Review of concert at Berlin, Sendesaal on 1999-05-10
Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve
- Coni

 

Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve at Sendesaal, Berlin

10 May, 1999

Review by Coni

 

Monday night saw the end of the European leg of the Lonely World Tour. Despite the problems of the other German gigs, in Berlin Elvis and Steve managed to sell out a 1100 capacity venue. I had never been to the Grosse Sendesaal before and was surprised to see that it is actually a historical radio studio from the early 1930s, hailing back from the time when music on the radio was actually played live. Pretty spectacular, I must say, since the interior of the building is a listed site and has been left intact. Elvis clearly loved the acoustics of the place. On quite a few occasions, he stepped away from the microphone and sang straight to the audience.

Elvis started the gig with a radically reworked version of Temptation. Thus reminding the audience (which appeared to be more or less unfamiliar with any of EC's albums after Blood & Chocolate) that his career had taken quite a few turns ever since. I hadn't really expected that this rather unassuming little song, hidden somewhere in the depths of the b-side of Get Happy, had the potential to become one of Elvis finest and most touching ballads. By the time I heard the first chorus, however, I realized how wrong I had been in my lack of appreciation of Temptation. To me at least this was the biggest surprise and absolute highlight of the night. The rest of the audience were equally pleased and Temptation proved to be the perfect choice to form an immediate accord with the audience.

During Little Atoms he talked about Anglo-German relations ('Tonight we seem to be getting on fine!') and German journalists in particular ("German hack: 'Are you trying to destroy popular music the way Wagner did classical music?' Costello: 'It's just a pop album.'"). Then he repeated that guitar line from Little Atoms, which is reminiscent of the German national anthem, and continued "German hack: 'You stole that from Germany!' Costello: 'Ooh, I thought it was by Haydn.'"

As has been suggested before, the Painted from Memory songs work much better in a stripped down live version. With the exception of the title track they smoothly fit into Monday night's setlist. PFM was played immediately before the new song 'You Lie Sweetly' which, at least to these ears, is nothing to write home about, I'm afraid. After YLS Elvis pointed out that Steve was responsible for the music. He said that sincerely enough, I suppose, but I couldn't help wondering whether it was only played as a (much deserved) concession to Steve.

Anyway, after these two songs (dare I call them duds?), we heard a fine rendition of This House is Empty Now and the gig gathered much momentum when Steve left the stage and Elvis played an energetic and funny version of Pads, Paws and Claws which was even better than the one I knew from Spike. I know that you have all read about the current versions of Radio Sweetheart and God's Comic. Okay, so the jokes may be rehearsed but they are still brilliant if you hear them for the first time. I for one would have been deeply disappointed if I hadn't heard them that night and the audience clearly loved them. Steve returned and I was delighted that they played All This Useless Beauty, one of my all time favourite songs (so sue me).

Has anybody ever asked Steve what his favourite Elvis song is? I have a suspicion that Deep Dark Truthful Mirror is in his personal top ten. Steve actually sang along vehemently but I couldn't hear his voice so maybe he was only mouthing. He looked absolutely carried away and I suppose this was the most charming moment of the night. I skip forward to the second encore now. Elvis had a special treat for us. An acquaintance of mine had managed to slip into the soundcheck and had reported back that Elvis had actually rehearsed Everyday I Write The Book with Ron Sexsmith. Kudos to Paul for suggesting this the night before in Munich. Elvis introduced Ron by calling him one of the finest songwriters in the world and announced that they were playing EIWTB together for the first time ever in order to celebrate the last night of their European tour. Ron replied that EIWTB was one of his favourite songs from one of his least favourite albums. Or something along these lines, anyway. By then I was rather excited. The actual result sounded rather rough, I must say, but it felt special to witness this world premiere.

As usual, the unamplified version of Couldn't Call It Unexpected #4 was the last song of the night. His voice carried beautifully through the hall and during that fifth (!) encore, people remained standing and moved up to the stage. Easily one of the most intense musical moments of my life. It took me some time to come down after this concert. A radio DJ summed up the night nicely by saying 'There were quite a few local musicians in the audience. Unlike the enthusiastic ordinary punters, they looked rather depressed after the show as they slunk out of the venue into the warm spring rain.'