WINNIPEG - Pyrotechnics? That's kids' stuff.

Feather boas and diamond-encrusted eyeglasses? They just don't seem dignified.

After all, when you've had a 30-year career as a master of the pop form, you don't necessarily need all the trappings of rock star madness to prove your worth, do you?

Not if you're Sir Elton John. Not when you're as prodigious a pianist, as powerful a singer and as prolific a writer as he's been.

Indeed, when you're Elton John -- and perhaps because you're Elton John -- you should be able to pull off an arena concert with nothing but your songs, your talent and your piano.

Which is exactly what the former Reg Dwight did last night at the Arena, bringing nearly 15,000 deliriously happy fans to their feet with a show which managed to rock the old barn on Maroons Road despite the lack of high-tech trappings.

DIGITALLY ENHANCED

Oh sure, Elton's voice was digitally enhanced at times, and yes, he was obviously triggering some synthesizer samples on Rocket Man and Tiny Dancer. A big video screen even graced stage left.

For the most part, though, last night's performance was as naked as arena spectacles can be.

This may have led to some apprehension at first, as the well-heeled, mostly 30-and-over crowd looked at Elton's big Yamaha grand and wondered whether this evening would be more formal recital than concert.

They needn't have worried.

After opening with Your Song, followed by Skyline Pigeon from his very first album, John -- clad quite conservatively in black suit (albeit one with silver piping), black shirt, round orange glasses and patent leather shoes -- turned on his piano stool and invited the Winnipeg audience to follow him along as he played "some songs you know and some you may not know."

He then spent most of the next three hours singing his hits, explaining the genesis of some of his more obscure cuts, improvising at the piano and, quite simply, offering a splendid musical evening.

The thing about these sorts of shows is that a performer will often offer more than he or she can when playing a full show with a band.

So, while we didn't hear the glorious bombast of The Bitch Is Back or Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, we did hear Elton's Song, an obscure, early-'80s track penned for John by the openly gay English rock singer Tom Robinson at a time when Elton was still struggling with his public identity. Telling the tale of a schoolboy crush, the song was a poignant reminder that Elton stands these days for more than just flamboyance and excess.

So too was Ticking, a Captain Fantastic song which John described as lyricist Bernie Taupin's take on violence in America. While he didn't mention the Wyoming hate-killing of young gay man, as he has at other shows on this tour, John made his point with this song as well.

PIANO TREATS

Elton the musician also got a chance to shine. Two instrumental pieces, Carla and Etude, were included in the main set, but the real piano treats came on songs such as Honky Cat, which was flavoured with far more Mississippi gumbo than the original recorded version, or I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues, which caught the old boogie woogie piano boy revvin' up his rockin' 88 as though he was still playing with Long John Baldry on party ships in Hamburg harbour.

Every time he went off on a mad riff, John was greeted with expectant and adoring cheers, and he seemed to take as much pleasure from these as he did from the sheer effort of playing, waving and mugging for the crowd as he mopped his brow and sipped from his (just for the taste of it) Diet Coke.

JAM! Rating: 3.5 out of 5