Speechless
I'm not often rendered speechless. But after seeing Elvis and The Imposters for two-and-a-half hours last night, I was completely lost for words. It is the best EC concert I've ever seen, in Norway or elsewhere. I kid you not. Elvis is more fierce than he was in the late 70's, his singing voice is just getting better and better, the gig was a veritable juke-box of songs from his entire back-catalogue, and not ONCE did I get the impression that he was going through the motions. The often tiresome stand-up comedy act of earlier gigs are gone, he spends his two-and-a-half-hour onstage racing through his back-catalogue like there is no tomorrow, only slowing down a bit for some of the awesome ballads. And The Imposters are now simply one of the tightest combos in the biz. I first saw them at the Royal Festival Hall Meltdown concert in London in 2001 (wasn't that just a great night), then at the London Hippodrome when WIWC was released, when they sounded under-rehearsed.They played at Rockefeller in Oslo two years ago, and had improved much by that time, but IMO, they didn't have as good an album as TDM to support at that time. Besides, Elvis was also intent on playing with his new electronic toys, and The Mad Professor really went ga-ga with his theremin. Not to everyone's taste.....But this time around it's a tight rock and roll unit on stage. Dave is both a brilliant bass-player AND a good harmony/backing-singer, Steve's theremin-doodling is kept to a minimum, consentrating of truly awesome playing on the piano, organ, melodica, harmonica. And Pete Thomas is the best drummer in rock and roll music, non?
I deliberately forgot paper and pencil, opting for sheer enjoyment, thus the
set-list as follows is in no particular order, but this IS all the songs
they played.
The first 5 are in correct order, though, and it's part of why I think it's
the best EC show I've been to:
BLUE CHAIR
TEAR OFF YOUR OWN HEAD (IT'S THE DOLL REVOLUTION)
NEXT TIME ROUND
BEYOND BELIEF
RADIO RADIO
(NOT A BAD OPENING-SALVO, IS IT..???)
BUTTON MY LIP
COUNTRY DARKNESS
EITHER SIDE OF THE SAME TOWN
DARK END OF THE STREET
BEDLAM
THE DELIVERY MAN
MONKEY TO MAN
NOTHING CLINGS LIKE IVY
HEART-SHAPED BRUISE
NEEDLE TIME
THE SCARLET TIDE
WHEN I WAS CRUEL
HIDDEN CHARMS
LOVE THAT BURNS
KINDER MURDER
UNCOMPLICATED
BRILLIANT MISTAKE
SUIT OF LIGHTS
HIGH FIDELITY
MOTEL MATCHES
OLIVER'S ARMY
WHAT SO FUNNY 'BOUT PEACE,LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING ?
PUMP IT UP
WATCHING THE DETECTIVES
I DON'T WANT TO GO TO CHELSEA
BLAME IT ON CAIN
ALISON/SUSPICIOUS MINDS
HIGHLIGHTS:
COUNTRY DARKNESS is more guitar-driven than the album version and benefits hugely from this. One of his best ballads EVER.
HEART-SHAPED BRUISE, Dave is singing great harmony vocals, stepping in for Ms.Emmylou Harris (EC: "They wouldn't let the cow-girl into this country..."
SUIT OF LIGHTS is stunning.
BRILLIANT MISTAKE from semi-acoustic to electric, probably close to how it would've sounded if The Attractions had played it on KOA.
THE SCARLET TIDE It's the last encore and it's the most beautiful version I've heard of it so far. Again, Dave sings the harmony-vocals, Steve adds a beautiful melodica-theme and Pete offers some gentle playing on the tom-toms During the song, the crowd was utterly silent and the post-song roar was thunderous. Goosebumps-time.
MOTEL MATCHES One of my favorite EC tunes. It's awesome.
DOWNERS:
WHEN I WAS CRUEL Not a great song to begin with, IMO, a bit better without the samples and electronic doodling of past,but I still wish he'd drop it from the show
NEEDLE TIME Ditto, not a great song, doesn't work live, drop it.