Get ready for an Elvis Costello blitz this fall. It's only a six-city US tour, but it's a maximum-impact assault — and, yes, Boston is on the itinerary.
The October tour is called "Costello Sings Again," and one is tempted to add. "And again and again and again ...," because the multifaceted singer-songwriter will be playing multiple dates in each city, with a variety of backing musicians. Look for three dates at the Orpheum during mid-October.
Details are still being worked out, but here's what looks to be in store: Elvis Costello and the Attractions will release a new album, Blood & Chocolate, produced by Nick Lowe, the third week of September. The subsequent tour will feature the Attractions (Costello's longtime backing band), members of the TCB Band and the Confederates (from Costello's recent King of America LP and including Elvis Presley aces James Burton and Ronnie Tutt, as well as various "special guests."
Costello will perform a different show each night. Sometimes he'll play solo; other times he'll be with backing musicians. Sometimes he'll do a request night, where audience members can choose songs from the Costello catalog of more than 140 songs. Other times, in the tradition of English music hall entertainers, he'll cart out the Spectacular Spinning Songbook, a giant spinning wheel with 40 song titles (not necessarily his own), and audience members will be brought on stage to spin the wheel.
A bit of punk rock nostalgia: All this generosity of spirit comes from a guy who used to employ feedback at the end of short concerts to discourage the audience from demanding an encore.
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