Pooh
Ancora Una Notte Insieme

Ordinary people tend to consider Monday as a particularly stressful day: after the fun of Saturday night and the relaxation of Sunday, it's back to school and/or work and thus the boring daily routine. Fortunately, Monday is also the day when our favorite newspaper, TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, hits the stands, laying out the entire TV programming, giving us entertaining features, and of course, talking about great music.

However, I never would have thought, not even in the worst of nightmares, that my favorite newspaper would give me shocking news, also splashed on the front page: Stefano D’Orazio, historic percussionist of the "Winnie The Pooh", or simply "Pooh", leaves the band after 38 years of honorable service.

This is very sad, but deep down it was inevitable that the toy would break: "I’m 60, I've traveled the world, but I've only seen hotels and arenas. I've lost the passion." These are the bitter words of the drummer, which essentially sound like a game over for the band, which will hardly continue without their brotherly friend.

All over, then? Yes, but it ends with a bang, with a masterstroke, with that great stylish exit you won’t easily forget: a grandiose summer super-tour (in the largest sports arenas in Italy) and a well-deserved "best of" tribute gathering the four's career highlights. All preceded by a fantastic new track, released as a single and currently the most played hit on radios, with the melancholic title "Ancora Una Notte Insieme", a highly rock-infused song, a real outburst to leave a good memory for the fans. The lyrics are suffering and exasperated and make you reflect like only a few other Pooh songs have managed to do: "If one leaves, it's because one can't stay here anymore, but there’s still one more night together to give events a name that is NOT the end." The tear will fall accordingly.

And so, after 40 years of career spent experimenting with all possible and imaginable genres, from the art-rock of "Parsifal", to the songwriting of "Piccola Katy" through the a cappella singing of "Cuore azzurro" (current anthem of the national football team, which has replaced the moldy hymn of Mameli), the Pooh are closing shop, but as already said, in grand style. At the last concert, we will all be there, front row, singing and getting emotional for one more night together.

Pooh forever in our hearts.