Elvis does unspeakable things with his guitar
......in Oslo -
Extract -
When Elvis Costello asks you to take a seat in the “Blue Chair”, he does not expect you to sit back and relax. First of all, because there were no seats
available at Rockefeller Music hall, but mainly because Elvis kept us all on
our toes with an energetic, engaging and humorous concert. From the opening
“Blue Chair”, it was two intense hours and Friday turned into Saturday
without anyone noticing.
During the night we were treated to a whole lot of tidbits from his 30 year
long career, done both with bitterness and with a great sense of humour. The
latter is most apparent when he does unspeakable things with his guitar.
Most solos are left to Steve Nieve, though and Elvis has got a strong sense
of irony regarding his own guitar-playing. But then, almost at the end of
the night, he plays a blues where he treats us to a beautiful guitar
solo, that no one would´ve thought him capable of.
...and Copenhagen -
Extract -
Smart Elvis, sharp Elvis, Elvis the musician. Elvis Elvis Elvis. You never get tired of that name.
Elvis has filled half of his productive career with experiments verging on the embarrassing. But when he is good, then he is both outstanding and unique. He was indeed that, today in front of an audience of 1,500 in Copenhagen.
Short, square and hidden behind a suit and with orange tinted sunglasses. No hat this evening, but a bunch of guitars, a bunch of rock, punky, dirty blues and beautiful ballads.
He was unstoppable with his old cronies, although a number of times overshadowed by his piano player Steve Nieve. The architect looking wizard created minimalist fills, giant clanging sounds, and everything in between. Not kids stuff, and not normally things that one would use a lot of time on to learn – one has computers and other programs that can handle that type of stuff. Nieve is a man of a forgotten time. But which time?
There was plenty of newer material, like the most recent and far from bad The Delivery Man record, maybe a little too much, but Elvis wanted to play it. For more than two hours in addition to the two hours he used to warm up during the sound check. He generously drew from his catalogue, where standards (positively meant) like Radio Radio, Chelsea and especially Watching the Detectives got under one’s skin throughout the night. Great art from a little man sung with an instrument that the rest of the world rightfully is in envy of.
Dagbladet reviews Oslo concert
”ON OUR TOES FOR A HUMOROUS COSTELLO”
ELVIS COSTELLO, ROCKEFELLER, OSLO
AUDIENCE: 1.200
TWO HOURS OF ENERGY AND HUMOUR
REVIEWED BY KURT HANSSEN
When Elvis Costello asks you to take a seat in the “Blue Chair”, he
does not
expect you to sit back and relax. First of all, because there were no
seats
available at Rockefeller Music hall, but mainly because Elvis kept us
all on
our toes with an energetic, engaging and humorous concert. From the
opening
“Blue Chair”, it was two intense hours and Friday turned into Saturday
without anyone noticing.
Elvis Costello and The Imposters are on tour, mainly to promote
Costello´s
21.album, but he´s also more than willing to dig deep into his musical
past,
which is a veritable treasure-chest.
Basically, it´s almost like an old fashioned EC & The Attractions
concert,
the only difference being that Bruce Thomas is replaced by Davey
Faragher.
I´ll gladly admit that I missed the ingenious bass-playing of Bruce
Thomas,
but as usual, Professor Steve Nieve is brilliant on his array of
keyboards,
and Pete Thomas is the same utterly solid drummer as he´s always been.
The new songs from TDM, which, incidentally will soon be re-released as
a
double CD, is scattered throughout the set and he plays most of the
album.
Highlights included; “Heart-shaped bruise”, with Faragher stepping in
for
Emmylou Harris, “Country darkness”, and the beautiful “Nothing clings
like
Ivy”, while the title track will almost surely become another Costello-
classic.
He treated his old fans to some of his classics, like “Radio, radio”,
“Chelsea”, “Watching the detectives, and of course “Alison”, which
segued
into “Suspicious minds”. He did the same thing later on by letting;
“Either
side of the same town” segue into “Dark end of the street”.
During the night we were treated to a whole lot of tidbits from his 30
year
long career, done both with bitterness and with a great sense of
humour. The
latter is most apparent when he does unspeakable things with his
guitar.
Most solos are left to Steve Nieve, though and Elvis has got a strong
sense
of irony regarding his own guitar-playing. But then, almost at the end
of
the night, he plays a blues where he treats us to a beautiful guitar
solo,
that no one would´ve thought him capable of.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copenhagen
It was the unstoppable musician, the round man without the great anger that Elvis Costello exhibited at Vega, during a fine but far from unforgettable concert.
Smart Elvis, sharp Elvis, Elvis the musician. Elvis Elvis Elvis. You never get tired of that name.
Elvis has filled half of his productive career with experiments verging on the embarrassing. But when he is good, then he is both outstanding and unique. He was indeed that, today in front of an audience of 1,500 in Copenhagen.
Short, square and hidden behind a suit and with orange tinted sunglasses. No hat this evening, but a bunch of guitars, a bunch of rock, punky, dirty blues and beautiful ballads.
He was unstoppable with his old cronies, although a number of times overshadowed by his piano player Steve Nieve. The architect looking wizard created minimalist fills, giant clanging sounds, and everything in between. Not kids stuff, and not normally things that one would use a lot of time on to learn – one has computers and other programs that can handle that type of stuff. Nieve is a man of a forgotten time. But which time?
There was plenty of newer material, like the most recent and far from bad The Delivery Man record, maybe a little too much, but Elvis wanted to play it. For more than two hours in addition to the two hours he used to warm up during the sound check. He generously drew from his catalogue, where standards (positively meant) like Radio Radio, Chelsea and especially Watching the Detectives got under one’s skin throughout the night. Great art from a little man sung with an instrument that the rest of the world rightfully is in envy of.
Such highpoints were there unfortunately too few of this evening that in its entirety was neither unforgettable nor decidedly magic.
Then you can’t overlook snag number 2: the missing youthful anger. Costello is surely gotten softer during the years, but a more totally punkish and dirty playing Elvis IS and will always be the REAL Elvis, nostalgically seen. We saw way too little of this man tonight.