CostelloNews.com

'We have played from Adelaide to Assissi, from
Buxton to Berlin and from Copenhagen to Cain’s
Ballroom, Tulsa. '
Elvis , Aug. 05

Today , Sept. 2 , it's three years since Elvis
played a concert here in Dublin. As the above quote
shows he has recently played just about everywhere
else. So Dublin based fans just have to assume it has
been a conscious decision on his part not to play
here.

Thinking back to Sept. '02 it's interesting to
consider the circumstances of the show - which ,
ultimately , may have lead to Elvis extended absence
from Dublin stages.

It was a Monday evening show. The previous week
had seen a particularly insane bit of tour scheduling
for Elvis and co.. The week had started with shows in
Monaco and Switzerland. They then flew to New York for
an appearance on breakfast tv on the Friday morning.

The show in Dublin hadn’t sold out ; I met
people who had received free
tickets the weekend before, just to get seats filled.
Indeed this lack of sales meant the fixed seating in
front of the stage wasn't removed , something that
usually happens if sales are good. Just like this year
, the weather was very hot , with the unventilated
National Stadium being particularly humid. Most of the
'papered' audience were also tired after a typical
end-of-summer weekend. The venue usually hosts boxing
fights so the staff are usually former pugilists ,
with all the menacing , stony faced bulk that comes
with that.

Into this oppressive atmosphere arrives a ,
possibly , jet-lagged Elvis and co. So many other
factors were also, for Elvis , part of this trip to
Dublin. This was the city where his relationship with
Cait was ending. It was also where he had spent part
of the summer helping his mother come to live. A
hundred and one things must have been going through
his mind. Of course , most fans wouldn't have known all that at the time.

A lame performance by Chris Difford left
crowd particularly relaxed. Elvis and co.
started....and stopped after a few songs. Elvis just
wasn't happy with the sound and everyone left the
stage while it was sorted out. Combined with the heat
, this loss of momentum was never really recovered.

Back then Elvis had the particularly
tiresome stage technique of , after an hour ,
'finishing' and saying goodbye. Us regulars knew it
was a ruse - many of the more casual fans didn't and
left. Talking to some days later I was told that they
just couldn't wait to get out , the show was shite
etc.

The show , of course , picked up in the
'second half' , with a lot of those remaining
eventually getting to their feet and crowding the
stage front. Come the evenings end most were happy.
I was somewhat under whelmed. It was the first tour
I had followed on the 'net . All that hot summer I
seemed to be reading about great shows etc. And now I
had seen a show that a walked away from without that
feeling of elation that I remembered from past
concerts.

Perhaps Elvis was pre-occupied by things and
just was not up to going that little bit that was
needed to provoke the audience. Or maybe it was just
the hot, muggy conditions. Put it down to bad
circumstances , I thought . He'll do better next time
which , considering his almost yearly Dublin
appearances since 1978 , would be soon enough.

As I said , here we are , three years later
and not one show. Travelling to see him , as I have ,
in the U.S. , Scotland ( twice) and England (and
Denmark next month) since has been great. I have been
able to combine it with sight-seeing etc. and have met
loads of Costello fans, getting all kinds of
perspectives on his work etc.

However I'd love to see him back here. I'm tired
of telling people here how great his shows and the
two recent albums are , and getting polite, blank
faces,and mumbled comments about past glories. Since
nearly very major - and minor- act includes at least
one Irish date in their schedule Elvis' total
invisibility means he is being forgotten. And that
is a shame.

He did make an Irish appearance of sorts in Dec. 02. Co-hosting the radio show Mystery Train (from presumably the Donnybrook ,
Dublin RTE studios , but a unattributed link from a
U.K. location wouldn't have been out of the question)
he spoke of having just that day finished a song for
Howard Tate. It was , of course , Either Side Of The
Same Town. Singing it in Memphis in 2004 ( April 18.
04, early show) he , in the middle of the song ,
commented -

' This here song is about when you have an
'ex' who lives in the same town as you , you might see
somebody come down the street and think they look
awfully familiar , maybe they used to be the person
you loved, maybe it's the other way around....'

It's lyric may tell us all we need to know about the reasons for his absence -

Nothing will ever be the same
All of the promises we made seem hollow
But there are still streets in this town
Marked with your shadow

So if you see me, look surprised
If you don’t, then pass me by
And I may even brush your sleeve
As you turn to leave

Now it’s hard to act like strangers
When we used to be so strong
Everything is changing
And most of it is wrong
What do we know of anything?
Two fools of some renown
Either side of the same town

Somewhere, there’s a light
I can sense it
Oh, though I may fall back again
Although it’s a fight
I know I must remain

Now it’s hard to keep ignoring
Someone you recognize
And if I seem contented
It’s only my disguise
What do we know of anything?
Two fools of some renown
Either side of the same town