Elvis, solo, plays St Paul , June 9 2014

[johnfoyle]

Who's going?

[The Gentleman]

I'll be there.

[johnfoyle]

Preview -

http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/M ... -Costello/

[bronxapostle]

please GENTLEMAN...be certain to keep a setlist. thanks, ba

[The Gentleman]

Oh yeah. In fact, no promises, but I will likely live tweet it. If you want to see the setlist unfold in real time, I'm @truesdelljyoung. In the interest of minimizing the amount of time I spend dinking with my phone, I might be a bit ruthless with shorthand and abbreviations, but it should be enough the folks here to decipher.

[bronxapostle]

that would be great...much appreciated. i'll be following you. enjoy the night.

[And No Coffee Table]

In the interest of minimizing the amount of time I spend dinking with my phone, I might be a bit ruthless with shorthand and abbreviations, but it should be enough the folks here to decipher.

Feel free to use IDWTC for I Don't Want To Confess.

[bronxapostle]

the gentleman is surely spoiling us tonight with this live twitter setlist watch. i hope he is going to MORE shows. thanks friend!

[And No Coffee Table]

Thank you, The Gentleman.

01. Jack Of All Parades
02. King Horse
03. Either Side Of The Same Town
04. Veronica
05. Last Boat Leaving
06. Poison Moon
07. I Cried For You
08. New Amsterdam / You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
09. Ascension Day
10. Come The Meantimes
11. Walkin' My Baby Back Home
12. Ghost Train
13. Beyond Belief
14. Watching The Detectives
15. Church Underground
16. Everyday I Write The Book
Encore 1
17. Almost Blue
18. For More Tears
19. Radio Soul
20. Alison
21. A Slow Drag With Josephine
22. Jimmie Standing In The Rain - including Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?
23. The Last Year Of My Youth
24. I Want You
25. Shipbuilding
26. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?
27. I'm In The Mood Again
28. For The Stars
29. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes

Theme: Life in exile

[Azmuda]

http://www.startribune.com/galleries/262463381.html

"Elvis Costello, early in his set at the O'Shaughnessy Auditorium in St. Paul Monday night. It was his first Twin Cities appearance as a solo act." Photo: Jeff Wheeler

[And No Coffee Table]

More from The Gentleman (as if we weren't already deep enough in his debt):

[The Gentleman]

I died a little bit inside when I saw he skipped "Suit of Lights."

[The Gentleman]

the gentleman is surely spoiling us tonight with this live twitter setlist watch. i hope he is going to MORE shows. thanks friend!

Thanks! Only one more show this tour for me, though. But I would be glad to live tweet every show he ever does in the future if we can set up some sort of funding mechanism. Sounds like the BEST KICKSTARTER EVER.

[The Gentleman]

I think the telltale sign he's enjoying himself is when he keeps on doing his "1 more song?" finger gesture-- and we got a lot of it tonight.

[Azmuda]

In Elvis land, Costello reigns as King

Article by: JON BREAM , Star Tribune
Updated: June 9, 2014 - 11:57 PM

Review: Solo show reveals depth of talents.

This may sound like blasphemy, but Elvis Costello has had a more consistently impressive career than Elvis Presley.

To be sure, Presley was more important and more influential, and he had a better voice, better hair and better looks. But Costello has been more adventurous, more multidimensional (he writes his own songs in various styles, something Presley didn’t do) and more concerned about artistry, quality and growth. Costello never made a clunker album — or a cheesy movie.

And Presley could not have done what Costello did Monday night in St. Paul at the O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University — perform solo for 2¼ hours, accompanying himself on guitar or piano.

Costello’s concert showcased the depth and breadth of his work and his influences — from the first song he wrote (“I was a profound 17-year-old”) to one he wrote last week before going on “Late Night with David Letterman” on one day’s notice to fill in for Lana Del Rey (“because when you think of Lana Del Rey, you think of me”).

