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Last Friday night, Elvis Costello and The Attractions performed for a sold-out crowd at the Tower Theater. As an entertainer Costello surrounds himself with an aura of professionalism. Unfortunately, due to his almost overnight success seven years ago, he lacks that valuable characteristic of humility that makes so many other performers endearing to their audiences. His show lacks the personal touch, but strangely enough, this does not seem to limit his appeal. The rough edges of his youthful arrogance, noted in his earlier behavior, seemed to have been rounded a bit. A barely audible gasp could be detected from the lips of his fans when he uttered those never before heard words, "Thank you."
Costello's show lasted 75 minutes during which he played 25 songs. Where most performers would open with a high energy hit, Costello surprised his audience with a mellow rendition of his little-known "Memory," but followed it closely by the more popular "Accidents Will Happen." Shortly after he hit his head on the microphone and was forced to halt a song and begin anew, he pounded out a powerful "This Year's Girl." "Human Touch" was followed by the gentle "Clowntime Is Over," both off his Get Happy LP.
His repertoire of popular hits was laced with selections from his newly released Trust album. "Luxembourg," from Trust, reverberated with the familiar new wave beat but the lyrics were almost totally indecipherable. Other popular selections included "High Fidelity," "What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding" and "Radio, Radio."
After being on stage for less than an hour, he exited the stage and returned shortly with "Oliver's Army" as his first encore. At this point one could not help wondering if he really meant that he "would rather be anywhere else than here today." He closed his first encore with "Watching the Detectives."
The audience was not nearly ready to let him got away, and once again cheered him into returning for a second encore. Elvis was never a conventional entertainer and he reaffirmed this belief when he returned with Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze and played "From a Whisper to a Scream." The crowd was somewhat subdued and the pause between this song and the next lay heavy with tension. It did not last long and the crowd exploded when he began his last tune, "Pump It Up." Pausing in the middle to introduce his band, he totally exhausted the hopping fans and when he exited for good at 10:59 the crowd reluctantly let him go.
This reviewer was subjected to mixed feelings after seeing this child prodigy grown up. It was inspiring to watch the famous songwriting machine perform, but it was at the same time annoying to be overwhelmed with the feeling that he was only playing for his audience as one would approach an uninteresting job — arriving at exactly nine and exiting promptly at five. The audience was given exactly what they were told they would get and no more.
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