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When he sprung himself on the unsuspecting public in 1977, Elvis Costello was unpleasant, spidery, angry, youthful and exciting.
When he launched himself at a sellout crowd at the Orpheum on Tuesday — for his first performance with his band, The Attractions, in eight years Costello was dignified, mature, in control ... and exciting.
With hard-earned wisdom and forgiving generosity, he's called his current LP Brutal Youth. It reunites him with The Attractions — Pete Thomas, Bruce Thomas and Steve Nieve — and also consciously evokes the sound and some of the fury of their earliest records.
Yet Costello isn't a brutal youth. If youth and idealism are no match for age and treachery (or experience), Brutal Youth might exploit The Attractions and their involvement with this year's Elvis. The songs, however, are more carefully considered and tend to show up an older number such as "No Action" or "Radio, Radio" as the petulant, impatient ranting of a younger man who wanted the world and wanted it now.
"I remember the old days," Costello said with a mock sigh at the Orpheum. "They're gone."
But not forgotten. Costello and the Attractions flew into their set which after three encores stretched to nearly two hours with "No Action," "High Fidelity," "The Beat" and "Beyond Belief" before turning to the new "London's Brilliant Parade," "This Is Hell," "Kinder Murder" and "Rocking Horse Road."
Even the unsympathetic sound mix early on couldn't muddy sparkling playing by the two Thomases, the florid keyboard style of Nieve or Costello's go-for-the-throat guitar playing.
Fans thrilled by hearing such keystones of Costello's early career as "Accidents Will Happen" or "Watching The Detectives" also heard songs that showed an adroit writer still in touch with his muse.
As if to prove the point, Elvis juxtaposed "You Belong to Me" with "Just About Glad," "Mystery Dance" with "13 Steps," confident that The Attractions were the components that joined the new and old together.
During his interview that preceded this first concert, Costello was asked if, like The Who, The Attractions were more than the sum of each member's individual contributions to the sound of the band.
"It's difficult to say," he replied in his usual, carefully considered way. "To say that they are greater than the sum of its parts is to deny them their individual achievements. At the same time, we each have our different quirks that are recognizable as this band. So, I suppose I'd like to have it both ways."
At the Orpheum, Elvis Costello got it.
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