It was a rewarding, enriching evening, filled with back stories about Costello’s dad (a singer), grandfather (a musician) and himself. While this was far from the most exhilarating performance the 59-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has given in the Twin Cities since his 1978 debut, the minimalism of the presentation — his first local solo show — made a listener appreciate the depth and complexity of Costello’s lyrics and music.

Surrounded by four guitars on stands and a broadcast-studio sign that proclaimed “ON AIR,” the man in black (save for his beige fedora) seemed quite informal, never bothering to tune his acoustic or electric guitars — or have a roadie do it for him.

He opened on acoustic guitar with “Jack of All Parades,” which name-checks Minnesota’s own Judy Garland. The ensuing swinging riff rocker “King Horse” demonstrated the singer’s love of fast, tongue-twisting wordplay. The country plaint “Either Side of the Same Town” showed the power of his croon, including building to a falsetto wail.

Even though Costello appeared to be working without a set list (though he had screens presumably featuring lyrics in front of his microphone stands), he knew it was time for a more familiar tune, “Veronica,” which he pointed out he’d written with Paul McCartney. “That’s not something you’re supposed to see [happening] when you’re in the Beatles Fan Club,” he quipped.

Indeed, Costello talked about his youth, including his first public performance as a teen sitting in on an out-of-tune guitar with his dad’s band. “Poison Moon,” an outtake from Costello’s 1977 debut “My Aim Is True,” sounded like a tribute to his dad’s music — like a Leon Redbone vaudevillian nugget complete with a whistling solo. In fact, after the whistle-spiked dance selection “A Slow Drag with Josephine” during the encore, Costello observed: “Not many shows get three whistling songs.”

The set was not hit-deprived, but his electric guitar rendition of “Peace Love and Understanding” was pro forma, and “Red Shoes” felt more like a campfire singalong than a sparkplug rocker. However, “Radio Radio” had new resonance when the singer explained that it was about the radio in his heart (with a little Van Morrison thrown in), and “Alison” ached with painful beauty.

Other highlights included the vivid story song “Church Underground”; “Almost Blue,” his piano ballad attempt at a standard; “Watching the Detectives” with its distorted, dissonant and looped guitar; “Shipbuilding” with its jazzy jag piano ending; and the knotty piano piece “For the Stars,” on which he proved he can belt.

The high point, though, might have been the brand new piece, “The Last Year of My Youth.” It sounded like a perfect salute to the retiring Letterman. Or a nod to the ever-increasing sophistication of Costello’s music. In either case, the song seemed to say “thank you, thank you very much.”

[verbal gymnastics]

Great start!

And look at the ones he DIDN'T play!

[Arbogast]

Nice setlist in St. Paul....but why is it that so often the only videos poster are of the most obvious, least interesting numbers (Alison, PLU, Detectives, EIWTB)? Frustrating!

[docinwestchester]

Nice setlist in St. Paul....but why is it that so often the only videos poster are of the most obvious, least interesting numbers (Alison, PLU, Detectives, EIWTB)? Frustrating!

Radio Soul:

[Azmuda]

Minneapolis City Pages:

Elvis Costello at O'Shaughnessy Auditorium, 6/9/14

By Reed Fischer Tue., Jun. 10 2014 at 9:00 AM

Elvis Costello
O'Shaughnessy Auditorium, St. Paul
Monday, June 9, 2014

One power of Elvis Costello is knowing the everyman better than the everyman knows himself. His words have always put that deep, dark, truthful mirror in front of the rest of us, and a solo performance put those erudite, humorous, and illuminating words to the test. Without any Attractions, Imposters, or special guests, this was the first performance on a new solo tour for the 59-year-old dabbler in nearly everything considered rock 'n' roll since the expression was invented.

In mostly black attire -- coat, tie, shirt, and jeans, with accents via his fedora and green socks -- Costello had an enduring cool about him. Between songs, he also wore a twinkling gap-toothed grin at select moments. For well over two hours, Costello worked a stage filled with a few guitars, a keyboard, and a pair of illuminated signs that read "On Air" and "Detour."

