Elton John
One Night Only

THE REVIEW

Today I'm going to talk about the album that in 2003, twenty years ago, brought me closer to Elton John, whose entire work I practically know today.

One Night Only, live from 2000, which despite the title contains material from two evenings, holds a record: it was released less than a month after being performed at Madison Square Garden in New York, the pianist's favorite venue.

The setlist features all ultra-famous tracks, with the addition of two hits, Daniel and The Bitch is Back, for the U.S. version of the album. As an Italian, I own the version with 15 songs.

My first listen was in May 2003, listening only, for the first time, to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Philadelphia Freedom. But the following month I became fixated on only four other songs, namely Rocket Man, jingle of Cerealix Mulino Bianco; Candle in the Wind, and only then did I find out that the dedication to Lady Diana was a reinterpretation; Crocodile Rock, which I knew by name; and Your Song, whose lyrics were brought to school by a classmate in October 2002, and that sparked my passion for Elton.

In March 2004, I picked up the CD again after months and delved into the rest of the tracklist. The last ones I learned were Saturday Night's Alright and Bennie and The Jets.

From a technical point of view, in hindsight, it remains the last live album to be released on CD and undoubtedly the worst when compared to 17-11-70, Here and There, and Live in Australia. The Reginald Dwight of 2000 was quite different from the one during his heyday. The vocal cord surgery in 1986 left him with a lower register. Furthermore, there are possibly too many musicians and too many duets in this live, some questionable. Personally, among these, I prefer those with Brian Adams and Mary J. Bleidge. I associated the latter with Jenny B, a singer who participated in Sanremo 2001 and was later chosen for La Corrida, which I was watching at the time.

From an emotional point of view, it is the album that opens the doors to both the romantic Elton and the rock one, and it will lead me, in October 2004, to purchase Greatest Hits 1970-2002.

One aspect I want to highlight is how the songs enter the listener's life to such an extent that artist and audience become one.

A memorable moment remains from June 2004 when I wore a t-shirt with "Villanova" written on it, played the entire album alone at home while mimicking Elton on the piano! At the end of the "concert," I was very sweaty and emotional.

Technically, three stars for the album, four stars emotionally.