Washington Post, November 4, 2016: Difference between revisions
(fix category) |
(formatting / update browser) |
||
(2 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
Line 12: | Line 12: | ||
Elvis Costello endures. Early into his wondrous Thursday appearance at the Warner Theatre, the Liverpool legend reminded the crowd that he'd played the same venue once before — "38 years ago," he said. | Elvis Costello endures. Early into his wondrous Thursday appearance at the Warner Theatre, the Liverpool legend reminded the crowd that he'd played the same venue once before — "38 years ago," he said. | ||
To Costello's hardcore flock, that 1978 Warner concert, which came on his first U.S. tour, remains a gig for the ages. The show was broadcast live locally on WHFS, a long-dead FM station, but back then the coolest alternative rock outlet the D.C. market had ever had. One critic from the George Washington University student newspaper, in a [[George Washington University Hatchet, March 1978|review]] that has been making the rounds on Costello fan websites since the Internet appeared, presciently predicted after the show that the "new star on the rock scene has enough material to stick it out a few years." (Not so prescient: The same critic in that same review appended "unlike Bruce Springsteen" to his prediction.) And Costello cemented the Warner show's immortality in 2008 by officially releasing the recording as a live album on its 30-year anniversary. | To Costello's hardcore flock, that 1978 Warner concert, which came on his first U.S. tour, remains a gig for the ages. The show was broadcast live locally on WHFS, a long-dead FM station, but back then the coolest alternative rock outlet the D.C. market had ever had. One critic from the George Washington University student newspaper, in a [[George Washington University Hatchet, March 6, 1978|review]] that has been making the rounds on Costello fan websites since the Internet appeared, presciently predicted after the show that the "new star on the rock scene has enough material to stick it out a few years." (Not so prescient: The same critic in that same review appended "unlike Bruce Springsteen" to his prediction.) And Costello cemented the Warner show's immortality in 2008 by officially releasing the recording as a live album on its 30-year anniversary. | ||
So if Costello had a lot to live up to on his return visit, he more than filled the bill. His two-hour, 45-minute set both wore out the fans in the packed house, most of whom were old enough to have also attended that vintage set, and left them wanting more. | So if Costello had a lot to live up to on his return visit, he more than filled the bill. His two-hour, 45-minute set both wore out the fans in the packed house, most of whom were old enough to have also attended that vintage set, and left them wanting more. | ||
He now calls his backup combo the Imposters, a group that has keyboardist Steve Nieve and drummer Pete Thomas, who've toured with him since the 1970s and still rock as hard as ever. Costello spent most of the evening looking back, though slightly less far back than '78: The current tour is concentrating on material from ''Imperial Bedroom'', his brilliant 1982 album produced by Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick. As the performance reminded fans, Costello reached new heights in lyrical cleverness on this record. One basic example: "Shabby Doll" had the cute couplet "There's a girl in this dress/There's always a girl in distress." But on that tune and so much of ''Imperial Bedroom'', Costello's wordplay and wordiness were wonderfully overwhelmed by melody; "You Little Fool," "Beyond Belief" "Man Out of Time," "Human Hands" and, heck, pretty much everything he performed from that collection were blessed with hooks so memorable they took fans right back to that time they first heard them. | He now calls his backup combo the Imposters, a group that has keyboardist Steve Nieve and drummer Pete Thomas, who've toured with him since the 1970s and still rock as hard as ever. Costello spent most of the evening looking back, though slightly less far back than '78: The current tour is concentrating on material from ''Imperial Bedroom'', his brilliant 1982 album produced by Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick. As the performance reminded fans, Costello reached new heights in lyrical cleverness on this record. One basic example: "Shabby Doll" had the cute couplet ''"There's a girl in this dress / There's always a girl in distress."'' But on that tune and so much of ''Imperial Bedroom'', Costello's wordplay and wordiness were wonderfully overwhelmed by melody; "You Little Fool," "Beyond Belief" "Man Out of Time," "Human Hands" and, heck, pretty much everything he performed from that collection were blessed with hooks so memorable they took fans right back to that time they first heard them. | ||
Costello, a much happier guy in middle age, told tales of the inspiration for some of his old songs that weren't off ''Imperial Bedroom''. "Accidents Will Happen," he said with dubious factuality, was actually written immediately after and about a brief, boozefueled romance with a cabdriver in Tucson. And "Watching the Detectives" was a tale of a woman actually watching a TV show about law enforcement in 1976. "It was probably ''Starsky & Hutch'', " he said, as if the night wasn't already loaded with enough period-piece touchstones. | Costello, a much happier guy in middle age, told tales of the inspiration for some of his old songs that weren't off ''Imperial Bedroom''. "Accidents Will Happen," he said with dubious factuality, was actually written immediately after and about a brief, boozefueled romance with a cabdriver in Tucson. And "Watching the Detectives" was a tale of a woman actually watching a TV show about law enforcement in 1976. "It was probably ''Starsky & Hutch'', " he said, as if the night wasn't already loaded with enough period-piece touchstones. | ||
Line 29: | Line 29: | ||
{{Bibliography next | {{Bibliography next | ||
|prev = Washington Post, October 28, 2016 | |prev = Washington Post, October 28, 2016 | ||
|next = | |next = Washington Post, March 16, 2017 | ||
}} | }} | ||
'''Washington Post, November 4, 2016 | '''Washington Post, November 4, 2016 | ||
---- | ---- | ||
[[Dave McKenna]] reviews Elvis Costello & [[The Imposters]], Thursday, [[Concert 2016-11-03 Washington|November 3, 2016]], Warner Theatre, Washington, DC | [[Dave McKenna]] reviews Elvis Costello & [[The Imposters]], Thursday, [[Concert 2016-11-03 Washington|November 3, 2016]], Warner Theatre, Washington, DC. | ||
{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
[[image:2016-11-04 Washington Post photo 01 nk.jpg| | [[image:2016-11-04 Washington Post photo 01 nk.jpg|380px]] | ||
<br><small>Photos by [[Nick Kirkpatrick]].</small> | <br><small>Photos by [[Nick Kirkpatrick]].</small> | ||
[[image:2016-11-04 Washington Post photo 02 nk.jpg| | [[image:2016-11-04 Washington Post photo 02 nk.jpg|380px]] | ||
{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} | ||
Line 49: | Line 49: | ||
*[http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/concert-review-elvis-costello-has-war-peace-on-his-mind-at-solo-lisner-auditorium-show/2013/11/24/545b23b8-552b-11e3-bdbf-097ab2a3dc2b_story.html WashingtonPost.com] | *[http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/concert-review-elvis-costello-has-war-peace-on-his-mind-at-solo-lisner-auditorium-show/2013/11/24/545b23b8-552b-11e3-bdbf-097ab2a3dc2b_story.html WashingtonPost.com] | ||
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Post Wikipedia: The Washington Post] | *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Post Wikipedia: The Washington Post] | ||
*[https://www.elviscostello.com/elvis-costello-returns-to-the-warner-theatre-38-years-after-a-legendary-performance/ elviscostello.com] | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington Post 2016-11-04}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Washington Post 2016-11-04}} |
Latest revision as of 09:14, 2 March 2023
|
|