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I. Waiting for the End of the World or I sincerely hope you're comin' 'cuz you, you really started somethin'.
If there had to be only one reason why I traveled to Toronto to see Elvis Costello, November of last year, it was because I truly believed him when he said he would never tour the States again. You see, too many stories had filtered down through the general public about this angry computer programmer posing as a nasty Buddy Holly type who would divorce himself from uncooperative audiences at will; namely, those crowds that would remain seated and sedentary rather than twist the night away. I guess it's like a doctor who feels obsolete when he can't cure what ails ya. You see, Costello takes fun seriously, if that's at all possible.
More than one venue on his first tour of the States experienced Elvis' extreme wrath. I had Costello's Brockport gig related to me first hand: how Elvis and company came out, unannounced, ripping through the majority of selections from My Aim is True, offering some scattered verbal coaxing to the audience to leave their seats; only to finally stop the show, Elvis leaving, thumbs down, drawing to a close what he called "watching the defectives." As for Buffalo, he played here twice that year...
II. The beat
Most of the talk about the opening act, The Rubinoos, had been favorable. Having opened for Costello on this 55-city tour (which at this point was two-thirds complete), the Rubinoos succeed where Boston fails and pick up where the Raspberries left off. In what may be termed as their very teenage approach (the Rubinoos having been together for 10 years while they're only barely 20), this Berkeley, California quartet primed the audience with tasty pop extraction and strong electrical drive as they mixed originals from their two albums with overwhelming nostalgia; Tommy James and the Shondells' "I Think We're Alone Now," the Ventures' "Walk Don't Run," and the Seeds' "Pushin' Too Hard."
III. Post Psychedelia
Again unannounced, Elvis and the Attractions took the stage in no-nonsense fashion, Costello's spectacled stare casting the first and final unspoken ultimatum to the audience: Rock 'n' roll means exchange, get up and dance! And although Elvis never had this problem in Buffalo before, there's no telling how awestruck an audience will become when you are a star. And Elvis has most definitely become a star.
The Attractions (known only as Bruce-keyboards, Steve-bass and Pete-drums) continue to gain the attention they rightfully desire and now share the marquee with their fearless leader. It is through the Attractions that Elvis' (although a decent guitarist in his own right, never stellar however) amazing compositions achieve both solid and deliberately convoluted actuality. Costello understands the entire continuum of rock musics resources and it is from this pool of interpreted knowledge that he conducts the Attractions through exercises that border between tightly knit dynamics and free form rock improvisation. Most noticeable in the rhythm section, while songs such as "Two Little Hitlers" or "The Beat" provide steady, danceable energy, the drummer and bassist lay the sounds down in any way but conventional; Pete flailing away with respect only to the meter; Steve filling the bottom in at times with a single sustained bass note.
Coupling with Bruce, whose Farfisa chord layerings gave an eerie texture to the songs' melodies, and the most lavish light show Costello has yet to tour with, the segueing of "Lipstick Vogue" into "Watching the Detectives" revealed Elvis gathering insight into another aspect of his revival technique, providing the audience with a defiant brand of post psychedelic music. This notion also splashed into the opening, disjointed version of "Waiting for the End of the World." It arrived as an excellent aural interpretation of a lyrical idea.
IV. Lip service
Now don't believe that Elvis has gone soft; even though he said he wouldn't return to the States because of audiences' cool reservation (and most people again were sitting except for those great die-hards that filled the aisles), and even though he said that there are no great American rock 'n' roll bands (and the Rubinoos were providing strong supporting activity throughout the tour). All it took was one ASSHOLE to throw fireworks about Shea's for Elvis to unleash his wrath upon the juvenile. "Some fucker's throwing fireworks off the balcony. GET 'EM." Costello urged the audience to take immediate action, "Or else we'll come and get ya."
More than once Elvis cupped his ear in mock of the crowd response. He seemed tired and aged in comparison to his previous Buffalo performances. Maybe the extensive traveling has taken its toll. But being ever consistent with his notoriety. Costello seemed visibly disturbed with the relaxed, near capacity crowd.
V. Radio, radio
The final cause.
Although Costello's air of romance struggles hard to keep itself pure and clean, it's becoming apparent that Elvis is not breathing as comfortably and naturally as he has in the past. Now I'm not one of those people who practices cultist snobbery once an artist breaks ranks and reaches the people.... isn't that what it's all about to begin with? But I think Costello is just beginning to understand that if he wants to reach some people, he has to make some concessions, namely, tour the States.
And if there was anyone questioning Elvis' last Buffalo performance (which, in final summation, was again superb), there should have been no suspicion of the show-closing rendition of "Radio, Radio," before which Elvis urged those still seated to finally stand up, "not for me but for the cause," in order to show people such as Lee Abrams where they could shove their prescribed playlists and FM formats. It was beautiful — and contrived — but that wasn't Elvis' fault. He was playing... the people weren't.
As for the length of El's performance, it came in a bit over an hour but there are few people that could contest that Costello doesn't pour energy concentrate. And to those who wish to try... I just got to believe that you've got no soul.
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