Elvis Costello shows range, intensity
The Palm Beach Post was impressed with Elvis`show in Boca Raton.
Extracts
It's not merely that the music matters so much, though
it does. It's that Costello elevates it with his
distinctive, proudly declarative voice. There's an
emotional intensity to his style that most performers
can only approximate. He turns songs into soliloquies
-- at turns pointed and droll -- but he does it
without calling undue attention to his artistry. He's
too busy being a rocker to worry about being the Voice
of a Generation.
Such songs as Shot With His Own Gun and Long Honeymoon
were served up like mini-operas, flavored extra dry.
By the time Costello got around to material from his
latest, jazz-inflected album, North, he proved himself
the quintessential low-fi showman. Add to the mix a
few of his deftly comic remarks -- something about the
evolutionary chain from monkey to man and country star
Toby Keith's place in it -- and it became clear Elvis
wasn't leaving the building anytime soon. He was
having too much smart fun.
Still, Costello never strays too far from a good
rocking groove. By the end of the night, he brought
out a replica of a guitar belonging to that other
musical Elvis -- a Gibson with the right degree of
fuzz -- and played the heck out of Pump It Up, another
old favorite. He explained that the instrument was
merely a "facsimile," like "everything else in rock
'n' roll now."
Elvis Costello shows range, intensity
By Charles Passy, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 23, 2004
BOCA RATON -- Near the end of his two-hour performance
at the Mizner Park Amphitheatre on Saturday night,
Elvis Costello made a joke about his conscious lack of
glitz. An "expensive show," he noted, might have
offered more bells and whistles. "Like Cher," he
added.
Well, we've had our share of Cher. But after watching
the nerdish singer-songwriter work his way through one
of the best catalogs of tunes in the last three
decades, we still want more of Costello.
It's not merely that the music matters so much, though
it does. It's that Costello elevates it with his
distinctive, proudly declarative voice. There's an
emotional intensity to his style that most performers
can only approximate. He turns songs into soliloquies
-- at turns pointed and droll -- but he does it
without calling undue attention to his artistry. He's
too busy being a rocker to worry about being the Voice
of a Generation.
You could tell as much from the start of the show,
when Costello, dressed sharply in a black suit and
black shirt, delivered some of his older, more popular
tunes -- Accidents Will Happen, Everyday I Write the
Book -- in rapid-fire succession. Working in
comfortable partnership with his longtime keyboardist
Steve Nieve, Costello played up the fleet, nervous
quality of his early style, blending punk attitude
with rockabilly restlessness.
As the plentiful but often disrespectful crowd settled
down -- that is, when they still weren't busy
yammering into their cellphones -- Costello switched
gears and went into more of a crooner mode.
Such songs as Shot With His Own Gun and Long Honeymoon
were served up like mini-operas, flavored extra dry.
By the time Costello got around to material from his
latest, jazz-inflected album, North, he proved himself
the quintessential low-fi showman. Add to the mix a
few of his deftly comic remarks -- something about the
evolutionary chain from monkey to man and country star
Toby Keith's place in it -- and it became clear Elvis
wasn't leaving the building anytime soon. He was
having too much smart fun.
Still, Costello never strays too far from a good
rocking groove. By the end of the night, he brought
out a replica of a guitar belonging to that other
musical Elvis -- a Gibson with the right degree of
fuzz -- and played the heck out of Pump It Up, another
old favorite. He explained that the instrument was
merely a "facsimile," like "everything else in rock
'n' roll now."
But Costello, he's an original -- in every sense of
the word.
charles_passy@pbpost.com