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With the thickest, deepest, most eclectic songbook of any artist that first recorded in the 1970s, Elvis Costello rolled into Chateau Ste Michelle outside of Seattle for a return engagement on June 9, 2023. What a lovely setting for a show: very casual, intimate and comfortable.
Despite a seemingly endless choice of songs, the former computer programmer from Britain pulled heavily from his debut and sophomore albums. With Costello deftly remixing various arrangements, those who were with him from day one were rewarded with a blissful evening.
Earlier in the year, Costello commanded an epic 10 nights at New York’s Gramercy Theatre, barely repeating a song. Despite a few rusty joints, he and his crack quartet the Imposters shifted gears smoothly through the evening.
Over the decades and across 30-plus albums, Costello, born August 25, 1954, has explored myriad styles (country, string quartets, Americana, to name a few) and collaborated with master tunesmiths like Paul McCartney and Burt Bacharach. He has adroitly recorded with key members of the other Elvis’ band. But at this show, Costello eschewed all that and reached into the early chapters of his songbook. Although those songs were written when he was slathered with the ‘angry young man’ label, the songs have withstood the test of time, and were delivered with a solid punch. Original members Davey Faragher (bass), Steve Nieve (keyboards) and Pete Thomas (drums) were joined by Charlie Sexton, the fierce guitarist who turbocharged Bob Dylan’s band for years.
Costello opened with an explosive “Mystery Dance” and moved to his second album with “This Year’s Girl.” A relatively new song, 2013’s “Come the Meantimes,” slithered into a ska-inflected beat and then morphed full bore into “Rudie Can’t Fail” (pulled from the Clash’s landmark 1979 London Calling album).
Costello delivered an excellent intro about the risk of picking the “wrong” album at a record store but delicately selecting Bruce Springsteen’s first album (“a Dutch singer, right?”), then blasted into a torrid “Radio Radio.”
Costello then went back to his first album, serving up the disc-closing “Waiting For the End of the World.” He also assayed the album’s opener, “Welcome to the Working Week,” in countrified fashion. As if transporting us back to the late ’70s, he also delivered welcome versions of “Watching the Detectives,” “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea” and a blazing “Pump It Up.”
“(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace Love and Understanding” was the perfect way to complete the circle of the evening. Written by Lowe, made famous by Costello on an album produced by Lowe, the song inadvertently made Lowe very wealthy when Curtis Stigers’ version landed on The Bodyguard soundtrack.
The evening’s closing number seemed foretold, and indeed Costello delivered a tender version of “Alison.”
As only the second date on his summer tour, odds are the Costello setlist will evolve by the time it hits your town.
Opening act Lowe will likely stick to his polished set. As the ace producer behind Costello’s first five albums, Lowe is well attuned to songcraft. His evolution from scrappy new waver (“Cruel to be Kind” and “So It Goes”) to well-aged observer (“Lately I’ve Let Things Slide”) puts Lowe in rarefied territory. His enigmatic band Los Straitjackets come equipped with lucha libre masks, matching sparkly guitars and superb stage polish.
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