Elvis Costello

[themaestro]

Originally posted by Brian_Walalce:
 
 I'd say 70% of his set was songs recorded 1982 or earlier.
 
 Brian

If not more.  Anybody out there get the whole setlist?  I know I saw somebody up front writing it down in a notebook...

[hjshorter]

That Detroit set is excellent.  Shabby Doll, Chelsea, High Fidelity, Green Shirt...love all the stuff he's doing from Imperial Bedroom.
 
 This will be the first E.C. show in DC that I've missed in 20 years.  Damn.

[brennser]

It looks like I'll have 2 spare tickets I'll need to sell for Friday nights show - any interested boardies drop me a PM.

[Brian_Wallace]

Originally posted by themaestro:
   

Originally posted by Brian_Walalce:
 
 I'd say 70% of his set was songs recorded 1982 or earlier.
 
 Brian

If not more.  Anybody out there get the whole setlist?  I know I saw somebody up front writing it down in a notebook... [/b]

What I was trying to say was that the Baltimore set list was REALLY old.  I've been looking at the other set lists on the tour.  He didn't do "I Hope You're Happy Now,"  "Human Hands," "Uncomplicated," "Kid About It," "Riot Act," "Sulky Girl," "Brilliant Mistake", etc. in Baltimore.  Aside from three newer songs and the Beatles covers he didn't do much that was more recent than "Trust!"
 
 Maybe it's a Maryland thing.  I remember him playing with the Attractions around 1995 in Prince George's county and he literally played most of "This Year's Model" at that show.
 
 Brian

[brennser]

does he ever play "I want you" these days (thinking probably not as it is dedicated to an ex-wife)?

[Brian_Wallace]

Originally posted by brennser:
  does he ever play "I want you" these days (thinking probably not as it is dedicated to an ex-wife)?

No.  A couple of songs off "Blood & Chocolate" have been warhorses of his for the past ten years.  "Uncomplicated," "Honey, Are you Straight or are you Blind?," "I Hope You're Happy Now" and for the show-stopper, "I Want You."  And while it's hard to fault ANY of the songs on "Blood & Chocolate" (it's such a classic, I think it may be one of Thom Yorke's favorite records, for what that's worth) I always wanted to hear "Tokyo Storm Warning" or "Home is Anywhere You Hang Your Head" a little more.
 
 He did do "I Want You" with Fiona Apple last year in Atlantic City for a VH-1 Classic special.  I was there.  It was pretty cool.  EC and Billy Joe Armstrong doing "Basket Case" together.  Ben Gibbard doing "Kinder Murder."
 
 Brian

[Mobius]

Like a lot of folks, I went through a phase early on where I was obsessed with his work through Get Happy! (my favorite of his by far).  But I found his stuff after that dull, with the occasional bright spot (Everyday I Write the Book).  Listened to Spike a lot when it came out (along w/ a decent Joe Jackson release whose name I forget and Lou Reed's New York, which all came out around the same time).
 
 Haven't listened to EC since, and I've found him to be insufferable and tedius of late (maybe that's my problem).
 
 That said, I have really high expectations for tonight's show and am very much looking forward to it.

[ggw]

I thought the show was great.  Two-plus hours; good mix of hits with deeper cuts; three encores; guest appearance by Allen Toussaint....

[kosmo vinyl]

i concur... the true sign of a great concert is when the artist says "Good Evening" an hour in to the show with a dozen plus classics having already been played.  the band was clearily enjoying playing and not just by the note recreations of the past.

[RatBastard]

I had a great time.  Unfortunately my friend got to feeling very poorly and we had to leave during the second encore.     Is it just me or was the crowd last night one of the rudest ever at the club?  I was in my usual spot (upstairs, barstool) and I swear 90% of the people there and in the VIP area did nothing but hold converstions all night long, yelling over the music all the while.  I have kind of noticed that the more yuppie/hoity toidy a crowd is the lower their 'concert ethics' are in general.  Albeit it isnt just a 930 thing.  Its that way damn near everywhere.

[Mobius]

great, great show.  elvis was in fine form from the start, nice setlist, rhythm section was locked in . . . and steve nieve was on fire. i'd have to describe his playing as 'thrilling.'
 
 happy to hear about 4 songs (I think) from Get Happy!, alison acoustic was solid, and warhouses like watching the detectives, peace love and understanding etc. sounded great. . . the band was rocking.
 
 the crowd was pretty middle-aged.  it was obvious most people around me would have preferred to be at warner or somewhere where they didn't have to jockey for position (at first).
 
 on the lower left, folks were pretty courteous and if they were initially uncomfortable they quickly became happy to be there seeing that show in that environment.  
 
 towards the end of the show i found myself next to a younger couple who were making out like it was 3 am at Chief Ike's - which was oddly out of place yet oddly understandable considering the good vibe.  they had a friend who landed a few solid right crosses and hooks trying to get me to dance (i'm from dc!  i have a right to stand still and nod meaningfully!) - which I found funny but i felt bad because i annoyed everyone around me when a got staggered into folks.

[brennser]

Elvis, Definitely Alive
 Costello Plumbs the Depths of His Songbook For a High-Energy Show at the 9:30 Club
 
 Monday, May 21, 2007; Page C05
 
 Elvis Costello has more musical personalities than Tupac has posthumous albums, but the one who turned up at the 9:30 club Friday is the most consistently satisfying: Call him the Shut Up and Sing Elvis. He never took off his black suit jacket or his black sunglasses, or loosened his black tie. He simply strode onstage and launched into "Welcome to the Working Week," smash-cutting 13 more songs together before he even said "good evening."
 
 Elvis seems like a pretty contented guy these days, but it's good to see he can reconnect so easily with the pencil-necked, amphetamine-addled Angry Young Man of 1978, who stared out from the posters and T-shirts for sale at the back of the club.
    
 All but a half-dozen of the set's 33 (!) songs were more than 25 years old. But if you're going to look backward, there are worse ways to do it: Although focused on the first third of his career (from which the albums have just been reissued for the umpteenth time), the show's breathless first half boasted so many rarities ("Lovers' Walk," "Riot Act," "Shabby Doll") that it never felt predictable. Even night's best cover, "Hey Bulldog," was about as obscure as a Beatles song can be.
 
 Costello's willingness to fling open the back pages of his extraordinary songbook is one of the qualities that make him such a superb live performer. Of course, his daring would be in vain if the tunes didn't kill, but aided by the Imposters, Costello drove home the curios and the kinda-hits with such unrelenting kinetic force that you barely had time to remember the chorus of one tune before he counted off the next. A solo take of the seminal unrequited-love "Alison," its melody altered just enough to foil the singer-alongers, followed by the plaintive gem "Sleep of the Just," provided the only breather.
 
 Late in the evening, New Orleans pianist and songwriter Allen Toussaint showed up to tickle the keys on "The River in Reverse" and "Monkey to Man," before singing his own "Yes We Can Can."
 
 Tickets could be bought only with the credit card that sponsored the show. Costello, who used to refuse endorsement deals, introduced only one song all night -- the new "American Gangster Time" -- saying it was "about a mercenary [expletive]." When you rock this hard, you can get away with pretty much anything.