Review of concert from 2002-05-03: with Imposters; London, BBC 2 TV; Later With Jools Holland; recorded 2002-05-01
- Ken Clark

 

Elvis Costello with Imposters

Personnel:
* Elvis Costello - vocals, guitar
* Steve Nieve - keyboards
* Davey Faragher - bass
* Pete Thomas - drums
Setlist:
- 45
- When I Was Cruel
- Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution)
- Chelsea
- Oliver's Army - when cameras had stopped (not broadcast)

As part of the ongoing promotional push to make a commercial success out of "When I Was Cruel", Elvis appeared with the Imposters on Jools Holland's eclectic late night musical variety show. It must be very awkward to have to blast out a tune in-between other acts without the usual momentum of a set but Elvis certainly did a fine job and gave blistering performances of the songs from his latest album.

I had seen this group at the Virgin Megastore April 16 perform more or less the same set list but it is just amazing the evolution in the new material in just a few weeks. Steve Nieve now added what sounded and looked like a Theramin to "Tear Off Your Own Head (It's a Doll Revolution)", wailing along at the end of the song with Elvis' vintage Fender Telecaster. Nieve was also bouncing wildly around his keyboards like a man possessed, much more than I had ever seen him previously, dressed smartly in a black Sargent Pepper style military jacket. Maybe Jools serves some particularly strong coffee. Elvis was on fine form with just the odd throat booger spoiling some of the lyrics, resplendent in his well worn leather jacket. His "little hands of concrete" style of guitar works well in concert. Davey Faragher seems to blend in better and better into the group. It must be difficult as Costello, Neive and Thomas have played with each other over 20 years but Faragher seems to fit right in without being anybody's clone. He visually blended in as well, wearing a sixties style western black shirt. They all looked like musos without any powder and puff concentrating on bashing out the eloquent new songs.

Jools Holland was very effusive with praise for Costello calling him in turn "One of the greatest songwriters..." and "One of the most intelligent men in the UK...". Elvis in turn and quite justly praised Jools for his successful and varied musical show.

There was even a ten minute interview segment with Elvis and Jools. Although some of the questions were quite banal, Elvis was very expansive in his answers and unusually charming. He even spoke of the need to bring the roll back into rock and roll to make it "sexier" preferring the term "beat" music to describe the sound the quartet made. Like Keith Richards with Charlie Watts, Elvis benefits from having one of the rare "kit" drummers, Pete Thomas who place emphasis on the beat and the rhythm rather than having the Rush mid 1970s drum set up with three floor drums (I do not recall Neil Peart having three legs) and as may other percussion instruments that he can fill the back of the stage with. Pete even sported a nicely close cropped hair cut which made it look like he and Elvis had obtained a two for one special at the hairdressers that day.

Elvis seems to have combined his recent collaborations with Burt Bachacharch, Anne Sophie Van Otter and the beat box experiments in "The Bridge that I Burned" to revitalise his pop combo work. As has been previously acknowledged, Elvis quotes from all over the place such as the lyrics to Abba's "Dancing Queen" that he enunciates with great glee during "When I Was Cruel".

His choice of ending with "Chelsea" was perfect. A familiar selection for the audience but also an affirmation that he has always remained true to his original creed of bitterness and suspicion without ever compromising for anything. Steve Nieve's off kilter organ still sounded as odd as it did when the song was first released over 24 years ago and fit in nicely with the newer material indicating the seamless continuity of the work.

It was all in all an excellent performance, although frustrating to sit through a lot of other lesser artists but well worth it thanks to the old zapper on the remote. Elvis continues to evolve and perplex long after most of his former critics have given up the ghost.