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Elvis Costello and The Attractions opened the summer concert season at SPAC last Sunday with a rock-solid, 20 song set.
Costello and his band are playing together again for the first time in many years. They play a pop-rock style reminiscent of the Beatles and Phil Spector's wall of sound with some punk energy thrown in for good measure.
The band raced through its first three songs, playing loud and fast. Energy was in abundance. Keyboardist Steve Nieve supplied manic rifting and wild glissandos. Bassist Bruce Thomas threw in McCartney-esque fills and provided a steady swing. Drummer Pete Thomas nailed everything down with drumming as tight and hard as the skins on his drums.
Costello's singing was excellent throughout, his tenor going from sweet and soft up to a scream. Songs like "Shabby Doll" and "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" with their crashing choruses benefited from the extra dynamics.
Songs from Costello's latest album, Brutal Youth, received good treatment from performer and audience alike. Costello and Nieve showed what years of playing together can do with their intuitive, dead-on guitar and keyboard interplay on "Clown Strike." In the encore, "Pony St." and "13 Steps Lead Down" took on a frenzied pace and had some fans dancing in the aisles.
Other hits from the seven-song encore, included "Veronica," with its acoustic opening, "Watching the Detectives," which lost a little of its recorded reggae swagger, and "Pump It Up" ended the concert. A few hundred fans probably missed much of the encore by leaving early.
Canada's Crash Test Dummies opened the show. Riding the popularity of their hit single, "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm," the Dummies were well received by the audience.
Their rich sound benefited from the echo of the amphitheatre. Lead singer Brad Roberts' baritone sounded just a bit lower and gave the tunes some extra low-end resonance.
Roberts also kept things going with some witty repartee which included explanations of lyrics, faces made during guitar solos, and speculated on the socio-economic status of those seated on the lawn. Performing a 45-minute set which included "When I Go Out With Artists," "Afternoons and Coffeespoons," and "Superman," the band put on a well-balanced, if mellow, show. Unfortunately, the vocals could not always be heard and were sometimes lost in the mix.
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