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Around town last week was the bespectacled chameleon of rock 'n' roll, Elvis Costello who has, in his life, undergone more new departures that the PD Election Manifesto.
Elvis, aka Declan MacManus, Napoleon Dynamite and sundry other titles has been solely responsible for some of the best live shows ever witnessed in Ireland.
The National Stadium was no exception. However, any die-hard fans expecting a litany of greatest hits were doomed to disappointment.
His former band The Attractions had been replaced by The Confederates, which contained more stars than Saturday Night at the Palladium; the band included Elvis Presley's legendary guitarist James Burton and Jim Keltner on drums, who had played with John Lennon.
The set was a blistering display of Elvis virtuosity at a whole new range of styles, from blues, rhythm and blues, soul to country.
Most of the material was taken from his latest albums King of America and Blood & Chocolate; the solo number, "I Want You" produced an uncanny silence, as if Elvis was playing to an empty hall, rather than 2,000 people spellbound by the raw emotion of the song.
It would have been easier to close a free bar on Rugby International weekend, then to stop the show in the Stadium. Elvis stayed onstage — a la Springsteen — for almost three hours, continuing even under the full house lights.
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