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Returning to what he called "the scene of the crime" nearly two years after a "terrifying," below-par performance here sparked a temporary retreat from the stage while he recovered from a cancer operation, Elvis Costello had a lot to prove.
I won't waste any time: he proved it. This was Costello at (nearly) full power, blasting through a massive cross-section of material from more than four decades and over 30 albums.
From the off, this was a different proposition from 2018. His most recent album, the Grammy-winning Look Now, is his best for years. But the tour is called "Just Trust" and Costello says that just means that audiences should "just trust" The Imposters to deliver the best show possible. Then again, Trust is also the title of an often-overlooked 1981 album of his. Eccentrically, he played more songs from that than from Look Now.
Indeed, he started off with two from Trust. "Strict Time," with its ominously nagging rhythms, followed by a strident "Clubland" before ace keyboards man Steve Nieve triggered a pounding electronic pulse as the spine of a brilliant "Green Shirt."
Costello, in a glittery black jacket, dominated an impressively lit stage flicking between blues, greens and reds of almost neon intensity. Three screens projected graphics, snatches of his old music videos and animated fragments of song lyrics. It all looked very impressive.
It sounded even better. As well as Nieve's constant invention, the brilliance of Pete Thomas's drums and the implacable bass of Davey Faragher were a hefty foundation for dynamite backing singers Kitten Kuroi and Briana Lee.
The gig really took flight with another Trust number, a reworked "Watch Your Step," on which Costello's singing elicited huge cheers. His voice was impressive on the more dramatic, expressive and loud passages, which made the gig's one significant flaw — his struggle with many quieter verses — all the more puzzling. It was probably just a sore throat. The overwhelming power still won out.
He delivered an impressive "American Without Tears" — with its namedrops for the Sheriff of Nottingham and Little John — and "Good Year For The Roses" from the piano. But the rest of the time he sparked mayhem on electric guitar.
"(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea" and "Watching The Detectives" were breathtaking, showcasing the relentlessness and flexibility of this fierce band. "Just About Glad" shook the place down, while the wonderful newer songs showed his range: "Photographs Can Lie," a Costello lyric set to a melody by Burt Bacharach, sounded like a classic from a bygone era. EC original "Suspect My Tears" wasn't far behind. Also great was "Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter," written with Carole King.
Kuroi and Lee lit up "From A Whisper To A Scream," utterly transforming the bits originally performed by Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook.
We also got an angry, vital "Radio, Radio," an uplifting "High Fidelity," a fragile "Alison," a spine-tingling "Everyday I Write The Book," a pile-driving "Pump It Up," an "Oliver's Army" including an entire new verse nervily referencing Enniskillen and, to close, a blazing version of Nick Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding." And he did "Shipbuilding," overcoming the uncertainties of his voice by stepping away from the microphone to sing unamplified for an eerily heartbreaking coda.
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