Elton John - Dream Ticket [DVD]

Greatest Hits - One Night Only

You can't go wrong with the Greatest Hits and here you get them all, from the soothing ballads to the slam bam rockers. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road with Billy Joel is a definite highlight that comes to mind with some rare tunes like Little Jeanie and the Beatles classic Come Together that stand out.

Video:
The video quality is soft, undefined and the colour "bleeds" as if you were watching the concert on VHS. Poor by today's DVD standards.
Up-scaled through HDMI brings out sharper images though the colour is still poor.

Sound:
The 5.1 mix makes up for the picture quality with Elton's voice, piano and drums streaming through the center speaker, rest of the band through front and backing vocals taking the rear speakers.

To me this remains a classic Elton John concert.

The Royal Opera House

Elton hits the nail on the head with this concert. The orchestra brings a classical feel to Elton's already classic music.
Highlights include the wonderfully orchestrated Carla etude, Tonight, Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word, with Philadelphia Freedom taking the cake.

Video:
The image quality here is the best in the box set. Crisp and clear, however a bit dark through out.
HDMI gets you near HD quality.

Sound:
The 5.1 mix on this disc is truly amazing with all 5 speakers alive with sound. Elton and band stream through the front with orchestra and choir complementing from rear speakers. This is the best 5.1 Dolby mix I've ever heard on an Elton dvd and I have them all.

The only odd thing I found about this disc is that it only features 12 tracks. One feels somewhat unsatisfied as the concert draws to a close, wanting more. Also the documentary at the beginning could have been extended if they were only going to have 12 songs. What we are left with 5 minutes of rehearsals and discussions.
Overall though the concert is short it is very enjoyable.

Ephesus - The Great Amphitheathre

The music shines through in this disc. It's wonderful to hear these songs sripped down to their core and the setting is just marvelous. It's hard to believe how anybody can pull off such a performance with only one musical instrument. Here Elton does just that.

Video:
The video is a step down from the Royal House concert but much better than the Madison Square Garden disc. Another dark event and the camera men aren't the best in the business but the wind changes direction if up-scaled through HDMI.

Sound:
There's not much that could have been done here for surround sound as it's essentially just Elton and his piano. Most of the sound streams through the front left and right speakers with the rears and center used for crowd applause and the odd synth or two.

Standout tracks include Rocketman, Someone Saved My Life Tonight and a surprising Nikita. And if I'm not mistaken doesn't appear on any other official live release.
All in all we treated to a fore fulling performance and experience.

Elton In Four Decades

The fourth dvd is a documentary by Elton and others on a selection of hit songs through the last four decades. Featuring clips from concerts and music video, we treated to a look at all of Elton John's styles and personas through the years. The only drawback being that the selection is far too few and discussions on the songs too short. On the upside we get some full length music videos and concert performances.
Many might write this box set off but those who give it a chance will be delighted. A small treasure for any Elton fan and an invitation to any casual listener to become one.

The DVD comprises of 3 incredibly well recorded concerts in the last 5 years, MSG in 2000, Ephesus in 2001 and Opera House in 2002.

The songs vary from his early years songs right up to Songs from the West Coast.

Take my word for it and get it, I was hooked on him from hearing the MSG concert, and haven't looked back since.

I just bought Elton's Dream ticket DVD package and this has to be the best price you can get it anywhere, a tremendous bargain for a quality set of 4 DVD's from one of the worlds greatest ever artists, superb!