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Whatever happened to Elvis Costello — the great new talent?
Somewhere along the line, he got boring.
Is this the man who recorded an album of the year not so long ago?
He is hard to recognise. His once spindly frame has become well-padded and even his glasses now seem to get lost in his face.
At the Victoria Hall, Hanley, last night, he opened with "Pump It Up" and that is precisely what he did for the next hour — churning out the same old sound in a fast-moving drone.
The brilliant "Watching the Detectives" provided a momentary relief from the monotony but we had to wait until the encore for that.
Even "Oliver's Army" and "Radio, Radio" got drowned somewhere between the stage and the audience — a great shame.
On record, the old stuff is infinitely better than the new but last night it all seemed to get dragged down to the same level.
The size of the audience said a lot. The hall was only half-full. At his best, Elvis Costello deserves to bring the house down.
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