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Elvis Costello has come a long way since his early days as an angry young songwriter. Playing without an opening act, Costello showed a much wider emotional range than in the past during Tuesday night's near two-and-a-half hour Universal Amphitheater concert.
It's not that this year's model Costello is totally without rancor. His extended diatribe during "God's Comic" featured acerbic invective on everything from the Exxon oil spill to MTV, television evangelists, divorce lawyers, the CIA and colorized movies.
But he has become a more generous and confident stage performer. He's less petulant and less prone to onstage tantrums than in the past, and his voice sounds stronger and more emphatic than ever.
Costello also shows his humor more; at one point he mock-threatened to fill up the concert hall with water "and let Jaws in from next door" (the Universal Studios tour) unless the audience sang along.
Much of the credit for the evening's success also belongs to Costello's backing band, the Rude 5 + 1, which included longtime session man Larry Knechtel on keyboards, Jerry Scheff on bass, and Pete Thomas, the only remaining member of Costello's longtime band The Attractions, on drums. The Rude 5's backing showed more complexity and variation than the Attractions' steamroller approach of the past.
Several members of The Rude 5 + 1 played two or three instruments during the course of the show. Guitarist Marc Ribot doubled on cornet; Steven Soles (the "+ 1") played trombone in addition to acoustic guitar, Scheff played tuba as well as bass, and percussionist Michael Blair threw in accordion when he wasn't playing marimbas, tympani or a variety of other instruments.
This multidimensional approach did a credible job of capturing many the subtleties of Costello's complex studio sound, especially on "...This Town..." and "Man Out of Time."
The tuba/trombone horn section gave "Let Him Dangle" (from Costello's recent Spike album) a wheezy Tom Waits flavor, with Costello's impassioned vocal and expressive body language helping to create an atmosphere befitting the song's chilling tone.
Talented as the band was, Costello also was impressive during his solo segment. Accompanying himself on 12-string acoustic guitar, he dug deep back in his past for his first single, "Radio Sweetheart" and played a warm, sing-along version of Van Morrison's "Jackie Wilson Said."
He finished out with two of his best songs "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" (with the audience filling in the backing vocal parts) and "Girls Talk," with Soles joining in on harmony and second guitar.
Costello also loves to throw in bits and pieces from other people's songs. Tuesday's set included snippets from "I'm a Believer," Bob Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," Georgie Fame's "Yeh Yeh" and "Baby, Please Don't Go," as well as a full, bluesy version of Willie Dixon's "Hidden Charms."
After closing the show with Nick Lowe's "Peace, Love and Understanding," Costello proceeded to take four encores.
They included a stinging version of "Leave My Kitten Alone," originally done by Johnny Preston and covered by the Beatles in their early days. Legendary session guitarist James Burton, who played for many years in Elvis Presley's band, provided the tough-edged guitar on "Kitten" and on Costello's "Mystery Dance."
Costello also saved his recent hit single "Veronica" for the encore, preceding it with a nasty swipe at manufactured British pop singer Rick Astley: "Do you remember Rick Astley / He had a great big hit, it was really ghastly."
Finally, a full-throttle "Pump It Up" ended the evening on a crowd-pleasing note, though I know at least one person who wouldn't have minded a fifth encore.
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