Elton John - Great Amphitheatre, Ephesus, Turkey, 7-17-2001

Recently, guest poster Fabio from Rio posted a couple of albums of the Carpenters stripped down to just piano and lead vocals. That led to a commenter suggesting that a similar album or albums be made for Elton John. That, in turn, got me thinking about how much music is available that just features John and his piano. It turns out not much. But I did find this 2001 concert, with excellent sound quality.

The concert was originally done for a pay-per-view service back in 2001. Then, in 2020, during the pandemic, John briefly released it on YouTube as part of a series of concerts he posted there to make up for the fact that he couldn't go on tour that year. Here's some of the promotional description from that 2020 posting: 

"Elton walks on to the oldest stage he has ever played (built circa 200 B.C.) and invites the audience to join him in one of the most intimate performances he has ever given. Everything about this concert is the opposite of what most people think of when they bring Elton to mind: his wardrobe is sedate, his staging virtually non-existent, no wild spectacles or platform shoes... Nor, for that matter, a band – just the piano player and his instrument, revealing in sublime simplicity that it’s really all about the songs."

Apparently, the people behind the pay-per-view idea wanted a dramatic setting for the concert, similar to Pink Floyd playing in the ancient Pompeii amphitheater in 1972. The Ephesus amphitheatre was built by the ancient Greeks. At its peak, it held about 25,000 people. In recent decades, it has been used for some concerts again. Many stars have performed there, including Diana Ross, Joan Baez, Chris de Burgh, Bryan Adams, Sting, Julio Iglesias, and Luciano Pavarotti, as well as classical concerts. But parts of it were ruined. so these modern concerts only hold about 2,500 people. In 2018, it was closed for three years to repair damage from some of these concerts. 

As far as I can tell, John hasn't performed in a solo format very often, especially considering how often he has performed. He's given well over 4,000 concerts in his long career, more than nearly any other big star, except for Willie Nelson, and B.B. King. In all that time, he only did one solo tour, in 1999. He's also done occasional solo concerts, usually for special events, like charity benefits. This was the only solo concert he did in 2001.

At the time of this concert, his album "Songs from the West Coast" was going to be released in a few months. He played one song from it, "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore." But mostly he stuck to his best known songs.

This album is an hour and 58 minutes long. 

01 Your Song (Elton John)
02 talk (Elton John)
03 Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Elton John)
04 Daniel (Elton John)
05 talk (Elton John)
06 Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters (Elton John)
07 Honky Cat (Elton John)
08 Rocket Man [I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time] (Elton John)
09 talk (Elton John)
10 Philadelphia Freedom (Elton John)
11 Nikita (Elton John)
12 talk (Elton John)
13 Sacrifice (Elton John)
14 talk (Elton John)
15 Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word (Elton John)
16 I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues (Elton John)
17 talk (Elton John)
18 This Train Don't Stop There Anymore (Elton John)
19 talk (Elton John)
20 Burn Down the Mission (Elton John)
21 The One (Elton John)
22 Blue Eyes (Elton John)
23 I'm Still Standing (Elton John)
24 Crocodile Rock (Elton John)
25 Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (Elton John)
26 talk (Elton John)
27 Circle of Life (Elton John)
28 talk (Elton John)
29 Candle in the Wind (Elton John)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/GDzBMzci

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/uUGfdE5hLOzPUXG/file

The cover image is from this exact concert. I wanted a wide view that showed some of the Roman ruins in the background.