Elvis Costello and The Imposters Capitol Theater, Port Chester, NY Friday March 9th, 2018
Mr Costello ran onto stage and fired off the tune “Wonder Woman” right out of the gate. I honestly thought he only performed this on the previous night in honor of International Woman’s Day, but nope- there it was. A lesser known tune from his collab with Allan Tousaint on the album The River In Reverse, has choked me up a million times and never did I think I would hear it live. But I did and it led in full throttle to “Girls Talk” wait.. is this chick tribute some sort of cosmic nod to why Costello’s Vegas residency hit the rail? hmm
Costello ended up in Port Chester after cancelling abruptly his residence at the famous Wynn resort in Las Vegas. Although not clearly stated (but implied) this pull out was in response to the alleged sexual misconduct by the innkeeper extraordinaire Steve Wynn. There were a boatload of pissed off baby boomers who secured time off, flights, sitters, dog walkers, etc etc to partake in the event only to have it yanked. But woo hoo lucky me cuz and thanks Mr Wynn, for due to your indiscretions us Northerners got the King back.
Seemingly happy Costello whipped through his first set like a man late for work. On top of ‘Girls Talk’ the crowd was treated to “Radio Radio”, “This is Hell”, “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror” and my two favorite Costello songs of all time “Green Shirt’ and “Beyond Belief”. without so much as a pause for applause he wailed away like a man on a time budget- but still offering up a boatload of charisma.
The usher who walked me in informed me “he rocks out then he gets all mellow then he sorta rocks out again, its cool’ And he was right. After a brief pause there was the pseudo encore (remember when you had to cheer til your hands bled for a performer to return? No longer! Now its a pee break or something) and time to get your hat.
Second set was The Red Hat set. Slowed down with Costello on piano and his lovely back up singers sharing a silent joke now and then but belting out the tunes like no ones business. I had heard the stripped down “Allison” on the last go round and really wasn’t feeling it. I prefer the original, but hey that’s me- this second visit to the trio version also left me flat. That’s OK, The Red Hat set just wasn’t my scene, and it would be just fine if I never heard “Shot With His Own Gun”, ever again.
Time for another encore!
Enter The Blue Hat set! Now remember the usher said he would ‘sorta rock again’, and again he was right! A lovely version of “Everyday I Write the Book’ had guitar work a plenty. This made me realize how much I neglect Costello s guitar work. His voice is what draws me in but tonight (for the first time ever) I realize what a really talented guitarist he is.
He looks fab. His voice is stellar and age isnt touching it yet- Magic fingers
Ya get an A, son.
