Fun with the Elton corporation

All 17,000 tickets for the show were snapped up despite the hefty price tag and a set of stringent conditions imposed by the Royal Parks that did their very best to take the pleasure out of it all. Take a deep breath before reading the list of prohibited items on the back of the ticket: No food. No bottles. No cans. No alcohol. No chairs. No tables. No picnic hampers. No cameras. No video recorders. No tape recorders. On a night when the weather forecast threatened heavy showers, no umbrellas. There's nothing like being made to feel welcome - and this was nothing like a welcome.

Not that the restrictions made much difference if you could afford to be in the hospitality area, where well-heeled couples, mostly in their thirties and forties, tucked into kebabs from the charcoal grill or picked at the salmon savouries in a marquee decorated with hanging baskets of flowers and fresh fruit piled into pretty patterns.

To finish, chocolate brownies or strawberries and cream, washed down with Pimms in a scene that could have come from Wimbledon or Henley. The music was almost incidental, as two guests, Suzy Lee and Lisa Davidge, confirmed. Surely, we suggested, they must be big fans of Sir Elton to splash out so much money on a night out? "Not really. We just thought it would be a nice evening out," said Suzy, who works in the engineering division of a helicopter company.

They were, however, hardcore Elton fans compared to some guests who emerged from a fenced-off area proclaiming the name of an investment bank which had block-booked tickets as corporate entertainment. After feeding and watering them in their own special marquee, the bankers doled out complimentary macs and programmes to their guests and pointed them in the direction of the stage.

Backstage, where Elton's olive-green vintage Bentley was parked, guests included Lulu, Richard E Grant and Larry Adler, as well as Elton's partner David Furnish with shoe designer Patrick Cox, who relayed a last-minute "good luck" message from Posh Spice.

Elton, 53, who has been doing this solo show ("just me and my piano") in the grounds of country houses all summer, was a portly figure as he waddled on stage in a Versace suit with and embroidered jacket and a sporty stripe down the leg. After nearly three hours of hits, many from the furthest reaches of his 30-year catalogue, Lulu was dancing in the aisles and everyone else was fumbling for a cigarette lighter as Elton sang Candle In The Wind, now synonymous with the funeral of Princess Diana, its poignancy heightened by being performed a short walk from her former home.

It might not have been rock'n'roll ... but the paying punters loved it.

Elton John & Ray Cooper