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It was third time lucky for Elvis Costello fans last Saturday night.
Since his sensational concert in the National Stadium this time last year, his fans have been waiting patiently for a follow-up gig. Two cancelled concerts over the past eight months due to recording commitments only heightened the excitement running up to this weekend's appearance.
But their one year wait for Costello to appear live in concert here again paid off memorably. With his group, the Attractions, Elvis played 100 minutes of exciting tight music to packed capacity in the Stadium.
Twenty-five numbers — a mixture of old and new material — came rattling out at a frantic pace with few breaks in the music flow for introduction or small talk and the fans relished it eagerly as they did the introduction of a new addition to the Costello sound and stage look, a four-man big brass band called TKO.
Flash in their blue coats and trousers, kipper ties and crew cuts, the quartet looked like something dug out of a Liverpool slum in the mid-fifties. Their brass addition was particularly noteworthy on numbers like "Possession," "Pump It Up" and "High Fidelity."
The combination of Costello plus Attractions and TKO resulted in a strong, melodic, well-knit performance providing fans with a perfectly balanced sound. New versions and instrumental lines, especially on keyboards for songs like "Big Sisters Clothes" and "Possession" went down well with the audience.
Keyboard whizz kid Steve Nieve was a red devil on stage. Dashing around in his pillar box red garb, his versatility was in absolutely no doubt during the performance and he positively excelled on numbers like "You Belong To Me," "Temptation" and "New Lace Sleeves." Maniac drumming by Pete Thomas in "You Belong To Me" saw his drum kit almost disintegrate.
Highly regarded as a singer-songwriter and with his own inimitable style of delivery — deep throated without sounding husky — Costello failed slightly in vocals on fast numbers, but was resonant and note perfect on the slower, melodic songs.
"Watching the Detectives" brought the fans rushing from their seats to the front of the stage. He followed with "And In Every Home," "Clubland," "Secondary Modern," "TKO," "Town Cryer," "You Better Watch Your Step," and the double encore including "Oliver's Army" and "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" left few with any doubt.
Declan MacManus was making an excellent job of equalling last year's concert hits with his fans in Dublin.
For those who missed Saturday, there's consolation of a kind. Elvis Costello's new LP is due out in the next month or so and judging from the new material tried out on the audience in the Stadium at the weekend — "TKO" and "The World and his Wife" — what we can expect from Costello in the near future is every bit as good as that which we are familiar with on LP hits My Aim is True, This Year's Model, Get Happy, and Trust.
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