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Saturday night saw the return of Elvis Costello's infamous Spectacular Spinning Songbook, which he originally brought to the Atlanta Civic Center in 1987 (I was there. It was great). After all these years, from the snarl of '77's My Aim Is True, through the profound lyricism of Imperial Bedroom, the one-offs with Burt Bacharach, the Brodsky Quartet, Allen Toussaint and the recent Sugarcanes, Costello has proven time and time again he can do whatever he sets his mind to doing. He owns the misses as stoically as he takes the hits, so if he wants to give the big wheel another spin, who are we to question him? Dusting the cobwebs off one of his most unique concert props, Costello puts the evening's set list (or part of it, anyway) into the hands of the fans.
In spite of his well-documented disdain for the somewhat stuffy Chastain Park vibe, Costello was a gentleman throughout the set, opening with a four-song roar, then donning his top hat and becoming the slightly demented host of the Wheel portion of the show. With 40 songs and categories posted on a large spinning wheel, Costello invited audience members up to give it a whirl and select the next number in the set, and if they landed on the lucky "Joker" they got to pick any song from the wheel. They also had the luxury of sitting at a small bar set up on stage or dancing in the Go-Go cage during their song. As Costello and two lovely dancers pulled "contestants" from the crowd to spin the wheel, the Imposters vamped on instrumental lounge versions of his tunes and classics such as the apropos "Blood, Sweat & Tears" and "Spinning Wheel."
When one contestant's spin landed on "Cash," Costello covered Johnny Cash's "Cry, Cry, Cry," from his own Almost Blue album, then launched into "Town Cryer." The "I Can Sing a Rainbow" spin produced three songs with colors in the titles — "Green Shirt," "Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes" and a sing-along chorus of "Purple Rain." Throughout the evening, Costello also managed to fit in the Miracles' "Tracks of My Tears," "His Latest Flame" by the other Elvis, and a rousing "And Your Bird Can Sing," originally by the Beatles.
Sometimes the groove was a bit disjointed, but Costello stuck fairly close to the format. There were a few incidents of "cheating," but in order to get in the essentials, he needed some leeway. Even with some slow moments as the wheel contestants were being picked or the band prepared for a song, the crowd never seemed restless or bored.
Given the current choices on the 2011 version of the wheel, he didn't change it too much in the past 25 years. Costello has an amazing 30 albums worth of material to choose from, so he could play for days and never repeat a tune. But for the most part the fans want the classics — "Alison," "Watching the Detectives," "Mystery Dance," etc. Fortunately for those of us who actually like the deep cuts and odd covers, Costello takes the standards and very nicely reworks them into surprising medleys, whips out some modified arrangements, throws in a surprise or three, and makes the old seem new again. While it would have been much easier for Costello and the Imposters to simply do a straightforward greatest hits tour, he chose instead to liven it up. There are a few folks in Atlanta tonight who will have a great story to tell for years to come, and the rest of us have a great memory of a great concert.
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