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I reluctantly parted with £3 for my ticket as I am not, basically an Elvis fan. I am also not a fan of The Oasis, Swindon, having been to a couple of gigs there, and been thoroughly bored both times. I queued half an hour for a lukewarm pint and decided to get two, being a bit intelligent.
Not being able to leave the bar with my drinks (an amazing new concept), I missed all but the last two songs from the first group (not very intelligent). Anyway I rushed in, not knowing who they were but finding them to be Rockpile, with Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe. A bunch of boring old farts, I thought to myself, seeing that the guitarist was about fifty and the drummer has a job getting behind his kit, but the two songs I heard were very good and most of the crowd seemed to enjoy it, though such a bunch of Swindon Smoothies I have never seen. They could have done an encore, but time was tight and there were two more bands.
Next up were Clive Langer and the Boxes. Going by the name, I expected a bunch of dicks. I wasn't disappointed. Langer, of Deaf School fame ?! was bloody boring, his group were tinny, the keyboards were tinnier, and basically, I couldn't wait for them to get off. They are now signed to Costello's own F-Beat label, with their new single just released, and they would be very lucky indeed if they conned anyone into buying it. The only thing of any interest which stopped everyone from falling asleep were the amazing faces pulled by the terribly silly drummer, who looked like a cross between Keith Moon and an oxygen starved guppy.
After a long wait, Costello finally graced us with his presence. Personally, I've never been impressed with this "Wimp Rocker" but he did have shiny shoes on!!! After obtaining a good place, I was rapidly jostled back, but I could still see, as the average person was probably about fifteen years of age.
Costello played quite a few songs from his Get Happy album, which, basically, did not go down very well apart from the new single "High Fidelity," and "I Can't Stand Up." "Accidents Will Happen" and "Watching The Detectives" were two of the best songs, and the three encores were probably the best songs he has ever done — "Chelsea," "Oliver's Army" and "Pump It Up."
All very slick professional stuff, but, basically, quite forgettable. In fact so forgettable I've forgotten about it.
Still I do remember the shiny shoes!
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