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This is the third time I’ve seen Elvis Costello & The Imposters in the past 363 days. We saw the Look Now tour at the DAR Hall in Washington D.C.in November 2018, and the Costello/Blondie tour at The Anthem in D.C. this July (tinyurl.com/zubbeastly). Both amazing shows and both very different. Anyone who knows me knows I am a diehard Elvis Costello freak, and this year’s shows have probably brought me to around 55 Costello shows I’ve seen.
But first, we had to deal with the nightmare of the Greensboro Coliseum complex, as detailed in our Parliament/Funkadelic review (tinyurl.com/zubfunky) and our B-52’s/OMD/Berlin review (tinyurl.com/zublobster). The good news, this was a true Zub corporate show, with Adrienne and I and our graphics/logo Czar Jill attending with her cool hubby Hank. They know Greensboro like the back of their hands. The Piedmont Hall is a brand new venue at the complex, and the Coliseum was also having a show at the same time, with trap and reggaeton singer Bad Bunny. So when we went to the parking lot we were definitely profiled by the nice man at the booth, asking the four old white folks if they were going to Elvis Costello. He gave us better directions to parking at Piedmont Hall. We ended up with a GREAT parking spot ...right next to the Coliseum entrance for Bad Bunny. Piedmont Hall was almost a mile away with no safe walking to be had. Once again the Greensboro Coliseum failed us miserably. Their crowd control and organization were beyond the worst.
Anyway, the brand new Piedmont Hall was a nice venue, a bit low ceilinged (Elvis could not use his three video screens at this venue), standing room only, capacity around 2000. We had great sightlines and the sound was very good. This show was part of the ‘Just Trust’ tour, and indeed Elvis played four songs from Trust, opening with ‘Strict Time’ straight into ‘Clubland.’ At one point he mentioned “We don’t take requests, it’s a mind-reading thing, we know what you want to hear next.” ‘Green Shirt’ from Armed Forces featured ‘Professor’ Steve Nieve on the keyboards, with a version showcasing sequenced synths in the style of Kraftwerk. Elvis was in good humor throughout the show and told an extended tale of falling in love with a cab driver in Arizona, by way of an intro to ‘Accidents Will Happen.’ He mentioned the tryst was doomed when his lovely cabbie wanted to hear Pink Floyd and he wanted to heat Freddie Fender. Elvis played a bit of Freddie’s ‘Before The Next Teardrop Falls’ before launching into the song. There was a song from the oft-forgotten Momofuku, ‘No Hiding Place,’ that seemed a bit strained. He bounced back with ‘Watch Your Step’ and a raucous ‘Lover’s Walk’ from Trust, showing off the incredible rhythm section of Davey Farager (bass) and the ageless Pete Thomas as vital on the drums as ever. ‘Radio Radio’ was brought out next, a song from This Year’s Model that I haven’t heard in a while, and then ‘Less Than Zero’ from My Aim Is True. Only Elvis can turn a paranoid tale of a facist leader into a crowd sing-along.
The next three songs really kicked it in gear, and all featured the twin goddesses on backing vocals, Kitten Kuroi and Briana Lee, both absolutely beautiful, and both superbly talented singers. Their addition to the touring band has improved Elvis’ sound tremendously. On Get Happy!’s ‘Motel Matches, they added a gospel component to Elvis’ torch song. They provided intense backing on ‘Uncomplicated’ from Blood And Chocolate (and one of my favorites from this show). Their singing on ‘Watching The Detectives’ was outstanding. I also must mention, I’ve seen these musicians play ‘Watching’ at almost every show, but Pete Thomas was just killing it on the drums.
Elvis played his ‘Costello’ Jazzmaster, a Burns 12-string (on ‘Accidents’) and his blonde Telecaster quite a bit, even on ‘Watching The Detectives.’ The acoustic guitars on stage stayed on their stands all night, which was fine with me. He did sit at the grand piano to do two new songs (that we, as regular concert goers, have heard quite a bit). ‘A Face In The Crowd,’ previously a piano/vocal number, was now played with the whole band with Nieve playing organ, and the ladies again adding a bit of a gospel sound. This one is really coming together. He also did the political screed ‘Blood And Hot Sauce,’ which sounds like a National Ransom track that has the feel of a 1930’s song. You can almost see Pappy O’Daniel or Huey Long riling up a crowd to the chorus. There is a good song there, but it’s a bit long. The only song from Look Now was ‘Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter,’ a co-write with Carole King. Elvis told a great story about asking Carole if a chord was an Am or an Am9, and Carole saying “Don’t you know by now?” There was a slow motion intro to ‘High Fidelity,’ which quickly revved up and was followed by the very Stax-like ‘King Horse,’ Kitten and Briana again tearing up the vocals while Elvis hit some falsetto notes of his own.
The band slammed through the ‘hits’ at the end, with a great ‘Pump It Up’ followed by Nick Lowe’s ‘Heart Of The City,’ which is just the best song, then ‘Peace Love And Understanding’ and ending with a smooth take on ‘Alison.’ Twenty one songs, the band sounding relaxed, fun and confident, Elvis in a great mood, the backing singers never better. A set with pretty much anything you’d want to hear.
Elvis IS King.
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