USC Daily Trojan, October 7, 1986: Difference between revisions
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The first effects were that of a game show gone good. | The first effects were that of a game show gone good. | ||
The Attractions, his support | The Attractions, his support band, were introduced as "the greatest band in the world," and the concert was in full swing. Before you knew it there was a go-go dancer dancing in her cage, a lucky audience member sitting at the lounge sipping Costello's Gatorade and Lou Reed playing on television "via satellite." | ||
It was different, fun and exciting because you did not know what was going to happen next. Then he came out with Susanna Hoffs and Vicki and Debbie Peterson of the Bangles for a harmony and acoustic guitar set. All the stops were pulled out. They played three songs in which Costello showed his gift for harmonizing as the voices blended beautiful. | |||
Costello also played a duet with the part-three emcee, Tom Waits, for his first encore. | |||
Costello was playful throughout the evening, making comments to the front row and trying to lead the audience in cheering for their favorite song to meet the arrow on the wheel. For the last song of before the encore, Costello went into the crowd singing the refrain of "Less Than Zero" and even went up to the balcony seats. This could not have been planned because the song had just randomly come up on the wheel. | |||
The best seat actually belonged to the go-go dancer because she was the only one who the ushers allowed to stand up and dance. It seems the audience invented "chair-dancing" on Saturday night. Everyone was moving, but nobody was standing and dancing. Then again, not many were complaining either. There was a feeling that one was just lucky to be experiencing this. | |||
Costello showed in his two-hour set that he is a true entertainer and is still possibly the best performer to come out of the 1977 punk/new wave explosion. Nobody on Saturday could tell you otherwise. They could only wonder what was next. | |||
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He poured heart and bile into it all, with special emphasis on a breathtaking "Watching the Detectives," a sad, sweet "Kid About It," and obsessive, finely-tuned readings of "Battered Old Bird" and "I Want You," two new songs that lack on vinyl the kind of urgent passion Costello gave them in a live setting. | He poured heart and bile into it all, with special emphasis on a breathtaking "Watching the Detectives," a sad, sweet "Kid About It," and obsessive, finely-tuned readings of "Battered Old Bird" and "I Want You," two new songs that lack on vinyl the kind of urgent passion Costello gave them in a live setting. | ||
Another highlight was the first encore, in which Costello ushered out Tom Petty, he of the portable rock ego, to strum and whine out versions of "Peace, Love and Understanding," "American Girl," and "So You Want To Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star." The five-night | Another highlight was the first encore, in which Costello ushered out Tom Petty, he of the portable rock ego, to strum and whine out versions of "Peace, Love and Understanding," "American Girl," and "So You Want To Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star." The five-night engagement featured many such surprise guest appearances, but none so ironic as Petty's. The two artists desperately tried to out-sing each other, but it was definitely Costello's night. | ||
Indeed, Costello does seem to have fallen in love with sound of his own voice, which is, at best, a fishy, scaly vibrato that carries a sufficient range well. Sunday night he languished over notes and phrasing in a way that was at times expressive but most of the time was sheer vocal masturbation. One easily lost count of how many songs he embellished with extensive ohs and wos when the lyrical content ran out. | |||
The band closed with a bizarre, discordant "Poor Napoleon," in which feedback soared and a huge red crown was projected on the closed curtains. The audience was left numbed and satiated, stroked vicariously in a typical Costello way. The man hasn't lost his cathartic side after all, nor his bludgeoning skill in making a good show of it. Costello sings, and placates, again. | |||
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Revision as of 22:49, 22 July 2014
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