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Elvis Costello has his attractions but they were somewhat marred by the school hop conditions imposed on concertgoers in Bracknell last week.
There was no beer at the bar and a 10:30 deadline for his appearance at the Sports Centre — all to stop the trouble which exploded later anyway.
Elvis's promoter, Alan Smith, was injured when armed youths attacked him after the show, which itself went fairly smoothly.
The support was Mickey Jupp, a Dr. Feelgood type band — with less of the good — who played some pretty hot rock-a-boogie and went down well.
After this rather incongruous hors d'oeuvre Elvis and his three-piece band, the Attractions, swept on to play a tight set, in which they threw out goodness-knows how many three minute classics.
They maintained a kind of controlled dynamism which proved that Elvis Costello's strength does not just lie in being a prolific songwriter.
Every song, from the perfectly constructed "Beach" off the new album to the rocker "Mystery Dance," with which they finished, was a gem.
My only complaint was that they lost the careful pacing in "Watching the Detectives" and "Chelsea" by whizzing through them too fast.
The only aggravation in just over an hour of exquisite pop music was the houselights coming on in the middle of "Lipstick Vogue," to signify going-home time.
Elvis braved the management and played for another 25 minutes, coming back for two encores and rapturous applause.
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