The current running through Costello's four decades as a songwriter, he pointed out, actually traces back to his performer father's influence, and his grandfather's days playing songs on cruise ships too. Within stories of his early days was an oft-present humility bringing him closer to the audience. Then he'd throw something in like "I wrote this song in ten minutes," when referring to "Everyday I Write the Book" to remind us why the tickets were $70. "It was a hit, so I felt guilty," he added. "But not that big of a hit, so I didn't feel that guilty."

For well-traveled songs like "Watching the Detectives," which he's played nightly for most of his career, Costello sent visible shivers up and down our spines by deconstructing the melody a bit and letting experimental guitar work tell the story. The looping dissonant soloing between verses heightened the foreboding aspects of his composition. This wasn't any Bob Dylan-style guessing game. Even if he changed his tune, the lyrical components were still front-and-center to fawn over.

Costello shifted seamlessly -- save a few breaks to walk offstage and possibly decide which songs would appear next in his music stand monitors -- between different styles of material. He unfurled rancor for the jealous anthem "Come the Meantimes" off last year's Wise Up Ghost with the Roots, and added echo to his mic for a call and response with himself. He recomposed his demeanor for the giddy old standard "Walkin' My Baby Back Home" -- complete with one of the night's three whistling solos -- without any hesitation.

"Radio Soul," which dates back to Costello's teen days in Flip City prior to his breakout, was mostly "Radio, Radio" but with less bitterness and more Who-style guitar breaks. He then played a straight version of "Alison," one of the most tender songs of a career half-filled with trying more than a little tenderness. The audience sang with him for the final chorus. Had he closed the night right then and there, it would've been a satisfactory show. But the consummate showman was only a little over half finished with the night.

"When they think Lana Del Rey, they think me," he said while recalling the singer's cancellation last week that put him on as a last-minute add on Late Show With David Letterman. For that appearance, Costello debuted a new song "The Last Year of My Youth," which he said he had written just the night before. When he played the Cheever-meets-Springsteen tale of attempts to reclaim the golden years again on Monday night, it was a vital moment. You could almost see sparks coming out of his inlaid fingerboard.

A blacker segment followed with "I Want You," another chance to sing one thing and let the electric guitar say another. Costello walked the fine line between stalker and lover, and his right hand kept compulsively attacking the whammy bar to mark the narrator's raising despondency until the whole thing got lost in distortion. For all of the folks who have picked up and loved his jazzier work, his Burt Bacharach phase, and his ballads, it's important not to forget that there's always a still a punk inside him waiting to box your ears.

To close down the night, Costello went back to charming the absolutely insatiable audience, who seemed ready to lie down and let him walk all over them. "Shipbuilding," "In the Mood Again," and "For the Stars" put him behind the keyboard, and provided tons of space for a still-strong throat to unleash some dramatic blue notes and emotive wizardry. He ended with the My Aim is True-era gem "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes," a songwriter's song that also happens to be catchy enough for the thousands of singalongs it has since inspired.

With almost 40 years in between writing "I won't get any older, now the angels wanna wear my red shoes," and "'til I woke up one day and I was younger than you" on "The Last Year of My Youth," Costello shows an immortality still in progress. But if he didn't know it already, these songs have already earned him that.


Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: As a very young man, I got hooked on Elvis Costello's wit and showmanship. He has yet to let me down.
The Crowd: You would not believe the amount of standing ovations delivered by this audience. Pretty much every song prompted one, and then everyone would promptly sit down again.
Overheard: "I'm getting my money's worth tonight."
Random Detail: Here's Costello's "The Last Year of My Youth," as performed on Late Show With David Letterman only a few days prior. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB72KD0pptQ

See also: Slideshow: Elvis Costello goes solo at O'Shaughnessy

Photo by Steve Cohen

[Azmuda]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdamO3GbNhQ -- Veronica
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z_LH1dh7aU -- Watching The Detectives -- 7:03 - best video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n2HQS6HPuQ -- Watching The Detectives -- 7:19
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTaWiRygLOA -- Watching The Detectives -- 1:09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEcGF55dtXo -- Everyday I Write The Book -- 3:04
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFMIuoPek5M -- Everyday I Write The Book -- 2:50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZmPsfXgQXI -- Radio Soul -- 1:32
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy5ZZ0Sv0Tk -- Alison -- 2:00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKhGd4rqUM8 -- (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? -- 4:03
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHUKd5_O7Mk -- (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? -- 3:41
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNV1QOTNwtc -- (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? -- 3:02

