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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — No, it's not a time warp or the second coming of "The King," what it is, is Elvis Costello.
Elvis played Memphis last year on his Punch The Clock Tour, and this year he returned to the site of Graceland to give an encore performance. Opening for Costello was Nick Lowe.
Lowe has put together a band featuring the likes of Paul Carrack on keyboards and John Hiatt on guitar. The band puts on a great show that resembles an organized jam session.
Nick sang a couple of his hits including a buzzing version of "Raging Eyes" and "Half a Boy and Half a Man," which are on his new album, Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit. Hiatt exhibited his premier guitar work on several songs... even "How Long," a song Carrack recorded in 1974 when he played with the band Ace. Carrack also performed "I Need You" and "Tempted," which was a huge hit for him while he played with Squeeze.
According to Lowe, Costello runs a tight ship, so his band played for exactly 45 minutes, then left the stage so the roadies could prepare for the main attraction.
At 9 p.m., Costello, dressed in all black except for a magenta jacket and red shoes, mounted the stage along with his band The Attractions. They brought the audience to its feet immediately with their first tune. "Let Them All Talk." The crowd was knowledgeable of Costello's music and enjoyed singing along with him on the first couple of songs.
The audience once again came to its feet when Costello took a jab at MTV and the heavy metal group Twisted Sister, who is scheduled to play Memphis in a few days. "Worthless Thing," a song from the Goodbye Cruel World album, is an attack on the video industry, rock-a-billy and Elvis impersonators. Costello introduced the song by saying, "We've got little boxes in the corners of our living rooms bringing us people saying things like 'We're not gonna take it'. The audience loved this part.
Earlier this year Costello toured solo and played acoustical guitar in clubs around the country. At this concert he dismissed The Attractions and, alone with his Gibson guitar and a single spotlight, thrilled the Mud Island audience and put everyone in a mellow mood.
After his solo work, Costello brought his band back and performed "Everyday I Write the Book," and "The Only Flame in Town."
For his encore tunes, Costello sang "Alison" and then his crowd-pleaser, "Red Shoes.
The Goodbye Cruel World Tour is reminiscent of what rock 'n' roll used to be — the piano and guitar work of Lowe's group and the play of Costello's band are eerily like those of rock's early players — Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. When rock was young, the music was the cry of the frustrated youth of the fifties and sixties. This early music was simple in composition and meaning, but the promise of its importance as the medium of the everyday man was evident.
Elvis Costello, the Father of New Wave. has given the world rock 'n' roll with energy, emotion and essence.
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