The Moment: "I Want You" is performed by Elvis Costello & The Imposters. When I Was Cruel tour, 2002.

By Brighid Mooney

The lighting on the tour was spectacular. Purple and yellow, rich and dramatic. It lit up his face from below, his horn rimmed glasses casting horn-like shadows onto his forehead. And of course, being Elvis, he was as intense as ever, nary a smile, staring straight ahead at something no one else could see. It was like watching something you weren't meant to see, like watching someone break down; fall apart right in front of you.
Starting with slow, soft-spoken, wistful remembrances, obsessive repetition, and disquieting calmness, at its climax breaking into a crescendo of frenzied accusations, a garbled explosion of agonized wailing, voice cracking with emotion, each word ringing with desperation, and ending with a glassy-eyed stare and an almost whispered feeling of utter defeat.
It was both heartbreaking and absolutely chilling, articulate and passionate. Fervid, fevered, frantic, and completely convincing. And at the end you almost forgot that it was just an act. That he was putting on a show. That he had sung this song every night for a month. But he was convincing. And the scary part was, by the time he was done you knew exactly how he felt. To love someone so much that you hate them.

Just this memory, and the fact that I’ve heard the recording of the live version since, makes the album version pale to comparison. The Blood & Chocolate album’s studio version of "I Want You" is like a paper cut, painful but insignificant. Watching it live is like a gaping flesh wound , bleeding out all the pain you've ever known.
It was by far the most moving concert moment that I have experienced.