Luck was a lady last night

Early Wednesday morning I found myself second in line at Half-Price Tickets, in hopes of getting tickets to a show for Wednesday night. We didn't have a specific show in mind, we had discussed a few so it was going to be up to what tickets were released that day. We didn't want to see any of the Cirque shows and my friend didn't want to see any magic shows so as I waited for the desk to open, I looked at the board as it scrolled the options for shows that night. One in particular caught my eye: Elton John. Last night was Elton John's final performance of his four-year, 241-date Vegas show, The Red Piano, at Caesar's Colosseum. Words cannot express the excitement I felt or the relief I felt that I was standing in the number two spot as the line got longer and longer behind me. I just knew that every one of those people wanted Elton John tickets but I also knew that I was going to be getting them. Thirty minutes later, I had in my hand two tickets in the Orchestra section, front and center, for a fraction of the cost that our seat neighbors had paid for them. I could not believe my luck. By the time I left the ticket office, there were no more Elton John tickets available. It pays to get up early, I can tell you that.

Elton John and Las Vegas are the perfect marriage. True to the title of the show, his piano was red. Big and red and beautiful. David LaChapelle designed the show and the stage which was like one gigantic moving photograph coming to life, a life of dripping color and imagination, of Pamela Anderson and Marilyn Monroe, of dark pink roses and cherries, of pinballs dripping from the sky and planes flying over Vietnam, of enormous letters and of Love. The show was larger than life and I'm not sure how to describe it beyond what I've just written so I'm going to show you instead because even though cameras were not allowed, you and I both know that I'm a master at getting around that particular hurdle.