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Seeing Elvis Costello share a bill with Nick Lowe is always a special occasion for anyone at all familiar with Costello's storied past, holding out the promise of the two old friends sharing the spotlight before the night is through.
On Father's Day at Arizona Financial Theatre in Phoenix, that moment arrived as Costello was nearing the end of a brilliant, unpredictable performance whose more surreal moments were further enhanced by the sweltering heat inside a theater whose air conditioning unit appeared to have taken the holiday off to spend time with its family.
After leading the Imposters in a breathless trip through "Pump It Up," Costello welcomed the tour mate who produced his first five albums back on stage to trade off verses on the last two songs — "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" (a bit of a given for those who know who wrote it) and "Alison."
Lowe even did the monologue from his original recording of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" with British pub-rock legends Brinsley Schwarz: "We must have peace. More peace and love. If just for the children. Of a new generation."
As a longtime fan of both acts, I may have lost it at "We must have peace."
Lowe also sounded right at home slipping into the spotlight on the second verse of "Alison," providing a more wistful reading of the lines, especially "Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking when I hear the silly things that you say."
Costello and Lowe arrived in Phoenix on the wonderfully titled We're All Going on a Summer Holiday Tour, which takes its name from the opening line of "The Beat" from the headliner's iconic second album, This Year's Model.
"The Beat" was one of several songs he did from This Year's Model (including two that only showed up on one side of the Atlantic or the other) — the previously mentioned "Pump It Up," "Radio, Radio" and "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea."
Costello also led the Imposters, whose ranks have once again been fleshed out for the road with guest guitarist Charlie Sexton, through three highlights of his first release, My Aim Is True, setting the tone for the show with a rollicking "Mystery Dance."
And yet, it never felt much like a greatest hits tour or a case of someone resting on his laurels.
He dusted off four songs from last year's model, The Boy Named If — including a transcendent "What If I Can't Give You Anything But Love?" and a magnificently wounded "Magnificent Hurt."
He also whisper-sang his way with sinister glee through the chorus of a brilliantly delivered "Hetty O'Hara Confidential" from his previous release, Hey Clockface, and led the Imposters through a swinging rendition of the unreleased "Like Licorice on Your Tongue."
What really made it nothing like a greatest hits show, though, was the way he and his bandmates approached those older classics — taking liberties, if you will, with the arrangements and the phrasing of his lyrics.
These were not Bob Dylan-level reinventions, mind you, where you're halfway through the song before the crowd applauds whatever tell-tale sign reveals the song's identity.
They were just different enough to keep it interesting for the musicians, three of whom have been on board since the Attractions days — Costello, keyboard wizard Steve Nieve and drummer Pete Thomas with resident "new guy since 2001" Davey Faragher in for Bruce Thomas on bass.
"Accidents Will Happen" was transported to a jazz club, a tortured rendition that found Nieve accompanying the singer on piano and the other players sitting that one out until the haunting psychedelic outro.
Costello sat ("so I can get a good look into your wicked eyes") for "Almost Blue," playing loose with the phrasing on a somehow more dramatic version than the one on Imperial Bedroom and bringing the jazzy arrangement to a close with a line from "All or Nothing At All," a song made popular by Frank Sinatra in the '40s.
"Waiting for the End of the World" was reimagined in the film-noir shadows, Costello never actually delivering the singalong chorus in full and Nieve adding train sounds on his keyboards to complement the lyrics.
They spent much of the night stretching out the arrangements, at times straying into territory more associated with the Grateful Dead.
Costello himself has evolved through the years into quite the adventurous lead guitarist, landing on the perfect unexpected note more times in one performance than most lead guitarists get to in a lifetime.
Nieve's playing was as awe-inspiring as ever, if occasionally overpowered in the mix. The man remains an unsung genius. And Sexton is clearly no slouch in the guitar department.
There were moments when the vocals didn't land exactly as intended but overall Costello was in fine voice and remains one of the more expressive singers of his generation.
In a review of the opening night of this year's tour, Costello was quoted as saying, "We're altering songs in some foolish and fantastic ways." At this point in the tour, it was that willingness to be revealed as fools that led to many of the concert's most fantastic moments.
Other highlights ranged from an epic rendition of "When I Was Cruel No. 2" with Nieve on melodica at first before slipping the melody to ABBA's "Dancing Queen" into the arrangement on piano, to Costello's breathtaking delivery on the Paul McCartney co-write "So Like Candy."
Through it all, Costello's sense of showmanship came shining through, setting up songs with a seemingly endless supply of hilarious anecdotes.
His tale of being made to tour with Eddie Money because they shared a U.S. label was off to a crowd-pleasing start before it even dovetailed into how Bruce Springsteen's early songs informed Costello's idealized vision of America.
"Where I went to the seaside, in Liverpool, when I a kid, there was just a sad donkey tied to a post," he recalled.
"So all these songs about Roy Orbison playing on the radio, it sounded like incredible magic to me ... I was so impressed by all this American romanticism."
So they show up in Asbury Park on that first tour.
"I thought, 'Bruce Springsteen is a (expletive) genius.' He made it sound like the most magical place on earth ... And you know what I found at the end of the boardwalk? A telescope. And you put 25 cents in it and you could occasionally see the sea. And there's a (expletive) donkey tied to a post."
He also reflected a bit on his rep as the angry young man of the New Wave era.
"I was a little bit vexed," he said. "I wasn't really angry. I was a bit miffed."
Best of all, it felt like he was having fun. And that enthusiasm was contagious.
Nick Lowe was his usual charming self in an opening set that found him backed by the men in the Mexican wrestling masks, Los Straitjackets.
"Our boss, Mr. Costello, has engaged us to warm up the house, in show-biz parlance, which really means play some music while you guys find your seats," Lowe explained with expert comic timing.
He set the tone with his first solo record, "So It Goes," done in a much more leisurely fashion than the original, following through with two more early classics, "Raging Eyes" and a "Without Love" that really played to that song's country leanings.
Lowe's performance really hit its stride, though, when he moved on to material from the albums he's released since settling into a gentlemanly vibe on 1995's The Impossible Bird, from the melancholy balladry of "House for Sale" and "I Live On a Battlefield" to the gently rollicking "Tokyo Bay."
Lowe ceded the spotlight to Los Straitjackets for a two-song instrumental interlude while he changed clothes, eventually bringing his set to a crowd-pleasing finish with "Cruel to Be Kind" and Rockpile's "When I Write the Book."
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