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Is there no end to the versatility of Elvis Costello? A two-and-a-half hour concert — it is somehow inappropriate to call it a gig — was a more stripped-down Elvis.
It allowed the countless gems from his enormous repertoire the time and space to breathe.
It probably also gave him the opportunity to pack all his gear in the back of a Ford Transit, just like the early days.
Accompanied by his long time associate Steve Nieve on grand piano and an electronic keyboard, Elvis, on acoustic guitar, kicked-off with a few of his more well-known numbers.
Suitably warmed up, the audience was then treated to a selection of the tracks from Painted From Memory, last year's collaboration with songwriting genius Burt Bacharach.
These were relatively unfamiliar with those members of the audience who had come to hear stuff like "Oliver's Army," but Elvis, who still sings as if he's recovering from a cold yet whose performances over the years have never been less than impassioned, was in blinding form.
Painted From Memory is a collection of love songs, and they demanded, and received, everyone's full attention.
"What's Her Name Today?," a song which could have been written for Weatherfield's top philanderer, Mike Baldwin, was as emotionally charged as you would expect.
"I Still Have That Other Girl," the tale of another two-timer, was a searing lament, and the most emotive of the new material.
He altered the arrangements of his older songs — "God's Comic" was given the honky-tonk treatment, "Accidents Will Happen" sounded like a sea-shanty, while "Watching the Detectives" was given a reggae backbeat.
But for me, the high point of a show which had more high points than the Himalayas was "Shipbuilding," Costello's anti-Falklands War song. As poignant today as it was in 1982, it left the audience in a trance.
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