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Sunday's show by the Rocket Man expected to break attendance record set by Shania Twain

Move over Shania, the Rocket Man is about to break your attendance record in Moncton.

Enlarge Photo APElton John Sunday night's concert by music legend Elton John is expected to draw one of the biggest crowds ever to the Moncton Coliseum and will probably break the attendance record of approximately 7,000 set in 1999 by country music star Shania Twain, city spokesman Shane Porter said yesterday.

Although exact figures were not available, Shania Twain's concert in March of 1999 drew about 7,000 people to the Moncton Coliseum. Porter said the setup for Twain's show provided a 360-degree view of the stage. Without a backdrop behind the stage, the Coliseum was able to offer more seats to fans and boost the attendance number.

The setup for Sunday night's show will be similar.

Since it is a solo performance by Elton John, the stage will be relatively small at 40 feet by 20 feet, set back on the ice surface near the large doors used by the ice cleaning machines. Sources told the Times & Transcript yesterday that the stage is just large enough to accommodate Elton and his piano, along with the usual sound system and minimal lighting. Without a backdrop, it will give the performer a 360-degree view of his audience. The large speakers will be hung from the ceiling to give fans a good view and allow all seats to be open. It is described as a very basic setup in accordance with Elton John's wish to present a performance that is up close and personal with his audience.

Porter said city staff have been in meetings all week to make final arrangements for the Rocket Man's arrival on Sunday. Elton John will come to Moncton after two sold-out shows in Halifax tonight and Saturday. He will have a day off Monday and perform at Harbour Station in Saint John Tuesday, followed by two nights at the Mile One Centre in St. John's, Nfld.

"To have him as the third show on his Maritime trip is very exciting," Porter said.

The transformation of the Coliseum from hockey arena to concert hall will begin today as the ice is covered and the glass around the ice surface is removed. Backstage areas will be dressed up for Elton's arrival and an advance production crew is expected to bring in special furniture and other trappings to personalize the star's dressing room areas before he arrives.

Porter said promoters are keeping the star's itinerary, travel arrangements and other details of his visit to the Maritimes under wraps. It is not known whether Elton John will actually stay in the city after Sunday night's show or leave town immediately.

The 360-degree stage setup is somewhat of a rarity for concerts at the Coliseum. In most cases, a large backdrop or curtain is hung behind the stage, which is usually set up at the north end of the ice surface. With the curtain in place, seats directly behind the stage are blocked and unused. For hockey games, a sellout crowd is considered to be in the 5,000 range. But when seats are placed on the ice surface it expands the number of available spots to about 7,000.

By contrast, the Halifax Metro Centre and Harbour Station in Saint John have a seating capacity of about 10,000. The Bell Centre, home of the Montreal Canadiens, has a capacity of 10,000 to 14,000 depending on the setup. In full concert mode, the Air Canada Centre in Toronto has a seating capacity of 15,000. The Madison Square Garden in New York City, where Elton John will be performing throughout November and December, can hold 20,000 in concert mode. The Brandt Centre in Saskatoon, where Elton John performed with his entire band last week, has a seating capacity roughly the same as the Moncton Coliseum.

Throughout its history, the Moncton Coliseum has experimented with various stage and seating setups for concerts. In the 1980s, several concerts were done with the stage set up at centre ice facing the upper bowl, but the sloping roof of the building limited visibility for those in the upper areas. In 1988, British group Def Leppard performed "in the round," meaning the stage was set up in the middle of the ice surface. Local legend has it that in order to get through the crowd, members of the band were stashed in covered laundry carts and wheeled across the floor to the stage.

Rock and country music concerts have drawn large crowds to the Moncton Coliseum over the years. Some of the biggest crowds were for such acts as the Beach Boys, Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton, Huey Lewis and the News, Cher, Supertramp, Alan Jackson, Rod Stewart, Metallica, 1755, Anne Murray, David Bowie, Dire Straits, Celine Dion, Bon Jovi, Shania Twain and Ozzy Osbourne. The Elton John show has challenged Ozzy Osbourne for the fastest sellout of the building as both sold out in just under an hour.

While the Elton John show is considered a sellout, there are still many tickets being re-sold on various Internet auction and ticket sites at much more than the original price of $95.50 and $149.50. Advertisements on eBay, Kijiji and other sites were hawking Elton John tickets for anywhere from $200 to $800 each.

Some fans are still hoping they will win tickets in one of the many contests going on around town. Local businesses, radio stations and the Times & Transcript have put on a variety of contests that brought forth thousands of entries from fans.

Porter said consumers who are thinking about buying tickets online should make sure they are original hard copies. Each ticket is numbered and has a bar code that is scanned by security guards at the door. Once an individual ticket is scanned, it is scratched off and counted by a computer. So there is a possibility that a ticket with the same number and bar code could be copied, and the person with the forgery could get into the show ahead of the person with the actual original.

"If they are buying these products people have to be careful that they are not faked or copied," Porter said.

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