OPINION PLAY WELCOME BACK, REGGIE

deep love and appreciation of Reginald’s music was born in the early ’ 90s.

Listening to hit after killer hit in the cassette player of my mum’s Ford station wagon is a memory I’ll never forget. The powerful lyrics and catchy melodies had me hook, line and sinker.

Yep, I’m a rocket man. And I was one excited rocket man when I heard the news Elton John ( born Reginald Dwight) was coming back to North Queensland.

I was lucky enough to see the crocodile rocker in 2015 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. I went under the guise that I was taking my mum for her birthday. Really, I was just as excited as the birthday girl herself. To this day it’s the best concert I’ve ever been to.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve been lucky enough to attend a stack of gigs in my 32 years and most of them were born after the 1940s ( EJ was born in March 1947 so he’s doing well to still be touring at the scale he does). But there’s something about Elton.

He’s up there with the Bowies, Princes and Jacksons of this world: a true pop icon and visionary who really shaped popular music as we know it.

So come September 30 this year I’ll be packing the car and heading up the Bruce to see Elton bash away at the keys and belt out his classics once again. I can’t wait.

I wonder if Mum still has those cassette tapes?