Sacramento Bee, June 2, 1991

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Costello lacks on-stage energy that marked his angry youth


David Barton

Berkeley — They say that the trouble with angry young men is that they often grow up into stodgy old bores. That may not be true, but Elvis Costello's appearance Friday night at UC Berkeley's Greek Theatre did little to disprove it.

Costello, who appeared in a flash of venom and melody during the explosive punk summer of 1977, was part of a whole pack of angry young men, and immediately established himself as its leader.

Although he has gotten little airplay over the course of 14 years and as many albums, he has always been worth hearing, writing a couple dozen songs that no one of his generation has been able to surpass: "Watching the Detectives," "Less Than Zero," "Alison," "Man Out of Time," "Brilliant Mistake" — the list is impressive if you know the songs.

But in the most disappointing performance by an first-string artist since Sting's show in January, Costello served up a ragged, disjointed and poorly turned-out show that did much to tarnish his reputation as a live performer.

Appearing with the long hair and lengthening beard that may soon earn him a place in Z.Z. Top, his receding hairline and added girth around the waist branding him as no longer young, Costello looked — and sounded — like the "lazy hippies" he and his punk compatriots came to usurp in the late '70s.

But everybody grows up, that's no crime. In fact, Costello always has been worthwhile for his desire to change and grow and not conform to anyone's expectations, and his turn to a rootsier sound in the mid-'80s and his dismissal of his original band the Attractions and use of the cream of rock's veteran musicians has revitalized his career.

But Friday night, his touring group the Rude 5 (actually four), now on its second tour, showed that it has yet to gel into a viable live unit, and its leaden performances weighted down a two-hour show that already was teetering dangerously under the weight of a preponderance of songs — eight in all — from his new album, Mighty Like A Rose.

Even when he played older material — and only four songs reached back past 1986 — he chose songs as predictable as any classic rocker: from the opening "Accidents will Happen" to a horrific, drum-heavy take on "Alison," Costello stuck to his most familiar material, perhaps to balance the new stuff.

But it didn't work. "Veronica" was as bulky as the singer himself, "Temptation" was clumsily stripped of its Booker T. soul feel and detail, and even "Pump It Up," a celebratory rocker that has assumed the status of a new wave "Twist and Shout," was an utterly predictable final encore that failed to save the show.

It was only when Costello and the band launched into an old rockabilly or even jazz cover that they caught fire, freed from the density of Costello's more recent songs and ready simply to play.

When they did, they burned. Bassist Jerry Scheff, a veteran of Elvis Presley's band and one of rockabilly's creators, drove each song with a master's confidence and invention, sparking drummer Pete Thomas (the only remaining Attraction) into some great moments on obscure roots rock covers.

Guitarist Marc Ribot, a rising star on New York's avant-garde rock scene and a former Tom Waits and Marianne Faithfull sideman, really cut loose when given the chance, as on the new album's "Playboy To A Man."

But despite the quality of the players and Costello's love of the Grateful Dead, a band known for its instrumental looseness, those moments were few and far between, and much of the time the show dragged.

There were other problems, too. Costello's voice was rough, something he blamed on Los Angeles' pollution, the lighting verged on amateurish, and the sound mix was so bass-heavy that at times the guitars and keyboards appeared like headlights in a dense tule fog of bass.

Ultimately, though, the show's slowness seemed mostly to be a function of the limitations of the material — as good as some of the new album is, it simply didn't come across very well live — and of Costello's own energy, which doesn't seem sufficient to the task of putting together a band, setlist and concert environment that will do his songs justice.

And if he doesn't care, why should we?


Tags: Greek TheatreBerkeleyWatching The DetectivesLess Than ZeroAlisonMan Out Of TimeBrilliant MistakeStingThe AttractionsThe Rude 5Mighty Like A RoseAccidents Will HappenVeronicaTemptationBooker T. & the M.G.'sPump It UpTwist And ShoutJerry ScheffElvis PresleyPete ThomasMarc RibotTom WaitsMarianne FaithfullPlayboy To A ManGrateful Dead

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Sacramento Bee, June 2, 1991


David Barton reviews Elvis Costello & The Rude 5, Friday, May 31, 1991, Greek Theatre, University Of California, Berkeley.

Images

1991-06-02 Sacramento Bee page C5 clipping 01.jpg
Clipping.

Page scan.
1991-06-02 Sacramento Bee page C5.jpg

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