Review of concert from 2002-04-16: with Imposters; London, Astoria
This Is London, 2002-04-17
- Pete Clark
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Elvis Costello: Last minute winner |
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Elvis saves it until the end
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Elvis Costello
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by Pete Clark
Read Pete Clark in the Evening Standard
I'm sure you know the feeling. On the way to a concert, or gig as
it is sometimes termed, by one of your favourite artists, you are desperately
hoping that it's going to be great, and you secretly fear that it's
going to be crap. This was my feeling upon entering the latest instalment
of the Elvis Costello show.
The portents were good: he was playing with three people whose instruments
suggested they might constitute a rock 'n' roll band, rather than some
New Age nose flute ensemble, which is the kind of accompaniment our
boy occasionally falls for. The reality was not so hot: the man who
was inadvertently behind me wished to make it clear that he had not
emptied the contents of his wallet in order to look at the back of my
head.
Elvis took the stage, and it was clear that he has still not found
a decent tailor. This does not matter in the least, because the charm
of the man is that he looks like the fellow who sat at the desk behind
you at school, who wore spectacles, was good at geography, and was livid
that someone pinched his hot date at the school dance. Costello has
always been that clever geek, the one who transforms his angst into
miniature works of art.
Unfortunately, his performance was not up to par. The songs came and
went, some of them decent, some of them dull. With his gift for lyrical
invention and occasional melodic inspiration, Elvis might be considered
the nearest thing we have to Bob Dylan. Sadly, unlike Dylan who put
his words at the service of his songs, Costello too often does the opposite.
I was thinking the worst of the man. He writes songs with Paul McCartney
for no good reason, he writes songs for Wendy James for no reason at
all. Only Steve Nieve, the great keyboard player de nos jours, kept
this leaking boat afloat.
And then came the last song of the evening. It was called I Want You,
and it is a desert-island essential. For the first time in the evening,
Elvis bent to the task. He ripped the notes from the guitar, he sang
those wobbly notes down his nose. This is the best thing anybody will
see on stage this year, and I'm sorry if you missed it. It was a one
song concert, but what a song.