Review of concert from 2001-02-13: Vicar Street, Dublin; Gorta Concert - Fields of Hope Concert
Elvis Costello Solo
- John Dunne

 

The crowd went haywire

Hello from the middle of Ireland.

Elvis came on after the Blind Boys of Alabama (a hard act to follow; they got an absolutely rapturous reaction) and just before Dylan. As far as I'm aware, this was the first time he'd played with an electric band (two-thirds of the original Attractions plus a new, young bass-player) in four or five years.

Most of the songs came from the early albums; in fact it was something of a Greatest Hits performance and it went down very well with the huge crowd. Elvis and the band were really enthusiastic (Steve Naive, in particular, got into the spirit of things) and during Oliver's Army, the crowd went haywire. They also did Pump It Up, Good Year for the Roses, Accidents Will Happen, Watching the Detectives, Alison, I Don't Want to Go To Chelsea. Sorry I can't remember the exact order and the names of the other songs he did. All in all, it was a very good, crowd- pleasing performance, of particular interest to fans of the early Elvis.