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Is it really nearly two decades ago that a geeky-looking bespectacled youngster called Declan Patrick MacManus burst onto the popular music scene?
Today, with a change of name and with more than a dozen top-selling albums and as many hit singles behind him, Elvis Costello is simply getting better and better and better!
Plugging several tracks from his latest LP — the superb Brutal Youth — at the sold-out Liverpool Royal Court, Costello was on spellbinding form.
Backed once more by the quite outstanding Attractions — the energetic Steve Nieve on keyboards, the powerful Pete Thomas on drums and the driving rhythms of Bruce Thomas on bass — Costello also neatly slotted in some classic numbers from his extensive back catalogue, notably the ever-beautiful "Alison" from his critically-acclaimed debut album My Aim Is True; students' favourite "Oliver's Army" culled from Armed Forces; and his memorable cover version of George Jones's "Good Year For The Roses" taken off his C & W long player Almost Blue.
Other highlights in a knockout two-hour show included "Beyond Belief," which demonstrated to the full Thomas's brilliant drumming; the poignant anti-war song "Shipbuilding" which is arguably Costello's greatest composition; the lively "High Fidelity"; the evergreen "Everyday I Write The Book"; and one of his very early efforts that has stood the test of time, "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes."
On this performance, it is difficult to see this country's finest songwriter putting down his pen for some time yet — upon that you can surely 'Trust'!
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