Sir Elton . . . why Shropshire?

Amid the hullaballoo of Sir Elton John's performance in Shropshire, one thing seems to have been overlooked,

.

Why on earth did he decide to play England's 44th largest county? And, for that matter, why are his other outdoor gigs in Scarborough and other unlikely towns?

You can almost imagine how that planning meeting went. A group of black-suited men would have been sat around a table, drinking triple espressos, scratching stubbly chins as pound signs were flashing before their eyes.

"Right," a muscled man would have said.

"Elton's gonna do three gigs. London 'as seven-and-'alf million people, the West Midlands 'as two-and-a-'alf and Greater Manchester 'as two-and-a-'alf."

His sidekick, flicking crumbs from an expensive suit, would have hummed his approval.

"So, if we stick him in massive arenas, we'll make 15 squillion quid. Let's do it."

And then, as if from nowhere, the office maverick would have appeared at the door, with Derren Brown eyes twirling wildly.

"Look guys," he'd have said, unfurling a map. "Why don't we play a game?"

He'd have produced three pins, one each – plus a fourth for good luck, and laid the map fully on a leather-bound table, smoothing down the creases.

A minute later, the decision would have been made. London, Birmingham and Manchester were among the also-rans. Shrewsbury, Scarborough, Northampton, Hatfield and Hove were in.

If his promoters were looking to wrong foot an unsuspecting audience, they pretty well succeeded.

Shropshire, of course, is one of the chief beneficiaries of their pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey approach to concert promotion and huge numbers will be thrilled that the town's football club has attracted the Rocket Man to their sumptuous market town.

Sir Elton's off-the-beaten track tour is not without precedent. During the mid-1990s, the biggest band in Britain were The Stone Roses. Having played an iconic gig at Spike Island, they went into hiding.

When they emerged some years later from an alleged blizzard of drugs, the anticipation of their Second Coming was at fever pitch.

You'd have expected them to have picked another great venue for their celebratory return, somewhere like Alexander Palace, a huge park in their native Manchester or, given their likely emotional state at the time, Mars or Venus. But no, they picked a northern European town with almost as many canals as Amsterdam: good old Copenhagen, the obvious place for any returning rock behemoth.

The world is littered with unusual concert venues: Richard Hawley added the unfortunately-named Devil's Arse to the lexicon of live reviewers when he played a cave in the Peak District a few years hence. He rounded off 2008 with a special gig there, with fans being advised to wrap up against the cold.

It's to be hoped Sir Elton's gig in Shrewsbury won't bring about comparisons with the Devil's Arse – and why on earth should it? A sunny Sunday in picturesque Shrewsbury lies in store. The maverick with the pins deserves a pint.