Las Vegas is a town built on numbers. No matter where you turn, there they are. On roulette wheels and felt table tops. Nailed to thousands of hotel room doors. In the corners of millions of playing cards. Twenty-one. Stand on seventeen. Double down. Seven out. Aces and eights. Like infinite grains of sand that sit beneath and beyond the dozens of hotels and casinos, in this particular area of the American desert there are numbers...numbers everywhere.

So, in honor of Elton John's final Red Piano performance at Caesars Palace on April 22, 2009, here are some more:

243
Number of times Elton has walked on to The Colosseum stage amidst thunderous applause...and conquered the crowd from behind his red piano. While falling short of Vegas icons like Sinatra or Presley, or even this room's original tenant, Celine Dion, it is by far the most shows Elton has ever performed in one venue....and could very well be a record for a non-American musician on the strip.
1,896
Number of days between opening night (February 13, 2004) and tonight's finale - making an average of one Red Piano show every eight days for over five years. Suffice to say, Caesars Palace has become Elton's 'local.'
4
Number of studio songs released by Elton that have been recorded in this auditorium: Calling It Christmas (the duet with Joss Stone), Where To Now St. Peter (with Ann Wilson), and Blueberry Hill and Rock This House (on tribute CDs for Fats Domino and BB King, respectively).
3,630
Square-footage of the LED screen behind Elton and the band (measuring 110 feet wide by 33 feet tall). This is nearly the same size as the seating area of a Boeing 707 jet aircraft...and could fit 85 of Elton's red pianos, if that was someone's idea of a good time.
8
Number of celebrities in the audience (at least the ones mentioned by local newspapers the next day). These are: Sharon and Ozzy Osborne (who were there on opening night as well - did they move at all over the past five years?), Cheryl Tiegs, Elizabeth Hurley, Julian Schnabel (the artist whose broken plate portrait of Elton was used as cover art for The Big Picture album), Bernie Taupin, David Furnish and Robin Leach.
2,754
Number of miles between Las Vegas and Hawaii. Apparently this is where Red Piano designer and director Dave LaChapelle is tonight, but that does not stop Elton from showing his appreciation and calling him a genius. Much to Elton's delight, LaChapelle took the show concept and ran with it...all the way up and down the Vegas strip, and wayyy over the top.
102
Number of storeys in the Empire State Building. Okay, it's a little confusing why the predominant image in a video about Philadelphia is a New York City landmark, but perhaps it is a case of artistic license extending through the prism of GoogleEarth.
345
Number of Elton John/Bernie Taupin collaborations that have been officially released to date. Before playing Daniel, Elton talks about the conundrum that can be Bernie's lyrics. To drive the point home, he recites the chorus of Take Me To The Pilot, which does not make any sense no matter how many complimentary cocktails one has had in the casinos. He then explains how he truncated the lyrics to Daniel when he wrote the song - and is still being asked about it 37 years later.
14
Number of letters in the thank-you sign the lighting crew has hung above the upper balcony. Between songs, Elton gives a shout-out to the Caesars Palace staff and crew, all of who have "been such a pleasure to work with." Celine trained them well, apparently. Oh, and the "Oompa Loompas," who help set and clear the stage throughout the show, get some love as well. I am just glad Elton mentioned these guys in their funny white outfits...I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one who saw them.
4,100
Number of people in the audience. Elton repeatedly thanks every one of them for coming, sometimes all at once and sometimes 'off mic' individually to people in the front sections. He makes a point of acknowledging the fans who have returned to see this show time and time again. His appreciation is as obvious as the huge neon heart that pulses above him during Tiny Dancer and Your Song.
11
Number of fans in the audience wearing white 'Red Piano Farewell Party' t-shirts (who were joined by surprise guest John Mahon earlier in the day at the Hard Rock Cafe). Also seen in the crowd, all manner of blinking oversized glasses and feather boas...and one woman up front is wearing a spectacular 'ELTON' hat, complete with miniature red piano on top.
431
Number of seconds in the video for Someone Saved My Life Tonight...many of which include a man (representing a young Elton) with his head in an oven, a naked transsexual in an electric chair, and one scary-ass Sugar Bear!
1
Number of songs in the show missing a video: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. This was the only song Elton did that did not have any sort of cinematic or unique prop effect to go with it, although some past shows have included the video David LaChapelle created. Perhaps they lost it in a wager? In this town, anything can happen.
14
Number of guitars that Davey Johnstone uses during the course of the show (double-necks counting as two). Elton's guitarist and musical director cracks up during the band introductions preceding Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me as, once again, Elton goes out of his way to come up with a somewhat off-color name for Davey's original band. They were in fact Magna Carta, but what Elton calls them tonight shall, sadly, have to stay in Vegas.
2
Number of songs David Furnish dances to from his seat - starting with The Bitch Is Back. And at the end of the show, David uses his cell phone to do some videotaping!
90
Number of fans who rush up on stage to dance around the piano during Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting. For over five minutes, these lucky first-few-rows ticket holders enjoy their own private concert, complete with iPhone photo ops, with Elton.
0.5
Number of seconds it takes for the first front-row fan to get on stage at the beginning of Saturday Night's...
15
Number of minutes Elton runs over on this final show...thanks mainly to the many between-song chats he has with the audience. He talks about how much he loves Celine Dion (for whom the venue was originally built), while at the same time busting on her at every opportunity. He confides that choosing the color of the piano (and thus the theme of the show) took some serious consideration. It had to be something other than black, but white had already been taken by Mariah Carey and pink was...wait for it...too close to home. That gets a big laugh. Finally, he promotes the other acts that are continuing the tradition at The Colosseum - Cher and Bette Midler. Who's next, he asks, The Village People?
???
Amount of money the Caesars Palace casino made during the moments Elton rushed through on his way to the after party. Yes, through the casino. As in, he walked (albeit very quickly, and with a couple of security people) out the front door of The Colosseum, past a number of startled fans standing around after the show...and then weaved in between the crowded Caesars Palace slot machines and gambling tables to the restaurant. As he passed by, significant portions of the betting population, who were not there to see Elton at all, dropped what they were doing and began following him...caught up in the spontaneous slipstream of a superstar. It is unknown how many of them, if any, bet it all on '243 red' upon returning to their tables.

To be determined
Number of days before Elton John brings a new, thrilling extravaganza to Las Vegas!

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