When Sir Elton John plays I’m Still Standing, he gives the impression that he really is enjoying himself, as the lyric goes, like a little kid.
As images of his various incarnations from a glittering and glittery career were flashed on to a giant screen during the rendition of the 1983 hit, you are reminded that you are indeed watching a true survivor.
And he was not the only one, with the A-list star turning up in Aberdeen on Saturday night with guitarist Davey Johnstone and drummer Nigel Olsson, who the rocket man has played with since his career took off in the early 1970s.
While they may be getting on in years, their music has lost none of its impact.
By the time it came to I’m Still Standing, much of the 14,000-strong crowd were already on their feet, where they stayed for the final flourish.
It is always a gamble to play outdoors in Scotland at any time of year, and many who flocked to the specially-built arena in a car park at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre would have done so with slight apprehension.
In the end, the waterproof ponchos handed out by the security guards at the start stayed in their bags, with the clouds even breaking briefly as Sir Elton played Your Song.
Introducing the ballad, which was his first top 10 hit in 1970, the singer paid tribute to his long-term songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, saying that when they wrote it they both realised they had “come a long way” in their artistry.
Two years after that moment, in 1972, he played Aberdeen for the first time, at the Music Hall.
He has been back since then, but the gig on Saturday was his first in the Granite City since 26,000 fans packed Pittodrie Stadium in 2004.
“What better way to finish a tour than in Scotland,” Sir Elton told the crowd.
Dressed in a green shirt and a black and green sparkly gown, he ended the UK leg of his European tour with a hit-packed set that lasted almost two-and-a-half hours.
Bennie and the Jets was the first of the crowd-pleasers as he rolled back the decades, followed soon after by the original version of Candle in the Wind, Tiny Dancer and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
While he may be known to the younger generation for his celebrity parties, or for being a friend to the royals and a gay icon, watching him live reminds you that he is also a supremely gifted pianist.
No moment demonstrated that better on Saturday than his version of Scotland the Brave, played on a saltire-draped piano, which sent the audience into raptures when it segued into Rocket Man.
He went on to rattle out I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues, The Bitch Is Back, and Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting), before rounding off the night with a sing-a-long encore of Crocodile Rock.
Sir Elton has hinted on this tour that it may be one of his last.
As the crowds made their way home from Bridge of Don on Saturday, the night before the summer solstice, most would have been hoping that the sun does not go down on his career just yet.
