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It must be thoroughly gratifying for artists to reach a point in their lives and careers when they can do pretty much anything they want. Perceptions and expectations may be lurking around every corner, but the reality of not necessarily being defined by your fan base, or in any way feeling limited by their assumptions, is surely liberating.
Elvis Costello reached that point some years ago, probably somewhere between delivering earthy rock 'n' roll, composing torch jazz and scoring an opera, so to see him cut loose with an Americana-Roots combo featuring the likes of the stellar musicians Jerry Douglas and Jim Lauderdale is no surprise.
This being a countrified evening, with few detours, there was little in the way of what you could rigidly call rock-music dynamics or aggressive vitality, but the way Costello expertly went from one tune to the next was, inevitably by this point, impressive and instructive; and the way the show itself was themed was also as smart as a cocktail with a cherry on top: from "Mystery Train" to "Mystery Dance," from "Alison" to "The Wind Cries Mary," from "Complicated Shadows" to "Happy," Costello and band utilised, country style, the intricate art of weaving instruments, melodies, lyrics and subject matter into a whole that, mostly, worked regular tricks and treats.
Occasionally, however, the stylings seemed to fail the songs; tunes such as "Good Year for the Roses," "Little Palaces" and "American Without Tears" (and many more) fitted like a glove, but the likes of "Blame It on Cain," "Girls Talk," "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" and "What's So Funny about Peace, Love and Understanding" sounded as if they were shoehorned into a space that was more suffocating than anything else.
Such reservations are small change, however, to the continually evolving state of mind of someone as ambitious as Elvis Costello. For some years we have stopped believing that he is the best thing since the invention of the wheel — his last truly brilliant album, in our opinion, was 2003's North — but it would be a foolish person indeed to bet against him delivering a show that didn’t provide equal measures of reinvention, humour, cracking tunes and a staggering range of influences and references. Business as usual, then.
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