Minnesota Daily, August 11, 1982: Difference between revisions
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The 14,000 pinkskins who flirted with heatstroke for 6½ sizzling hours on Saturday will have something to look back and smile about come February. Schons Great Northern Picnic was both the most professionally conducted outdoor concert I've ever attended, and a deliriously enjoyable day in the sun. | |||
The weather proved exquisite for people-watching and picnicking; hot but not beastly, with regular cool breezes mopping damp brows. Skin damage notwithstanding, sitting on the Parade Stadium lawn or bleachers seemed a healthier summer pastime than being pressure-cooked at home, work, or Metrodome. | |||
The Picnic served as a test case for similar outdoor events and Schon Productions deserves high marks. Demonstrating a patient willingness to lend an ear to uptight Parade neighborhood whiners (who hate noisy rock concerts but dont seem to mind noisy football games or Aquaternnial drum and bugle corps). the promoter bent over backwards barricading the stadium and devising a perplexing parking system as complicated as the Normandy invasion plans (since my friends lacked a dash board compass, we opted for a cab ride over and the driver still had to slalom some roadblocks just to drop us at the side of the highway). | |||
All the battlements proved unnecessary since the crowd was universally well-behaved. We arrived around 12:30, as Sussman Lawrence waved good bye to early arrivals, and immediately took to the high bleachers to get as far away from Duran Duran as possible. Their glitzy masquerade as dance rockers only holds up occasionally on record (and hardly ever on their new Rio LP) and isn’t tailored for coliseums. Despite singer Simon Le Bon’s royal commandment “you have youth . ..you have strength. dance!’ few complied. | |||
The Greg Kihn Band was the dark horse on the roster with only slight name recognition, gained from the fluke pop hit, “The Break Up Song.” Kihn won audience approval with a pleasing set of journeyman rock - unoriginal but delivered with rare muscle and sincerity. With a crack band behind him, Kihn offered recent career highlights (“The Break Up Song,” “Happy May,’ ‘Nobody Hurts Me Like I Do,”) as well as Laudable covers of ‘Around and Around,’ “Beast of Burden,” and “Your Love Has Lifted Me Higher” While a few lamented the routine, near-boogie Kihn construction, most gave it a thumbs up. | |||
The breakthrough of the day was Elvis. Mr. Costello outdoors initial ly seemed a proposition fraught with pitfalls. Even his admirers don’t boast of his live shows since past performances (excepting a reportedly fiery Longhorn gig) at the State Theater and Civic Center Theater were sloppy and made worse by Costello’s almost bitterly aloof attitude. At Northrop, a bloated, overweight Costello employed many soft cocktail motifs more suited for a lounge than a football stadium. Now he’s being compared to [[Cole Porter]] or Nelson Riddle since his amazing ''Imperial Bedroom'' (certainly not the convoluted hodgepodge some suggest) is fueled by meticulous orchestrations. But if Costello has matured like fine wine, the Paraders were sipping Jack Daniels and demanding something extreme. | |||
Would the great outdoors diffuse Costello’s dense concoctions to stumbling tangents? Would his refusaL to humor the groundlings with tiresome, are-you-having-a good-time platitudes raise tail feathers? As a rail-thin, sickly pale Costello strode across the boards (wearing a fixed stare and wardrobe of black, daring the sun’s rays to bake him) there were more than a few crossed fingers and bobbing Adam’s apples. | |||
What followed was an adroit translation of Costello’s most intricate compositions from Bedroom, with a funky edge proving to be the bridge.. ‘Pidgin English,” “Shabby Doll,” and even “And In Every Home,” with its crusty, ‘oh heaven preserve us,” refrain made the grade; Steve Nieve masterfully simulated a string section on his keyboards for the latter. | |||
While Nieve is Elvis’ most gifted cohort, bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas were on the money. What’s missing is competent backup harmonies; either [[the Attractions]] can’t sing or Elvis won’t let them. His own constricted, nasal delivery was almost enough though, almost all of the time; a wheezing “[[Watch Your Step]].” from Trust had Costello nearly choking. | |||
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Revision as of 14:55, 2 October 2015
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