Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player

Elton John, with his profound timbre and enveloping melodies, precipitates our fall into the deep pools of life. He makes us aware of the depths below us and, just as we kick out in panic, helps us find the means to propel ourselves to the surface where hope and joy lie.

His last ever concert in Madrid, tonight, was, above all, a deeply moving experience, calling things up from my memory reservoirs, including my early-life fumblings, to which his music was the ever-present sound track.

I will be forever grateful to have been here - Dd's doing, a birthday present. It was one of the evenings of my life, delivered by a talented and determined man who spoke, also, of the work he has done, and which still needs to be done, in the field of AIDS/HIV.

He inspired everyone present through his energy and dedication and, musically, this was seen as he shifted his substantial weight forward on the piano stool, in little jumps, and stuck the tip of his tongue out during the most complicated passages of his playing. He took us back to his base . . . honky-tonking the keyboard like no one else can.

Whatever you do, don't shoot this piano player.