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Elvis Costello and his three-man group played an unforgettable concert last night.
While others in the music industry rise and fall, experiment or prevaricate, Costello continues roaring along his path of writing startling lyrics and memorable songs — and performing them better on stage than you could hope for.
He looked as anonymous as ever, a grey-suited man wearing glasses with just a pair of gold boots to give the game away that this is a music star and not just the man next door.
The trick worked perfectly. Costello and The Attractions have such a full sound and positive performance that an unimpressive appearance is a positive advantage. There aren't any distractions from the music.
And he certainly piled on the music last night, number quickly following number in a rich succession of masterpieces which spanned his career.
There wasn't a dull moment and when he wound up his encore with a lengthy exploration of the subtle "Watching The Detectives" — just about the only song which lasted more than three or four minutes he'd rounded off the show perfectly.
I didn't envy warm-up act Dave and the Mistakes in their difficult task of preceding Costello. Dave is American and the Mistakes are Swedish, if you can work that one out.
They did extremely well, Dave and his girl co-singer jollying the audience along nicely and the band adding enough power to win a few calls for an encore. The calls weren't answered, of course. Costello was on his way and few wished to delay his arrival.
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