Reg Strikes Back Tour
| Tour by Elton John | |
| Associated album | Reg Strikes Back |
|---|---|
| Start date | 9 September 1988 |
| End date | 10 June 1989 |
| Legs | 3 |
| No. of shows | 87 in total |
| Elton John concert chronology | |
Elton John started the Reg Strikes Back tour in promotion of the album with the same name. It was his self-proclaimed comeback album, and his way of fighting back against bad press. It started on 9 September 1988 and ended on 10 June 1989.
After taking over a year off (to recover from throat surgery, address personal issues and record Reg Strikes Back in London), Elton returned to the stage with a new rhythm section. Elton wanted more of an R&B sound to his material, so Jonathan Moffett and Romeo Williams, along with backing singers Marlena Jeter, Natalie Jackson and Alex Brown, were added to the band. Guitarist Davey Johnstone, now also in the role of Music Director, had assembled the new band, a task that he continues to do.
The band’s first show was at an AIDS benefit at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, where they played a 14-song set that featured the never-released John/Taupin composition, Love Is Worth Waiting For. The US tour then began on 9 September at the Miami Arena in Miami, Florida and concluded on 22 October at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
After recording the Sleeping With The Past album in Denmark, the band (now with backing vocalist Mortonette Jenkins instead of Alex Brown) resumed their tour on 20 March 1989 at La Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon, France and played across Eastern Europe and the UK, concluding on 10 June 1989 at the RDS Arena in Dublin.
Elton does not play a grand piano on this tour, replacing it with a Roland RD-1000 digital piano, a mainstay of the Elton sound. Where Elton uses a Yamaha DCFIIISPRO concert grand piano with MIDI output on stage and has done since his switch to Yamaha pianos in 1993, the rack form of the RD-1000, the MKS20, has been in his rack ever since, and its bright, expressive pianos and warm electric pianos are part of Elton's live sound to this day.
...
Wikipedia