PHIL HILL reports on Elton John's concert at the County Ground in Taunton. The Somerset County Gazette has produced an eight-page souvenir special - to order your copy, ring 01823-365203 and click on the Photo Sales link on the County Gazette website.

TAUNTON had never seen anything quite like it.

The anticipation was enormous as thousands of fans spilled on to the hallowed turf at the County Ground from 4pm onwards, well before Sir Elton John's scheduled appearance.

The bars, burger vans and souvenir merchandise stalls were doing a roaring trade before warm-up band The Storys crept on to the stage.

The lads from Swansea played an enjoyable set ... but everyone had come to see the Master himself.

What old Somerset cricket heroes from down the years would have thought, heaven knows.

Sammy Woods, Harold Gimblett and Bill Alley were from a far more God-fearing, constrained era and never had the chance to play at the County Ground on a Sunday let alone watch almost 21,000 people spilling all over the admittedly well-protected pitch.

Then soon after Evensong started in local churches, and fans were still discussing their favourites Elton songs all of a sudden there he was.

No Ladies and Gentlemen let's hear it for Sir Elton Joooooooooohn' ... No fanfare.

No. He just sauntered on earlier than scheduled, unannounced in his smart suit.

And his low-key entrance caught most of the huge crowd completely by surprise.

As the audience spotted him, the pass-it-on cheers crescendo-ed into an almighty welcoming chorus, thundering around the ground like a Mexican wave.

As well as those crammed inside, there were thousands outside, including a sizeable crowd testing the supporting arches of Priory Bridge.

Sir Elton's face burst into a huge smile as he repeatedly bowed and fired his finger at his adoring public, mouthing thank you' after thank you', before settling down to Bennie and the Jets from his early career.

The Press photographers greedily snapped every movement, but once Bennie was over, they were ushered away so Elton could concentrate on why he was in Taunton to entertain his fans.

He launched into old favourites like Daniel, Sorry Seems to Be The Hardest Word, The Bitch is Back and Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, at which point the sun actually popped out from behind the clouds.

With each effort, his eyebrow twitched and his face contorted.

Admittedly, Elton and his band looked like the oldest rockers in town, but the quality was still there in abundance.

After every couple of songs, Elton would go walkabout, take a sip of what looked like coke from a glass in an ice bucket, make a brief comment and return to his beloved piano.

The audience were delighted when he launched into Rocket Man, which kept going and going and going, with a magnificent instrumental conclusion.

In a between-song chat, the avid football fan also revealed Brazil had beaten Australia but if they were the best team in the World Cup, he was Geri Halliwell.

He said all the right things about Taunton, praising our "historic" cricket ground, name-dropping some of the old stars, including Ian Botham, who beamed down from the stand named in his honour as his mum Marie was treated to a rendition of Happy Birthday'.

One or two brave fans who sheepishly got to their feet to dance were ordered to sit down by security, only for Elton to tell us if we wanted to dance, then dance.

Cue an avalanche of cheering, arm-flinging, bouncing fans, surging forward to the foot of the stage.

If he hadn't done so before, Sir Elton had won the hearts and souls of Taunton.

After staying on well past his due finish time he played for well over two hours he signed a few autographs before ending with Your Song and telling us Taunton was the best audience he'd played to on his current Night Under the Stars tour.

I'd like to return the compliment ... Sir Elton John gave Taunton one of the best nights it's ever had.