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CLEARWATER — For a subset of Gen-Xers and even some boomers, sound salvation never did come out of FM radio.
As the DJs played "Bad Company" and "Take it Easy" on repeat, they found the soundtrack of their teens and early 20s by word of mouth and by picking through the used LPs at their favorite record store. They had a cool older sibling or were lucky to discover a decent college station on the AM dial.
Eventually, they found their way to Elvis Costello and some iteration of his accompanying band and wondered why more people hadn't heard of "Alison," "Pump It Up" or even, yes, "Radio, Radio," his protest of commercialized airplay.
Just more than 2,000 fellow travelers headed over to Ruth Eckerd Hall on Thursday for an evening with the bard of alternative music, or if you prefer, New Wave. Elvis Costello and the Imposters, a pair of longtime bandmates and two more recent recruits, gave the audience a mix of the classics and some tunes they'd doubtlessly never heard before.
The nearly sold-out crowd applauded the deep cuts and more obscure covers and sang along to the hits. Never mind that Costello has never had a song reach higher than No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 — with a song co-written by Beatle Paul McCartney, no less. He didn't even play that song, "Veronica," on Thursday night.
The West London native, born Declan Patrick MacManus, appeared onstage in a kilt, the second night of a tour through seven Southern states, with four stops in Florida. He spent the night reaching for his loose-fitting bonnet, which seemed at risk of flying off as he ripped through the power numbers.
"I'm feeling kind of in the mood tonight," said Costello, 69, after a pause following the second song, "Waiting for the End of the World," from his nearly 50-year-old debut album, My Aim Is True.
Was he wearing the kilt in the traditional manner, meaning without underwear? "That's for me to know and you to find out," he quipped.
To the crowd's delight, Costello returned to the early parts of his catalog early and often, following "Waiting for the End of the World" with "Green Shirt" from his third album, Armed Forces. By song five, he had the audience out of their seats with a rousing rendition of "Radio, Radio."
More songs got the crowd standing, including "Watching the Detectives," another cut from the debut album, and "Everyday I Write the Book" from 1983's Punch the Clock.
Costello was accompanied by members of his longtime backing band, The Attractions, keyboardist Steve Nieve and drummer Pete Thomas; along with bassist Davey Faragher, formerly a founding member of Cracker (hence the name change to the Imposters). They were joined by Charlie Sexton, a guitarist and music producer who played for years with Bob Dylan and had his own hit, "Beat's So Lonely," as a teenager in 1985.
Costello took turns on electric and acoustic guitars, banjo and piano.
A highlight came when Costello picked up the acoustic guitar for the Italian ballad "Dio, Come Ti Amo" ("God, How I Love You"), which transitioned to an even slower version of slow staple "Almost Blue," from 1982's Imperial Bedroom and was made particularly haunting by turns from Nieve on melodica.
Building to the close, the band bounced through "Clubland" and "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" and "Pump It Up" before slowing it down one more time to take it back to the debut album, with Sexton plucking out the tricky guitar parts on "Alison."
They closed it out as Costello often has in recent years, with "(What's so Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding." The crowd belted out the lyrics word for word, as if they'd heard it on the radio on the way to the show.
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