Elton John rocks Charleston Civic Center

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — It seemed an unlikely thing when Elton John was booked to play the Charleston Civic Center. The Civic Center doesn’t get much rock ‘n’ roll traffic and the kind Charleston gets tends to lean toward sour hard rockers or graying hair metal.

Neither description fits Sir Elton’s style.

But surprise, surprise, Elton John’s show seemed to have gone smashingly. He got a near sell-out crowd. At the very least, a big room full of people who spent a lot of time on their feet and even ventured to dance every now and again.

The 67-year-old pop music icon rewarded the turnout with a fantastic show that should have completely satisfied the average fan and done a pretty good job of doing the same for the people who know him a little ways past his biggest hits.

He did play a lot of hits, but he didn’t play all of them. That, frankly, might have taken until daybreak to get to them all, but he did play most of the ones everybody came to hear: “Bennie and the Jets,” “Rocket Man,” “Tiny Dancer” and “Candle in the Wind”…