Terminal, April 1981

From The Elvis Costello Wiki
Revision as of 09:11, 4 June 2020 by Zmuda (talk | contribs) (fix Hot Club link)
Jump to navigationJump to search
... Bibliography ...
727677787980818283
848586878889909192
939495969798990001
020304050607080910
111213141516171819
202122232425 26 27 28


Terminal

Fanzines

Pennsylvania publications

Newspapers

University publications

Magazines and alt. weeklies


-

Elvis Costello and Squeeze


Natalie

Philadelphia 1/29
The crowd is so young! I guess this is to be expected, but it still surprises me. The first time I saw Elvis at the Hot Club, I myself was a mere 16, but these kids look like their mommies wouldn't let them take the el by themselves.

Squeeze go on 15 minutes behind schedule. The crowd seems almost happy to see them, after all, Elvis likes them and if Elvis likes them... They play it safe by choosing most of the songs from Argy Bargy, which the crowd seems to know. They really are fantastic, what an underrated group!

Elvis appears to give the impression that he is larger than life. This may be explained by his obvious weight gain. No more can he be called the skinny knock-kneed Buddy Holly clone. My brother said he was wary of Elvis at first, because he always looked like the kinds of guys he hated in school.


Philadelphia 1/30
Greeting us at the door are cameras from a Saturday morning kids show called 30 Minutes. They say they are here to investigate violence at rock concerts. I feel they have picked the right city, but the wrong concert. They're denied entrance anyway.

Squeeze have a new album recorded that may be available by the time you read this. Titled East Side Story, they seem very pleased with the end results. It's a bit closer to Cool For Cats than Argy Bargy. If the crowd reaction to the new songs they played tonight is any judge, the album should be really fabulous.

Of course there was the departure of keyboardist Jools Holland last summer. Squeeze had a tough time replacing him, but finally settled on ex-Ace, Paul Carrack. To familiarize the audience with him, Squeeze would play Ace's old hit "How Long," but for this tour only.


New York 2/3
Elvis has agreed to appear on the Tomorrow show tonight. Poor Tom Snyder seems to be jumpy and nervous, expecting another verbal chain-whipping like he got from PiL. Instead, Elvis goes out of his way to be cooperative. We can at least thank Tom, or his scriptwriters for asking some original questions even if they are totally worthless, such as "do you love your father?" and others that fall in the same categories. It reminded me of being in elementary school when the teacher leaves the room and finds you still sitting there with your hands folded...


Providence 2/4
I can't think of adequate words to describe Elvis' performance, because most seem to be blase. He always is pulling surprises. Throughout the tour is several standard numbers, but mixed in are covers of Marvin Gaye, Buddy Holly, and other Elvis treats to make the entire tour exciting. One of the most exciting things is what he does do. For this night he sneaks in "Alison" and "Chelsea" which are certainly crowd pleasers. His voice mixed with the nice acoustics of the theatre is almost chilling. His encore for this night was a duet with Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze, when they do an encore of "From A Whisper To A Scream."


Boston 2/5
One thing I have to say about Boston crowds is that they always go absolutely wild. They absolutely adore Squeeze. This is the first night that they ever do two encores, first "Goodbye Girl" and then "Up The Junction."

Again Elvis is fantastic. I'm not sure if it's my imagination, but he seems to stay on there longer than usual. So many of us think that the show is over, but he throws another one. I think the audience could have stayed all night, and Elvis would've obliged and kept playing for them.


New Brunswick 2/6
After an exhausting and boring ride back to Philadelphia, I get over my motion sickness to hop into a car and head to New Brunswick. The show is held in a high school gym with the aid of the students. The dressing rear is the gym shower and locker room. The real highlight of the show this tine is Squeeze. During "Pulling Mussels From A Shell," Tilbrook's guitar goes flying, and as the true showman that he is, continues playing minus guitar. To top it, something goes wrong with the lights and Squeeze must play on in the dark.

I think it's really interesting to watch how every show Squeeze is watching Elvis' set. Tonight, the audience is relatively new Elvis fans. Elvis seems to really like the crowd he's playing to and appears especially comfortable with It. When he does something from Trust, the audience goes wild, but when he does "Red Shoes," they only politely react. This is exact opposite of the Philadelphia and Providence nights.


Tags: Upper DarbyProvidenceBostonNew BrunswickTomorrow Coast To CoastHot ClubSqueezeBuddy HollyEast Side StoryJools HollandPaul CarrackTom SnyderPiLMarvin GayeAlison(I Don't Want To Go To) ChelseaGlenn TilbrookFrom A Whisper To A Scream

-

Terminal!, No. 4, April 1981


Natalie reports on Elvis Costello concerts, January 29-30 (Philadelphia), February 4 (Providence), February 5 (Boston) and February 6 (New Brunswick), and his February 3 appearance on Tomorrow Coast To Coast.

Images

1981-04-00 Terminal cover.jpg
Cover.


Page scan.
1981-04-00 Terminal page 14.jpg



Photo by Lisa Haun.
1981-04-00 Terminal photo 02 lh.jpg




Cover photo photographer unknown.
1981-04-00 Terminal photo 01.jpg

-



Back to top

External links