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| Elvis Costello |
On Monday night Elvis Costello rocked the roof off of the O’Shaughnessy
Auditorium in Saint Paul all by himself. Playing the opening gig of a solo
tour, Costello played 29 songs during a more than two hour show. The audience
was in the palm of his hand from the very beginning. Costello exited the stage
after about 70 minutes, and I was a little worried he wasn’t going to come
back, but my fears proved to be unfounded as he sang 13 more songs. But because
of that early tease, Costello got a lot of standing ovations-there were
definitely some times when I thought to myself, “Well, that might have been the
last song, I should stand up, cause he deserves a standing ovation.” And then
Elvis would come back for another song.
I’ve seen Elvis Costello in concert once before, with the
Imposters on his Spectacular Spinning Songbook tour in 2011. That was an
incredible show, but I was very excited to see him solo. He didn’t disappoint.
He played 5 or 6 different guitars, and the keyboards on a couple of songs. And
he did three whistling solos. The songs covered the entire run of Costello’s
career, from an early version of “Radio, Radio,” then called “Radio Soul,” to “The
Last Year of My Youth,” which he wrote the night before he performed it on
David Letterman’s show last week. This concert also highlighted the amazing
variety of songs that Costello has written, from punky rockers like “(The
Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes” and “King Horse” to the lovely jazz ballad “I’m
in the Mood Again,” and “For the Stars,” which he wrote for opera singer Anne
Sofie von Otter. Very few, if any, rock songwriters can match his career for
its diversity and its continued brilliance.
Costello was in excellent voice throughout the show, and I think
his voice has improved with age. His voice is still powerful, and he showed it
off by sometimes going off-mike at the end of songs. Of course, his distinctive
vocals could still be heard throughout the hall.
Some highlights of the first half of the concert included
the lovely “Veronica,” which he co-wrote with Paul McCartney, a mash-up of “New
Amsterdam” and “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” a charming cover of “Walking
My Baby Back Home,” a beautiful rendition of “Beyond Belief,” which is one of
my very favorite Elvis Costello songs, and performing a duet with himself on
guitar loops on “Watching the Detectives.” Costello sang a nice version of “Everyday
I Write the Book,” which he prefaced by saying, “I wrote this song in 10
minutes. It was a hit, so I felt guilty. But not that big of a hit, so I didn’t
feel that guilty.”
The extended encore held many musical treats, such as a
lovely keyboard version of “Almost Blue,” and the aforementioned “Radio Soul.”
Elvis also sang a heartfelt rendition of “Alison,” followed by “A Slow Drag
with Josephine,” and “Jimmie Standing in the Rain,” two of my favorite songs
from his 2010 album “National Ransom.” “Jimmie Standing in the Rain” ended
dramatically with Elvis moving off-mike to sing a verse of “Brother, Can You
Spare a Dime?” He also tore it up on a vicious version of “I Want You,” on
which he played some wicked guitar. He left the stage, but returned for the
final encores of the night, starting with the haunting “Shipbuilding,”
performed on the keyboard. Costello then switched to guitar for the inevitable version
of Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?” Then it
was back to the keyboards for a beautiful reading of “I’m in the Mood Again,”
from 2003’s underrated “North” album, and “For the Stars,” which Costello
introduced as one of the few songs he’s written about songwriting. He closed
the show with “Red Shoes.”
Costello told stories during the concert about his father,
who was a musician, and his grandfather, who was also a musician who had played
on ships on the White Star Line. He said that his grandfather was part of the
inspiration for the song “Jimmie Standing in the Rain,” which tells the tale of
a Jimmie Rodgers impersonator touring England in the 1930’s.
It was an outstanding concert, you could tell that the crowd
just adored Elvis and would have stayed all night. Elvis really seemed to feed
off of the crowd’s energy and looked to be having a great time. My wife said to
me after the show, “He’s like Shakespeare, it takes me a while to understand
what he’s saying, but the more I listen the more I get it.” I thought that was
a great comparison, it does take a while to get into Costello’s world. But once
you’re there, it’s a fabulous world to be in. After the show, we ran into some
friends who have met Elvis before by waiting at the stage door. It was a
beautiful night, so we waited for a while and chatted, and lo and behold, Elvis
himself soon appeared. He was generous with his limited time, shaking hands,
posing for pictures, and signing autographs. I wasn’t able to get close enough
to get a picture, but I did get a handshake as he was walking towards his bus. And
I learned that he’s left-handed! I knew there was a reason I liked him so much!
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