ELTON JOHN with Ray Cooper

 

Tickets on sale now


Tickets will be €65.70, 86.25, 96.25, 106.25 Fully Seated on sale now from all usual outlets nationwide, booking line no. 0818 719 300 online at / http://web.eltonjohn.com

ELTON JOHN and percussionist RAY COOPER are to perform together again in Europe this winter including a date for The O2 Dublin on 15 December.  This will be the first time Elton & Ray have performed together in Ireland since their legendary appearances in 1979 when they played 2 Shows at the National Stadium in Dublin and 2 Shows at the Whitla Hall in Belfast. 

Percussionist Ray Cooper first worked with Elton in August of 1971, on the Madman Across The Water album, and first joined him on stage at the Royal Festival Hall show six months later.

In December 1973, Ray played at Elton's Christmas shows at the Hammersmith Odeon, and officially joined the band the following month in Colorado for the Caribou album.

For six nights in 1977 at the Rainbow Theatre in London, Elton and Ray introduced a unique stage show that would become a thing of legend: selecting more obscure songs from his catalogue, Elton played a solo set to open the show, and then was joined by Ray on percussion for the second half. Following Elton's semi-retirement from stage shows, this two-man show was re-launched in 1979, when the duo played smaller venues for multiple nights around the globe over most of the year, including eight high-profile nights in the USSR...one of the first times a Western act had played the Communist country.

Ray continued to perform and record with Elton sporadically through the 1980s, once again bringing his showmanship to the Australian Tour De Force concerts with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1986. Elton and Ray revived their piano-and-percussion tour in 1993, playing about 50 dates over two years. Ray's most recent appearance on an Elton album was 1995's Made In England.

In 2009 Elton and Ray were reunited for a Benefit Concert at London's Royal Albert Hall, in aid of the Royal Academy of Music. Since then they have performed in Italy, France, the USA and South Africa.

Share