songs
• Booklet


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EQUIPMENT
Panasonic TC-P60VT60 60-Inch 1080p 600Hz 3D Smart Plasma HDTV; Sony STR-DG1200 7.1 Channel Receiver; Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player using HDMI outputs; Michael Green Revolution Cinema 6i Speakers (all five); Kenwood 1050SW 150-watt Subwoofer.

RELATED REVIEWS


Elton John: The Million Dollar Piano [Blu-Ray] (2014)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (June 29, 2014)

Once upon a time, artists avoided “going Vegas”, but that seems to have changed in recent years. Now pop musicians play residencies in Las Vegas that go on for months or years. Celine Dion started this recent wave back in 2003 and now artists as young as Britney Spears have followed the same path.

Elton John hopped onto this concept back in 2004 with his Red Piano show. That one continued to run through 2009 and also played elsewhere across 2007-09. (Even during his Vegas residency, John toured nearly incessantly but not usually with the Red Piano concert, which never played in the US outside of Nevada.)

Apparently John retired The Red Piano in 2009 but that didn’t mark the end of his Vegas days, as he returned in 2011 with a new show called The Million Dollar Piano. That one opened in September 2011 and presumably will resume at some point, though as I write in June 2014, no dates appear on the schedule.

As one might expect, the setlist covers songs across John’s career, though with an emphasis on his 1970s heyday. 1969’s Elton John brings us “Your Song”, and 1971’s Madman Across the Water delivers “Levon”, “Tiny Dancer” and “Indian Sunset”.

From there we hit 1972’s Honky Chateau via “Rocket Man” and “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”; the same year’s Don’t Shoot Me… contributes “Crocodile Rock”. 1973’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road offers “Bennie and the Jets”, “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” and the title track.

1974’s Caribou tosses out “The Bitch Is Back” and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me”, while 1975’s Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy gives us “Better Off Dead”. That same year’s single “Philadelphia Freedom” also appears, and that finishes the 1970s. From 1982’s Jump Up, we get “Blue Eyes”, and 1983’s Too Low For Zero contributes “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” and “I’m Still Standing”. Finally, “The Circle of Life” comes from 1994’s Lion King soundtrack.

If you go to see a “regular” John concert, you’ll find a setlist with most of those same songs, so don’t expect many rarities. Also don’t expect a show much different than the usual tour stop. While the Million Dollar Piano set-up seems a bit more elaborate than John’s standard stage, it doesn’t do a lot to differ in terms of visuals or presentation.

Going into Piano, I expected something more theatrical than this. I thought the show would have dancers or acrobats or fire-breathing chimps or whatever, but nothing like that appears. Although we see more complex video presentations than normal – mainly via the fancy keyboard that gives the show its title – everything else focuses on Elton and the music.

Which is fine, as John remains a good live performer. However, it means that Piano fails to do much to separate itself from the usual Elton tour stop, and that surprises me. With the advantage of a dedicated venue, I would expect something more complicated to take advantage of the situation. That doesn’t occur, so the average fan will find it difficult to separate Piano from pretty much any other modern-day John concert.

No one will mistake modern-day Elton to 1970s Elton in terms of his vocals; he lost much of his upper range years ago and it won’t return. Still, for 21st century Elton, we get better than average singing here. If you don’t like his modern voice, the show won’t change your mind, but I think he sounds quite good given that caveat.

Elton’s band has been with him for years, and they embellish the songs well. I don’t think there’s a lot of fire or freshness in the musicians, so they don’t bring new life to old songs, but they perform them in a more than competent manner.

Director Chris Gero manages to reproduce the concert in a similarly positive way. At the start, I feared that Piano would suffer from excessive cutting, as “The Bitch Is Back” seems a bit ADHD.

The pace stabilizes after that, though, and offers appropriate movement and editing. Gero doesn’t attempt anything “clever” like various visuals gimmicks, so we get a clear, accurate depiction of the show.

All of this probably makes me sound somewhat unenthusiastic about Million Dollar Piano, and that’s the case; I simply don’t find anything here to make the Blu-ray seem like anything especially different than other Elton John products on the market. That said, it’s a quality release and it offers a good version of an enjoyable show.


The Blu-ray Grades: Picture B/ Audio B/ Bonus C-

Elton John: The Million Dollar Piano appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Shot on hi-def cameras, the image didn’t excel but it seemed more than adequate.

For the most part, sharpness worked fine. Some occasional softness interfered, especially in the show’s earlier moments, but those elements didn’t create notable distractions, and the majority of the program seemed well-defined. The on-stage video occasionally created some mild shimmering and jagged edges. No signs of edge haloes or source flaws materialized.

In terms of colors, the lighting and video created most of the hues. Elton and his band tended toward dark clothes, so they didn’t give the show visual pizzazz, but the other components added a varied palette that looked clear and smooth. Blacks were deep and tight, and shadows showed reasonable accuracy. Nothing here dazzled but the visuals were fine.

As for the Blu-ray’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, it didn’t offer an especially broad soundscape. Music spread to the side speakers but failed to deliver great stereo imaging, as a lot of the time, I thought the components seemed more focused on the center than I’d expect. Crowd noise and some instrumentation cropped up on the right and left, but the track came across more narrow than I’d like. The surrounds added reinforcement and crowd noise but didn’t play a major part.

Audio quality remained positive. Vocals seemed natural and broad, and instruments showed nice range and punch. Bass response added some depth and the mix displayed good dynamics. While I was a little disappointed by the less than engaging stereo spread, this was still a better than average mix.

A few extras fill out the disc. Making the Million Dollar Piano runs 23 minutes, four seconds and includes comments from Elton John, director Chris Gero, tour director Chris Bradley, piano designer Akie Hinokio, Yamaha product designer Yukonori Mikage, LSI International R&D Designer Marc Morriseau, piano technician Lindsay Vannoy, creative director Tony King, lighting director/co-creator Patrick Woodroffe, production designer/co-creator Mark Fisher, production and rigger Michael Gomez, video producer Sam Pattinson, musician Ray Cooper and Tait Towers president/CEO James Fairorth. The featurette looks at the design and execution of the show as well as aspects of the title keyboard. At times this feels like an ad for Yamaha, but the piece still gives us interesting notes about the concert’s creation.

From Kiev in 2012, we get four bonus songs. Here we find “Candle in the Wind”, “Sacrifice”, “Sad Songs (Say So Much)” and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”. Why those four songs – especially since “Sun” repeats from the main show? Why Kiev – to reflect the current political situation? I don’t know, but confusion aside, I like extra tunes, so these become a good addition.

Finally, the package features an eight-page booklet. It gives us text notes about the show and some photos. It’s a minor extra but it adds some decent info.

Although I don’t think it takes great advantage of its setting, Elton John: The Million Dollar Piano provides an enjoyable concert. It shows Elton in relatively good voice and comes across as a likable live experience. The Blu-ray brings us mostly positive picture and audio along with some minor bonus materials. This doesn’t top Elton 60 as my favorite John home video, but it becomes a solid release.

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