I’ve never been much of an Elton John fan, so I didn’t expect much from his concert at Hilton Coliseum Friday night. I knew he’d play a ton of ballads, some rock ‘n’ roll classics and a handful of material from his latest CD, “The Big Picture.”

I pegged the musical selection exactly. But I was wrong about the first assumption. Friday night’s concert was phenomenal (believe me, I never thought I’d be saying that).

Elton really knows how to work a crowd. He signed at least fifty autographs for fans in the first few rows. How often do you see that from upper-echelon rock stars?

He also ran around the stage, pointing at the audience, encouraging their applause and cheers (which the audience gladly provided in abundance), and made enough goofy faces to keep the most distempered child entertained (I especially got a kick out of him sticking out his tongue).

The concert was filled with hits the entire audience knew by heart. The second song of the evening (“The One”) helped to warm the audience up with its beautiful lyrics and wonderful piano parts.

Following that ballad was a handful of other hits, including “I Don’t Want To Go On With You Like That” and “Tiny Dancer.”

These songs were well received, with the audience sitting patiently and absorbing the wonderful magic of the ballads, then dancing in the aisles during the rockers.

Of course, the majority of the audience knew every word (as Elton proved at times by allowing them to sing several choruses on various songs).

“I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues” was particularly touching, considering the rough times Elton has had in the last year. I saw several people cry during this heart-wrenching song.

The same went for “The Last Song,” which Elton dedicated to people infected with the HIV virus, “Philadelphia Freedom” and “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” introduced with a story about how Elton’s life was in shambles until one person made him get help (presumably Ryan White).

The three selections from Elton’s newest CD, “The Big Picture,” (“If The River Can Bend,” “Love’s Got A Lot To Answer For” and “Something About The Way You Look Tonight”) were fairly decent, though they were practically foreign to a large portion of the audience. This was evident by the amount of people who took bathroom breaks or went to grab more beer during these songs.

Other highlights of the show were “Honky Cat,” with its funky-keyboard screeching-cat parts, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” which was incredible despite the lack of the upper range in Elton’s voice, “Made In England” and the wonderful “Levon.”

The show’s first set concluded with rousing versions of “Bennie And The Jets” and “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting.” These two songs showed Elton at his piano-virtuoso best.

He played sitting up with only his right hand, then proceeded to lay down and play one-handed. He climbed on top of his piano (albeit a little less energetically than he used to in the past), tickled the ivories enthusiastically and always had a goofy smile on his face.

After a double shot like that, it was inevitable the crowd would cheer for an encore. The cheering was deafening when Elton finally came back on stage (which seemed like forever but was only a few minutes). The encore consisted of “We All Fall In Love Sometimes” and “The Bitch Is Back.”

The first song, a ballad, was dedicated to the thirty-year anniversary of Elton’s collaboration with lyricist Bernie Taupin. Unfortunately, it seemed out of place between the famous pop-rock songs. But the second song was incredible, and led the audience to demand a second encore.

The second encore was fairly predictable. There were two extremely popular songs Elton hadn’t played yet (“Candle In The Wind” and “Your Song”). Of course, the audience knew (or should have known) he wouldn’t play “Candle In The Wind.” Elton has dedicated that song to Princess Diana and will never play it live again (or so he says, but we’ll just have to wait and find out).

A cover version of Beth Nielsen Chapman’s classic “Sand and Water” was an ample substitute for the second greatest-selling song of all time. Then Elton played “Your Song,” dedicating it to an audience he said he had a “lot of respect” for.

It was a fitting end for a wonderful concert. After the lights came on, people were still wiping tears from their eyes, applauding and screaming loud enough for all of Ames to hear.