Elvis Costello
Brisbane Convention Centre 18 October 2009
I don't know if the same thing applies elsewhere in the wide increasingly brown land, but when I see advertisements stating some solo performer is appearing somewhere in our neck of the woods you tend to take the presence of the drum machine/click track monster as inevitable.
Among locally based performers at least.
On the other hand, for a bit over two hours at the Brisbane Convention Centre on a Sunday evening in mid-October there was Elvis Costello, an impressive array of some of his favourite guitars and nary a drum machine in evidence.
A couple of effects pedals, yes, but no obvious external rhythmic enhancements.
While Costello could more than likely summon an auditory silk purse out of a sow's ear using such devices, their absence left him free to deliver a set that wandered through most phases of a thirty-plus year career ranging from Radio Sweetheart ("the first song I ever recorded") to a couple of as-yet unrecorded numbers.
There's no way of knowing how much of the set-list was actually planned in advance after the opening salvo of Red Shoes, Either Side Of The Same Town and Veronica, but at times an apparent hesitation as to which guitar to turn to next suggested a certain amount of flexibility.
At the same time, while there were a number of Elvis' Greatest Hits included (Veronica, Every Day I Write the Book, Watching The Detectives, Good Year For The Roses and Oliver’s Army) there were enough obscurities to suggest the idea of catching more than one show on tour wasn't necessarily an act of stretching the concept of fandom to the point of obsessiveness.
Of course, given the sheer volume of memorable material that Elvis has amassed over a lengthy career he could probably have put together at least two set-lists that could have resulted in an equally impressive show without any duplication whatsoever.
Madam hadn't been overly entranced by the prospect of two hours of solo Costello, but the odd sideways glimpse during the show revealed no sign of apparent Elvis ennui. For my part, while there were a number of songs I wouldn't have minded missing on my first Costello concert experience, there was nothing I'd prefer to have missed altogether.
Yes, it would have been nice to have heard I Want You, Just About Glad, Shabby Doll, Any King's Shilling or Our Little Angel (there are others, but that's probably enough to illustrate the point) there was nothing on the set-list that I could point to and say That's the one that could have gone!
If pressed on the subject I’d probably pick Bedlam, but it turned up in the set-list every night of the tour so it seems Elvis likes playing it.
While it might have been interesting to hear some of the following (all of which were played on the tour) it’s hard to say what I’d prefer to have missed from the actual set-list.
What I missed:
Blame It On Cain
Motel Matches
The River In Reverse
Our Little Angel
New Amsterdam
Shipbuilding
Brilliant Mistake
Blue Chair
Rocking Horse Road
Suit Of Lights
So Like Candy
Hand In Hand
High Fidelity
Ghost Train
Black & White World
What was played:
Red Shoes
Either Side Of The Same Town
Veronica
Down Among The Wines And Spirits
All This Useless Beauty
I Dreamed Of My Old Lover
My Borrowed Dress
Good Year For The Roses
The Other End Of The Telescope
Everyday I Write The Book
Bedlam
I Hope You're Happy Now
Condemned Man
Watching The Detectives
Radio Sweetheart / Jackie Wilson Said
God's Comic / Mr Feathers
Harry Worth
Ghost Train
Man Out Of Time
Encore
Sulphur To Sugarcane
Almost Blue
All Or Nothing At All
She
Oliver's Army
Alison (after first chord of I Want You)
In Another Room
It'll probably be a couple of years before Costello hits these shores again, but when he does after Sunday night I might be able to suggest catching more than one show without having the prospect dismissed as a waste of money.
If such a suggestion is greeted with the news that Madam planned on coming to the Brisbane leg that'd be the final seal of approval after an extremely impressive performance.