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On Jan. 27 in Blacksburg, Elvis Costello shocked a lot of people. He was nice. Not only was he nice, but he was playing a good concert and was enjoying himself. This is such a change from the past that it makes one wonder if maybe he was sick that night. After all, Elvis has never enjoyed a reputation as a nice guy.
His last U.S. tour was characterized by bad sound and short shows with no encores. These factors, coupled with Elvis' attitude and demeanor onstage, made some fans so angry that they burned his concert posters after the show. So it should come as no surprise that a good portion of the audience in Blacksburg that night were expecting to enjoy Squeeze (the opening act) more than Elvis.
From the moment Squeeze walked on stage it was obvious they were glad to be there and were ready to have a good time while they played for over 45 minutes, inspiring quite a few audience members to run to the front of the hall and dance. Squeeze's music varied from straight-out dance tunes to boogie-woogie numbers highlighting their talented keyboardist, recently acquired from the group Ace.
Two of the group's best offerings were back-to-back performances of "Pulling Mussels From the Shell," the energetic opening number from Argybargy and "Another Nail In My Heart," from that same album. Squeeze came back for one encore and left the 3,000 people in Blacksburg feeling they were ready for anything.
Twenty minutes later Costello and the Attractions took the stage to a thunderous ovation, with Elvis saying how glad they were to be playing there. The band then opened with "New Amsterdam," a rocker from the Get Happy album. By the time the song was over, all fears of a bad show were banished.
The sound was good, Elvis' vocals were solid and clear, the band was together and nobody was in a bad mood. Elvis led the band through songs from all his albums (including the just-released Trust) without a hitch except to introduce a song or thank the audience — hardly a Costello trait.
While all the songs were well done, "Alison," stood out as one of the evening's high points. Early in the show, Costello pulled another surprise by announcing, "We'd like to bring out a special guest now. Please welcome Mr. Martin Belmont of the Rumour." With that, the tall angular guitarist from the band that's best known for its backup work for Southside Johnny strode onstage and struck up the opening for an upbeat version of "The Beat."
Belmont remained for the duration of the set and added useful power on such songs as "Radio, Radio" and "(I don't want to go to) Chelsea." Belmont also freed Elvis to play lead guitar — this added greater versatility to the show and made the sound a great deal fuller than it would have been.
Elvis and the Attractions presented their audience with a virtual smorgasbord of tunes ranging from upbeat classics like "Accidents Will Happen" and "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" to a ballad that "all the new wave groups like the B-52's play," called "I've Got Your Picture, He's Got You." According to Elvis, it "was written eight years before I was born — in 1962." It received the kind of treatment only a master like Elvis could give it, with a quiet guitar and Steve Naive's sensitive keyboards cushioning the urgency of the seemingly heartbroken Elvis' urgent vocals.
Throughout the show one noticed more and more that Elvis had changed. He seemed to have put on weight, he talked with the audience, and once during a new song called "Strict Time" he danced around the stage during the instrumental break. Besides these, rumors had been circulating all that day (and were confirmed from the stage that night) that Elvis had showed up the night before at a small bar called Daddy's Money and played an acoustic set for the patrons there.
And he even came back for two encores. The first was an artfully extended version of "Watching The Detectives" with an echo on the vocal solo and with a short cover of Bob Marley's "Jammin'" squeezed in the middle. The second encore was a long, energetic version of "Pump It Up" during which Elvis introduced the Attractions, each of whom took a short solo. With the encores thrown in, Elvis and the Attractions with Belmont played two hours, another change from the old days. After seeing such a phenomenal show, one can only hope the new days are here for good.
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