Meet the Preston man who claims to be Elton John’s biggest ever fan

Lancashire Post

63-year-old Ricky Stephenson from Longton has seen his favourite star Elton John in concert an unbelievable 233 times. We talk to his about his musical obsession, have a look at years of memorabilia, and find out what his wife thinks of it all.

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 (upbeat music)

00:05 (upbeat music)

00:07 - Yep.

00:21 (upbeat music)

00:23 (upbeat music)

00:26 - I was roughly about nine, 10 years old,

00:45 be 1970, something like that.

00:48 And I listened to radio, Radio One.

00:51 And this bloke called Elton John doing

00:55 Your Song and other tracks from an album

00:59 he was doing from an album called Empty Sky.

01:01 And I thought I really love this music.

01:06 And Tony Blackburn, who I remember took DJ,

01:10 he was really playing a lot of Elton John stuff.

01:12 And I just really got to like it.

01:14 And Radio Two as well, and Radio Luxembourg as well.

01:17 Rocket Man was a big hit.

01:18 And it went on and I just love his music.

01:22 It's just the way it started.

01:24 And

01:25 1979,

01:30 so I'd been about 19 then.

01:32 He was on at the Guild Hall at Preston.

01:35 Anyway, I queued up all night.

01:39 And I mean like from six o'clock at night,

01:43 right through the night to get a decent,

01:46 you couldn't get tickets on online in them days.

01:50 It was at the box office at the Guild Hall.

01:52 The box office opened about nine o'clock,

01:56 got a ticket, sent it, it was like a golden ticket type,

01:59 to me then, you know then.

02:00 And when we went out, the queue was going all the way down

02:05 up towards Church Street.

02:07 And that was my first time.

02:09 And it was just brilliant.

02:11 And I got to the front, was sort of in the middle,

02:14 if you will.

02:14 Got towards the front at the end.

02:16 And it was just brilliant.

02:18 And it just went on from there.

02:19 The rest is history.

02:21 When you see him live, he's just like,

02:27 he's better than the studio to me.

02:31 You know, he's just great.

02:34 It's just something I just love.

02:35 Can't, well it's just,

02:36 I've never, there's never an album I don't like.

02:39 What is that, "Magisterie" there?

02:43 Now, not many.

02:44 (laughs)

02:46 233 now.

02:47 Yes, 50 odd years later, yeah.

02:51 Vegas,

02:53 Madison Square Garden, New York.

02:57 That's the furthest I've been.

02:59 Been to France, Belgium,

03:03 Isle of Man.

03:04 (laughs)

03:05 Most of it's all been in Great Britain, right?

03:07 Latvia,

03:08 Paris,

03:10 Latvia.

03:11 Done Paris twice, I think.

03:14 Italy, Rome, yeah.

03:15 Done that.

03:16 Right.

03:18 Before, just COVID time, I think it was,

03:22 put a phone there,

03:23 play the music,

03:24 and it comes out the speakers on this.

03:26 And there's also a video of him in a pink jacket.

03:29 Well, there is there as well.

03:31 But to do this, from the size of my hands,

03:34 these tiny people gloom down, it's a nightmare.

03:36 But I put it all on Facebook, this lot.

03:39 While he's playing, it's like a train going round,

03:40 and all that sort of thing, you know.

03:42 - You mentioned your lovely wife.

03:45 What does she think of all this?

03:46 - Oh, she was a fan of Allentown once.

03:49 (laughs)

03:50 - You put her on?

03:51 - Yeah, she got a bit fed up.

03:52 No, she doesn't mind.

03:53 She's gone through a lot, really.

03:55 Very patient wife, I'd say.

03:57 (gentle music)

03:59 (gentle music)

04:02 - Favourite concert?

04:13 It's got to be, well, Glastonbury, to be honest.

04:19 I would say it's got to be on my own.

04:21 'Cause there's a chance of getting a ticket,

04:24 one ticket, though.

04:26 And I had to go to this Glastonbury concert,

04:28 'cause it's his last one.

04:30 He's never been to Glastonbury.

04:31 He's never done Glastonbury before.

04:32 I've never been to Glastonbury.

04:34 So, a friend of a friend of a friend, if you will, ticket.

04:37 Managed to get a ticket.

04:39 And managed to get to the front.

04:41 And that's just, like, capped it all off, you know.

04:44 That was my 233th concert.

04:48 Just, like, just an expensive thing,

04:51 'cause it's just for the farewell tour only, you know.

04:57 You won't be able to get them again,

04:58 once you've only sold so many, you know what I mean?

05:01 That's what I'm told, anyway.

05:03 Blackburn, it's my 200th.

05:06 We were at the front, and Ray said,

05:11 "Hold the banner up."

05:12 We had a banner saying 200th and all this.

05:14 "Hold the banner up."

05:16 It was before Elmshorn came on.

05:17 With the crowd behind you and all this, like.

05:19 So I did that.

05:20 We were at the front.

05:21 And the crowd were going mental.

05:22 I couldn't believe it.

05:23 It was on the screens.

05:24 Me holding this banner up.

05:26 Next thing, local papers interviewed me as well,

05:28 and all this.

05:30 Anyway, Elmshorn comes on, and he says,

05:33 noticed my name holding the banner, obviously.

05:35 He says, "This is for Ricky.

05:36 "I'm gonna do your song."

05:37 It's on YouTube, you know.

05:39 And he did your song.

05:41 And then he said, "Right, I'm gonna do Tiny Dance,

05:42 "and I want you two to dance, me and Ray."

05:45 And I can't dance.

05:46 I've got two left feet.

05:47 So I thought, "All right, idiot."

05:49 Six months later, I was in the front.

05:52 Six months later, I went to a Morrissey concert.

05:57 Wife said, "Will you go in queue and get some nachos?"

06:00 I said, "Yeah, yeah."

06:02 So I'm in this queue, talking to this bloke,

06:03 never met him before.

06:04 Never mentioned Elton John.

06:07 And he goes, "Gil, my mum went to see Elton John

06:10 "six months ago at Blackburn."

06:13 I says, "Oh yeah?"

06:15 He said, "She said there was this madman from Preston

06:17 "who'd come to see him 200 times."

06:20 I said, "You're joking."

06:21 I went along.

06:22 He doesn't know it was me.

06:24 200?

06:25 That's ridiculous.

06:26 She went along with him, you know?

06:28 And he doesn't know what to say it's mean like.

06:31 (laughs)

06:32 I said, "That's bloody ridiculous,

06:34 "bit extreme, that, innit?"

06:35 And he says, "I know, it's ridiculous.

06:36 "He was the one who'd seen him 200 times,"

06:38 and all this sort of thing.

06:39 I know, I just don't get it.

06:41 And he doesn't know what to say.

06:43 That's a true story, that, yeah.

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