‘Lift off' for rocket man Elton at Lincs Showground 13 Jun

It was the biggest music event that Lincolnshire had seen in decades and attracted an audience of 17,000.

Hosted by the Lincolnshire Showground, the Elton John concert is the first event of its type held at Grange de Lings – but organisers hope there will be many more like it to come.

Jayne Southall, CEO of the Lincolnshire Showground, said: “It was a fantastic night and we have hundreds of great messages from people who really enjoyed the show. Despite the weather, everyone seemed to have a great time – and enjoyed the spectacle of Sir Elton and his amazing stage.

“Concerts like this are great for Lincolnshire. Without a big arena like other cities, we often aren’t considered for big performers and so Lincolnshire people have to travel to other places to see their favourite bands.

“This time, we had people travel from all over the country, and abroad, to see Elton play”.

The concert has helped boost Lincolnshire’s profile as a venue for big performances, added Jayne.

“This sort of event is not only fantastic to host, providing that ‘feel good’ factor for the county, but it boosts the local economy in terms of hotels and restaurants. We do want to organise more concerts like this in the future – which will bring huge benefits not just to the showground, but to the city and county as a whole.”

Friends Louise Hewitt and Carole Kenyon had travelled from Nottinghamshire to see their long time hero Elton on stage.

Carole said: “I had never been to the showground before but it was a great venue and a great concert. It’s an ideal location – and I would rather see Elton in the open air like this than in a big arena. I thought he was awesome on stage.”

Louise said: “I didn’t notice the rain. It was a really well organised event and there was a fantastic atmosphere. I haven’t been in Lincoln in a long time, but the showground was a great venue and the city is beautiful. I will be back for more concerts!”

On the comments raised about the delays in exiting the car park at the end of the evening, Jayne Southall added, "the Elton John concert was the biggest music event that Lincolnshire has seen in many years and attracted an audience of 17,000. We worked with a number of agencies and the event organisers to plan how people would safely arrive and leave the site in our rural location.

As is always the case with concerts of this size, everyone leaves the venue at the same time. We had estimated that it would take around an hour to one and a half hours to get everyone off site. However, some people were waiting over two hours – and we apologise to those who had to wait long periods to get home. We accept the traffic process could have been slicker and lessons have been learned for the future."