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Elvis Costello waved to the crowd and smiled when he came onstage at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium Friday night. You can't imagine how strange that was, unless you remember the old Elvis. This is the guy who won the hearts and minds of a substantial audience by scowling, both from the stage and within his songs. At one memorable concert at the Palladium a few years ago, he had high-powered spotlights beamed into the eyes of his admirers until their retinas ached.
But this is the new Elvis. He has acknowledged being tormented by his behavior in a saloon dispute with some American musicians a few years ago, when he made some vile racist comments about some of his soul music heroes. He has apparently realized that it is one thing to build a public image as the angry young curmudgeon of English rock: "Mr. Revenge and Guilt," a British paper once dubbed him. It is quite another when you start believing in that role when you walk off the stage.
So Costello has mellowed. Good for him. The question is, is this what we want? Do we really want Elvis to make nice? He began his Forest Hills set with "Accidents Will Happen." More subconscious apologia?
Costello and his ever-brilliant, still underappreciated band, the Attractions, performed a commendably professional set Friday night. The Attractions — Bruce Thomas on bass, Pete Thomas on drums, and Steve Nieve on keyboards — have developed supportive ensemble strength and personality flourishes that recall The Band backing Bob Dylan in the mid-1960s.
Their restless syncopation gave new excitement to "Red Shoes"; Nieve's jazzy, stuttering piano chords added a kinetic impulse to Costello's best new song (from the album Imperial Bedroom), "Shabby Doll." On "Watching the Detectives," the band played hard reggae on the surface, but bubbling underneath was the dynamic tension (and the chords) of Booker T. and the MG's classic Memphis soul instrumental, "Green Onions." Graceful, forceful, and inspired.
The soul music of the 1960s is an essential part of Costello's vision as a composer, and of the band's arrangements. The Attractions appropriated the bass line of the Motown standard "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" to heighten the dramatic impact of the otherwise low-key "Secondary Modern." Costello returned directly to Motown for an auspicious version of Smokey Robinson's obscure "From Head to Toe."
So why did I walk away from the concert feeling restless rather than relieved? Partly, it was because the many new songs from Imperial Bedroom haven't been integrated properly into a stadium concert situation. Imperial Bedroom is Costello's most relaxed album, a record of pop ballads that are at least theoretically in the tradition of Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen.
Songs from that album, such as "Town Cryer" and "Man Out of Time" sounded out of sync amid Costello war-between-the-sexes themes such as "New Lace Sleeves," "Mystery Dance" and "King Horse." It was all very pleasant. But sometimes, the concert had the feel of those Mean Joe Greene commercials for Coca-Cola, where he tosses his sweatshirt to a cute kid and gives him a hug. It makes you really like Joe Greene. But when you pay to see Joe Greene, what you really want is to see the guy rubbing some quarterback's face into the astroturf."
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