London Times, October 31, 2014: Difference between revisions
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Becoming an annual fixture in the rock calendar, Elvis Costello’s latest visit to the Royal Albert Hall came under the umbrella of BluesFest, a week-long gathering of rootsy artists including Van Morrison, Robert Cray and Sheryl Crow. In both 2012 and 2013, Costello filled the same venue with his Spectacular Spinning Songbook show, a riotous music-hall carnival of pure showmanship, but this latest performance was looser in format and much of it was solo and acoustic. | Becoming an annual fixture in the rock calendar, Elvis Costello’s latest visit to the [[Royal Albert Hall]] came under the umbrella of BluesFest, a week-long gathering of rootsy artists including [[Van Morrison]], [[Robert Cray]] and [[Sheryl Crow]]. In both 2012 and 2013, Costello filled the same venue with his Spectacular Spinning Songbook show, a riotous music-hall carnival of pure showmanship, but this latest performance was looser in format and much of it was solo and acoustic. | ||
Snappily dressed in a three-piece suit, Panama hat and jazzy red shoes, the 60-year-old singer opened and closed | Snappily dressed in a three-piece suit, Panama hat and jazzy red shoes, the 60-year-old singer opened and closed with two blocks of songs featuring his regular live collaborator former [[Attractions]] pianist [[Steve Nieve]]. [[Accidents Will Happen]] was the pleasingly punchy opener, though Costello’s verbose lyrics and meandering, melismatic vocal mannerisms soon began to grate during [[(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea|(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea]] and [[London's Brilliant Parade|London’s Brilliant Parade]]. His croaky vibrato fell flat several times during this set, wandering not just off-key but offstage and round the block. | ||
Sharing droll asides and warm anecdotes about his wife [[Diana Krall]] and his father [[Ross MacManus]]. Costello’s default setting is midlife contentment nowadays, but he still summoned some of his old punk bite on the bitter [[45]] and the regally disdainful [[The Comedians]]. His plaintive jazz ballad [[Almost Blue (song)|Almost Blue]], conceived as a [[Chet Baker]] pastiche and later covered by Baker himself, also sounded sublimely tender, but his Mississippi bluesman schtick on [[Mose Allison]]’s [[Everybody's Crying Mercy]], accompanied on piano by opening act, [[Georgie Fame]], was less convincing. | |||
Gathering momentum for an agreeably irreverent closing statement, Costello looped [[Watching The Detectives|Watching the Detectives]] into an endless Moebius strip of clanging, twanging noise using his guitar effects pedals, then left if playing as he left the stage. Encore versions of [[Shipbuilding]], a rollicking [[Oliver's Army]] and the obligatory blast through [[Nick Lowe]]’s [[(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?]] followed, providing the set with some much-needed emotional uplift. Sprawling and uneven, this was not a vintage Costello show. | |||
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Revision as of 21:55, 8 November 2014
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