Last Saturday I went to the “Big Smoke”- Vancouver - for Elton John’s farewell tour. I was at his very last show in Canada. It was awesome and I am still resonating with the sound and movement and sheer bliss of hanging out with this incredible musician and human being and sharing that experience with my older nephew Sacha.
It all started last spring when I heard that Elton was doing the swan song tour that he was scheduled to do before the pandemic intervened in all of our lives. And I thought – “I want to do that!” The concert in Vancouver coincided with the beginning of Sacha’s reading break and it turns out that he really likes Elton John. What better 20th birthday present for this young man whose entry into the world I was privileged to witness and whose growth to this new decade I have been privileged to share?
Every summer from the time he was five, Sacha - and a couple of years later both Sacha and my younger nephew Ethan - would come out for a special camp orchestrated by me and Michael. It was always two of the best weeks of every year sharing our world with these two young souls. Taking them to Botanical Beach to see the tide pools, standing at the feet of the Mother Tree - even as little ones, they sensed that there was something incredibly powerful and serene about this great being.
We taught them how to make an Essence and shared with them what is important in our lives. Sacha was singing the whole Moola Mantra with Deva Premal when he was five as we drove around the Island swimming, hiking, doing water sports and even go-karting (which has for the past couple of years been Ethan’s passion).
So, this trip to Vancouver to share Elton John with Sacha evoked a cascade of memories.
The concert itself was phenomenal. There was no intermission. Elton did not take a break except to do a quick costume change after the first hour. Essentially, he told everyone to get up and dance. And dance we did – the only caveat being that we had to stay in front of our seats and not block the aisles.
Elton John is the poster boy for aging. At 75 he puts his heart and soul into his passion for music and is not retiring because he is old or tired, but because he wants to spend more time with the people he loves – his husband and his two young sons. That was a big message of the concert – do what’s on your bucket list. If you have never seen that fabulous movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, I suggest that watching it might be a ‘game changer’ for you. I’ve seen it at least five times and savour it anew with each watching. In some ways it feels like I have been privileged and blessed to be knocking things off my bucket list from the time I met Michael.
Having turned away from a prestigious career as a Chartered Accountant doing forensic audits for an international outfit before he met me, and a second career as a Professor of Anthropology, he became a meditation teacher and then a farmer and Energy healer. It was Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who told Michael that connecting to Mother Earth and caring for Mother Earth would transform his consciousness. That directive eventually began this amazing journey of Pacific Essences which will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year.
But back to the concert. Elton John played pretty much non-stop for two and half hours to a crowd of thousands, many of whom were wearing really sparkly, flashy clothes. His life and work gives people permission to be who they can be. What a treat to hang out with someone who has the courage to express their gifts and their joy of life, and to inspire other to do the same.
The next morning I felt sad that this moment had passed, thrilled that I had listened to my inner voice and engaged in this experience, hoarse from yelling for encores (he gave us three encores!) and delighted that I had made another memory with Sacha. As I was chatting with my brother on the way home, I heard myself say, “Well, it’s about making memories, isn’t it? Maybe when Sacha is 60-something he will be taking one of his children or grandchildren to a concert and he will remember this night with me and Elton John – all three of us passionate Aries souls ticking off another box on our bucket list of this precious life journey.”
