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NEW BRUNSWICK — It takes a truly irresistible beat to get a rock concert crowd at Rutgers gym up and dancing for a whole set. But the combined one-two punch of Squeeze and Elvis Costello overcame the odds Friday night.
Squeeze, the British hit band that had to wait for three albums before America discovered their quirky charms with last year's Argybargy LP, lost its founding member and ringleader when keyboardist Jools Holland left last fall. But Squeeze didn't need Holland's antics to arouse the crowd. Former Ace member Paul Carrack filled in admirably, even providing a great rendition of his old hit, "How Long."
Mixing songs from all three albums, the band performed as a tight unit before lead singer Glenn Tilbrook exhorted the crowd to its feet for the eminently danceable "Farfisa Beat." New songs from a forthcoming album followed, including "Yap Yap Yap," during which it was absolutely impossible to keep still.
The highlight of the set came when the stage lights went out during the encore of "Misadventure." The band kept playing and people kept dancing, even those up in the balcony.
This was Squeeze at their best — delivering their patented dual vocals over a beat that makes you throw back your head and kick up your feet in wild abandon. Which is good, because the lyrics don't make much sense anyway.
Elvis Costello and the Attractions also make you dance but they also make you listen. One can't ignore all the publicity Elvis has generated, or manufactured, in the four years since he burst onto the scene with a borrowed name and appearance and an album full of original songs. His manipulation of the media has done as much for his career as his recordings, but that's fine. Public relations is a real part of show business, only Elvis doesn't try to hide it.
At Rutgers, Costello was the most congenial that audiences have ever seen him. In the two years since his last tour, Elvis has, quite simply, mellowed. No longer the bitter man (success can do that), his twisted irony is now wrought with as much sadness as venom. Costello even says "Thank You" between songs.
Never one to follow convention ("I'll do anything to confuse the enemy" he told us in "The Beat"), Costello opened with a ballad, "Just a Memory," and then played three songs from the just-released Trust album out of his next six selections.
After thoroughly rousing versions of "This Year's Girl," "The Great Imposter" and "Clubland," Martin Belmont, who plays guitar with the Rumour and appears on Trust, came on for "New Lace Sleeves." Belmont, whose abilities at lead and rhythm guitars are well documented on Graham Parker's albums, freed Elvis to concentrate on his vocals, which is what he used to do anyway. But now Belmont was there to fill in, making the Attractions a full band again and that
much easier to which to dance.
Costello didn't let up all evening. The 30-song, 90-minute set (almost twice the length of previous concerts) was delivered virtually non-stop.
The furious pace sapped Elvis' voice, not his best trait anyway, but the strength of the material and the incredibly powerful and professional delivery more than compensated. There's always a lot of information, a lot to listen to when Elvis plays. During "Temptation," it was possible to separate five equally intriguing musical parts. One could follow Steve Nieve's squiggly organ, Bruce Thomas' bass line, Elvis' vocal melody. Belmont's guitar riff or Pete Thomas' drums. Combined, they were transcending.
As a closer, Elvis reached for even more energy with the knockout combination of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" and "Radio, Radio," before ending, of course, with a new ballad, "Big Sister's Clothes."
Squeeze's Tilbrook joined Costello for the encore, "From a Whisper to a Scream." Then Elvis tucked a verse and chorus of Stevie Wonder's "Master Blaster" into the middle of "Watching the Detectives."
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