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SAN FRANCISCO — To the general public, Elvis Costello is just some punky Buddy Holly look-alike who appears occasionally in People magazine, but hardly ever, ever, on the radio. A cult figure.
To fans of "new music" new-wave, punk, whatever you want to call the music that came attached to the punk revolt of 1977 — he is the ambitious man who showed that a punk band could play well, write melodic songs, and incorporate traditional forms from country music to jazz ballads into rock, and not lose the snarl and snap. A one-man Beatles of punk.
In fact, during his more than two-hour show at the Warfield Theatre recently — the first of three sold-out shows — the ghost of the Beatles was everywhere. It first appeared as the opening number — a version of the Lennon-McCartney shuffle "Leave My Kitten Alone" — through what seemed like dozens of musical references, from backward drum rolls and vocal quotes from George Harrison's "It's All Too Much" on "Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head" to the loving version of Gerry and the Pacemakers' Liverpudlian reminiscence, "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey."
But it is that tightly wound, explosive punk energy that animates Costello's music, from ballads such as "Kid About It" and "I Want You" to full-bore rave-ups, such as "Lipstick Vogue" and "Pump It Up."
At points, the music made by Costello and his always-excellent three-piece band, the Attractions, was so fierce that the capacity audience of 2,300 seemed almost stunned.
What makes Costello and the Attractions so encouraging is that nine years on, they have remained so volatile while managing to add more and more elements, from Beatlesque flourishes to Patsy Cline's vocal inflections.
In the show, the band's stripped-down sound served the new songs from Costello's just-released 12th album, Blood & Chocolate, particularly well.
Instead of the murky tracks on the album, songs such as "I Hope You're Happy Now," "I Want You," and especially "Blue Chair" were sharp and hot. The only real failure in that sense was the final encore, "Poor Napoleon," on which the band was augmented by Costello's new wife, Cait O'Riordan, on guitar, a performance that ended in a blaring swirl of distortion and strobe lights. But it certainly made an impression on the stunned audience.
Except for the extravagant, and generally overplayed, keyboards of Steve Nieve, the group setup was simple. Costello played an unprocessed guitar, stretching out for some fancy rhythm playing on "Shabby Doll" and "Watching the Detectives," and bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas continue to be one of the most inventive rhythm sections in rock.
Costello, an admirer of the great country and jazz singers, pursued his vocals with a particular relish, milking "Kid About It," "New Lace Sleeves" and "I Want You" for all the panache he could. He also twisted his tongue through such verbal assaults as "Lipstick Vogue," "The Beat," and "Beyond Belief."
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