IT’S PARTY TIME AGAIN FOR JOHN : He’s Celebrating His Return Tour With Outrageous Glitz

Elton John twice vowed that he was through with touring. Done. Finished. Kaput.

Well, he’s back on the concert trail now and couldn’t be happier.

The man of 1,000 eyeglasses and foot-high wigs has been doing turn-away business in most cities on his 25-city U.S. tour, and the crowd response in Dallas was as celebratory at times as it was a decade ago when John was the biggest-selling record artist in the world.

He opens a sold-out, seven-night stand Tuesday at the 6,200-seat Universal Amphitheatre, and the facility’s general manager Larry Vallon estimates John could have sold out an additional week’s worth of shows.

Things are going so well for the singer-pianist that it’s easy to miss the drama involved in the resurrection of a career that had almost disintegrated in 1976. The backlash that year resulted from oversaturation (an average of two albums a year for seven years) and, some believe, John’s admission in a 1976 Rolling Stone interview that he was bisexual.

In his hotel suite last weekend, John reflected on the good times and the reason he quit touring the first time.

“I never really analyzed my career when the hits were rolling, but I can now look back and recognize how astonishing some of the things were during those years,” he said.

“But then people just got fed up with me, and I can understand that. I knew I was going to have to fight to get my career back and I wasn’t ready to fight at the time. I was burnt out . . . exhausted.

“I did a concert at the Oakland Coliseum in ’76. On the way back to the hotel, this radio station was playing my live album (from 1970) and I thought, ‘My God, my playing’s not as good as that any more. . . . I’m not singing as well.’ I needed to get away or God knows what would have happened.”

One sign of John’s renewed superstardom is getting his picture on the cover of People magazine (even it is just a corner snapshot) without doing an interview. The Sept. 8 article, drawn chiefly from reports and interviews in British papers and tabloids, began with an account of how John, 39, has become such a close friend of Prince Andrew (John played piano at the prince’s bachelor party in July) that the royal couple was instrumental in helping John overcome some alleged marriage problems.

“That article was unbelievable,” John said, sitting on a sofa and sipping a soft drink. “The thing that really amuses me is the thing about the marriage counseling . . . the idea that I get personal counseling from (Andrew). Can you imagine me ringing him up and saying, ‘Give me some advice today about how to handle my marriage.’ It’s preposterous.”

About the frequent gossip in Britain about John’s 1984 marriage to former recording engineer Renate Blauel, John said: “We expected that a lot of people would be skeptical because of what I said in the Rolling Stone interview, so none of this has come as a surprise. We have our ups and downs, but less downs than anybody thinks we have.

“The more we work at the marriage, the more we enjoy the it. The wonderful thing about Renate is she actually loves me 100%. I was so used to being the one in relationships that always gave all the loving and didn’t get a lot in return. It was kind of weird getting used to it . . . someone actually loving me so much.”

John still travels first-class. He stayed here in a presidential suite so large that the living room was the size of the lobby in many a first-class hotel. That was home base for a Southwestern swing that included shows in Houston and Memphis.

To avoid checking in and out of hotels, John simply flew to the other cities in a chartered plane the night of the concert and returned afterward to Dallas on the same plane. By midnight, he was back in the suite, relaxing with friends or playing music on the elaborate sound system he brings with him from city to city.

Unlike those musicians who don’t spend a lot of time listening to records by other artists, John remains an avid music fan. Frustrated that he couldn’t find CDs or cassettes of certain new releases, he sent a shopping list to an aide in Los Angeles who was flying here to see him.

When the aide arrived, John combed through the sack of albums like a kid opening a birthday present. The releases ranged from the new James Brown LP to the in-crowd New Jersey rock group, the Smithereens.

On the afternoon before the Houston concert, however, the music coming through the speakers was John’s new album, “Leather Jacket.” Due in the stores late this month, the album is his most assured LP since the peak ‘70s period.

Though several of John’s recent singles, including “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” and “Sad Songs,” were Top 10 hits that rank favorably with his most engaging tunes from the ‘70s, his album sales have not dominated the charts in this country the way they once did. Though LPs such as “Too Low for Zero” have sold more than 2 million copies around the world, they had to struggle in this country to go gold (500,000 sales).

The new collection, produced by Gus Dudgeon and featuring nine songs written with longtime partner Bernie Taupin, ranges from the bright, bouncy rejoice of “Heartache” (the first single) to several ballads of unusual grace.

Reflecting on the ups and downs of the last few years, John added, “There were times when I may have been a little bitter or a little sour . . . seeing other people become a success, but luckily, it was never a big deal. I tried to keep everything in perspective . . . understand why there was the (backlash) and realize the only way to prove myself was to write good songs and make good albums.”

The fun is back. John, who favored outrageous costumes in the ‘70s, has tended to dress somewhat conservatively on stage during recent tours. But this time he is in the party-time spirit again. His favorite headdress: a series of punk-styled wigs, some pink, others blue.

“I think people want to see me in those outrageous costumes, and that’s what I want to do, too,” he said. “Sometimes I haven’t felt like it. On this tour, though, I’m having real fun. I’m very happy in my life at the moment. I walk out on stage and the costumes get like a two-minute standing ovation. From that point on, it’s like a huge party.”

John is joined on this tour by 13 musicians, including longtime sidekick Davey Johnstone and a four-piece brass section.

“After the last tour, I wasn’t going to tour again . . . just do an occasional show, but then I met these new musicians when I was making the ‘Ice on Fire’ album and I had to go on the road with them,” he said. “I felt like a kid again. The music seems so fresh, even the old songs.”

John says success is sweeter the second time around because he is able to control the pace better--and he has more perspective.

“I notice the difference in simple things, like looking down at the audience and seeing them sing along to the songs,” he said. “I never used to think about how my songs affect people, but now I can relate to that because I think of how other people’s songs remind me so much of times in my life.

“I see people singing along, and I try to imagine sometimes what the songs mean to them . . . and it just feels good to know that you have touched them in some way.”