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If you didn't catch the Elvis Costello / Squeeze concert Sunday at the War Memorial Gym then you didn't really miss that much.
Everyone's expectations were high for this concert. Elvis Costello is one of the few consistently interesting figures in the world of popular music today and Squeeze have a reputation for bright and vibrant power pop.
Squeeze proved to be just another run of the mill formula "new wave" band and were plagued by a truly horrible sound system that they could hardly be blamed for.
Squeeze did have tight harmonies and a punchy, rhythmic attack that turned even the most mediocre material into something danceable. But the appeal soon more off as one song blended into another. Try as they might, the lead vocalists never really moved the crowd the may they should have.
The crowd greeted the band's hits with acclaim but were generally unmoved by Squeeze's lacklustre performance. The nadir of the evening came when the band's new keyboardist was introduced. Formerly of the truly nauseating English pub rock band Ace, this individual proceeded to inflict a version of Ace's one hit, "How Long (Has This Been Going On)" on the assembled groovers. So much for new wave. These guys should become greengrocers or something else Socially Useful.
Now for Elvis. Everybody's favorite myopia victim was up to his usual tricks Sunday night, daring the audience to travel with him through the valley of neurotic despair. Unfortunately a lot of us weren't interested in coming along for the ride.
Is Elvis in a rut? He certainly didn't want us to think so, playing only new material during the first part of the show. But the crowd found it difficult to get into the new songs and had to put up with the same abysmal sound system that had been the bane of Squeeze. You couldn't even understand what Elvis was saying between songs.
"High Fidelity" was one of the more outstanding numbers played by Elvis and the Attractions during their first set. The Attractions were uniformly excellent and must rank as one of the most solid units in rock today. If only they gave Elvis' guitar more prominence in the mix...
But it was only after Elvis and Co. were brought back by the crowd for the first encore that things started to move. "Oliver's Army," "Watching the Detectives," and "Pump It Up" finally injected some juice into the crowd. Too bad the whole evening wasn't as good as the last 20 minutes or so.
Elvis still shows too much contempt for his audiences. A lot of people were wondering at the end of the night why they paid $9 for perhaps half an hour's worth of decent entertainment.
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