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Literally thousands of bands of all different styles have proclaimed having "something for everyone," but usually few deliver. Elvis Costello, on the other hand, always has something that virtually everyone can enjoy. His concert Wednesday night at the Austin Opera House was no exception. The entire audience enjoyed Costello's tight, fast-paced set of offbeat, sometimes improvisational music, taken largely from his latest release, Goodbye Cruel World.
For a more seasoned taste, Costello offered a strange mesh of modern and '60s style keyboards combined with blaring saxophone (the latter often reminiscent of the "big band sound" of the '40s). Costello dedicated "Worthless Thing" to a time "when girls smeared lipstick to the sound of squealing saxophones."
Costello has an intense quality about him, which is occasionally overpowering to watch. His loud, grinding guitar playing and loose manner cannot successfully mask the calculating look in his eyes (nor could the dark, bug-eye glasses he donned halfway through the show). Only his occasional bursts of light humor detract from his almost malevolent personality.
Strangely enough, Costello's seriousness onstage seems only to encourage his audience to dance, frolic and have a good time.
Costello closed the show assisted by lead-off Nick Lowe and then with Lowe's keyboardist, Paul Carrack, in a pair of duets.
Lowe's opening set, with his new ensemble The Cowboy Outfit, was a powerful 45 minutes that included older favorites like "Crackin' Up," and new songs such as his latest single, "Half A Boy and Half A Man." Paul Carrack also performed some of his own songs including "Tempted" and a very upbeat version of "How Long Has This Been Goin' On," which the Outfit riddled with guitar solos and ended with an entertaining bit of reggae rhythms. Lowe was dressed, of course, in a cowboy outfit.
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