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Elvis in Hartford
Tom Nicolosi
Fingers fly and vocal chords soar
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Patrons of Hartford's Hard Rock Cafe were treated to a solid almost non-stop performance by one of the most famous purveyors of the so called "new wave," Elvis Costello. The atmosphere within the club before Costello and his band, The Attractions, took to the stage was one of relaxed anticipation. People were milling about the spacious concert room or ordering drinks from the bar. Then, just when it seemed that the wait was getting a bit too long, the house lights dimmed and Costello and the band walked onto the stage without introduction. What happened after that can only be compared to a blitzkrieg. One after the other he sang his songs with the crisp, clear voice that is the driving force of his music.
As far as theatrics go, this show had little of that. The only trace of glitter was Costello's My Aim Is True checkerboard suit coat and pink tie which were quickly discarded in the warm building. Music was Costello's main attraction. During his rendition of the little known modern classic "I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea" there were times when it appeared that Costello was going to burn his fingers on the strings of his electric bass. The most amazing part of the performance was Costello's manipulations of his vocal chords. Nowhere else have I seen one person sing so rapidly both the lead vocals and the backups at the same time!
Most of the material that Costello played was from his latest album Armed Forces, yet scattered among this was some of his more memorable stuff from past recordings such as "Watching the Detectives," "Alison," "The Beat," and "You Belong to Me." All the music that was played came across loud and clear and sounded almost as crisp as the studio versions — in fact it seemed that there was little difference between Elvis' live music and his studio music.
As encores, Costello did spirited versions of "Mystery Dance" and the classic "Pump It Up." During his performance of "Pump It Up" Costello was at his most intense pace. As he strode off the stage drenched in perspiration everybody wanted to hear more. It seemed that they just couldn't get enough of Costello in Hartford. He came on stage abruptly, put on a great show and then left. There was no pretense and nothing extraneous. There was just good rock music as only Elvis Costello could play it.
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