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That it can do so very evil.
How painfully intrusive, I have never before experienced a concert.
Elvis Costello Solo songs grabs, shakes and will not release until all the senses are numb and neutralized, the normal function.
Costello glided up to the microphone, struck a chord on his acoustic guitar and said "Oh, I just don't know where to begin".
The concert could not be started in a more suitable way than that. Maybe he just fooled us, but throughout the evening he maintained a sense of spontaneity; sudden impulses ruled and Costello himself seemed not to know much more than we did about what would happen next.
Elvis turned and twisted in his songs, : slid against the restrained and vulnerable to the next moment of panic throw himself to the aggressive ferocious. A rapid jump from the blue melancholy twilight to morning hours where mutt -meets- mailman. And Elvis plays both roles himself.
Elvis Costello owns the biggest song treasure built up during this post-Beatles era. From that he can pick and choose on the spur of the moment. He has had few real hits he "must" play and is therefore free to make an unpredictable selection. He gives us no contrived versions of hackneyed songs; he plays "Watching the Detectives" so he sees that he can bring to it something new, surprising and turning the concepts inside out. The contrast with Bob Dylan's visit last month to Skåne was really striking.
Standing alone with an acoustic guitar Costello is in a class by himself. Without reversing bands forced himself convey all the nerve and intensity that are on the discs. That he succeeds depends not least on the fierce and demanding lyrics as carefully articulated.
For the first of two encores, he got help when Michael Blair joined him and with an imaginative hammering on assorted percussion accompanied "Let Him Dangle" and "Pads, Paws And Claws".
Before that Costello had time for about 20 songs, drawn from most of his albums. "New Amsterdam" over went smoothly in "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away," "God's Comic" were carried by a fun monologue, followed by - what else? - "( The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes".
It all ended with a jealous desperate, almost confused declaration of love in "I Want You" and a very strong version of "Shipbuilding".
May the man come to Roskilde.
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