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Costello proved on Wednesday night that shouty old punks can easily slip into their tuxes to deliver smouldering songs from the wrong side of midnight.
Costello and his former Attractions keyboardist Steve Nieve have been on the road with the Lonely World tour for three years now, playing from Italian opera houses to Japanese rock festivals.
At the NCH, Nieve's very grand piano took up most of the stage, while Elvis regularly put his guitar aside to sing songs from his Burt Bacharach collaboration Painted From Memory.
Stripped of the album's lush orchestration and back-up choirs, new songs like "This House is Empty Now" and "Toledo" stood out as beautiful vignettes in a set that spanned his 22-year career.
But the show was no melancholics' convention. "I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea," "This Year's Girl" and "Watching the Detectives" all got raucous outings. After four encores, babysitters and last buses were forgotten about as the audience stood for another ovation.
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