[Azmuda]

Mark My Words
Concert Review: Elvis Costello solo at the O’Shaughnessy Auditorium

On Monday night Elvis Costello rocked the roof off of the O’Shaughnessy Auditorium in Saint Paul all by himself. Playing the opening gig of a solo tour, Costello played 29 songs during a more than two hour show. The audience was in the palm of his hand from the very beginning. Costello exited the stage after about 70 minutes, and I was a little worried he wasn’t going to come back, but my fears proved to be unfounded as he sang 13 more songs. But because of that early tease, Costello got a lot of standing ovations-there were definitely some times when I thought to myself, “Well, that might have been the last song, I should stand up, cause he deserves a standing ovation.” And then Elvis would come back for another song.

I’ve seen Elvis Costello in concert once before, with the Imposters on his Spectacular Spinning Songbook tour in 2011. That was an incredible show, but I was very excited to see him solo. He didn’t disappoint. He played 5 or 6 different guitars, and the keyboards on a couple of songs. And he did three whistling solos. The songs covered the entire run of Costello’s career, from an early version of “Radio, Radio,” then called “Radio Soul,” to “The Last Year of My Youth,” which he wrote the night before he performed it on David Letterman’s show last week. This concert also highlighted the amazing variety of songs that Costello has written, from punky rockers like “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes” and “King Horse” to the lovely jazz ballad “I’m in the Mood Again,” and “For the Stars,” which he wrote for opera singer Anne Sofie von Otter. Very few, if any, rock songwriters can match his career for its diversity and its continued brilliance.

Costello was in excellent voice throughout the show, and I think his voice has improved with age. His voice is still powerful, and he showed it off by sometimes going off-mike at the end of songs. Of course, his distinctive vocals could still be heard throughout the hall.

Some highlights of the first half of the concert included the lovely “Veronica,” which he co-wrote with Paul McCartney, a mash-up of “New Amsterdam” and “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” a charming cover of “Walking My Baby Back Home,” a beautiful rendition of “Beyond Belief,” which is one of my very favorite Elvis Costello songs, and performing a duet with himself on guitar loops on “Watching the Detectives.” Costello sang a nice version of “Everyday I Write the Book,” which he prefaced by saying, “I wrote this song in 10 minutes. It was a hit, so I felt guilty. But not that big of a hit, so I didn’t feel that guilty.”

The extended encore held many musical treats, such as a lovely keyboard version of “Almost Blue,” and the aforementioned “Radio Soul.” Elvis also sang a heartfelt rendition of “Alison,” followed by “A Slow Drag with Josephine,” and “Jimmie Standing in the Rain,” two of my favorite songs from his 2010 album “National Ransom.” “Jimmie Standing in the Rain” ended dramatically with Elvis moving off-mike to sing a verse of “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” He also tore it up on a vicious version of “I Want You,” on which he played some wicked guitar. He left the stage, but returned for the final encores of the night, starting with the haunting “Shipbuilding,” performed on the keyboard. Costello then switched to guitar for the inevitable version of Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?” Then it was back to the keyboards for a beautiful reading of “I’m in the Mood Again,” from 2003’s underrated “North” album, and “For the Stars,” which Costello introduced as one of the few songs he’s written about songwriting. He closed the show with “Red Shoes.”

Costello told stories during the concert about his father, who was a musician, and his grandfather, who was also a musician who had played on ships on the White Star Line. He said that his grandfather was part of the inspiration for the song “Jimmie Standing in the Rain,” which tells the tale of a Jimmie Rodgers impersonator touring England in the 1930’s.

It was an outstanding concert, you could tell that the crowd just adored Elvis and would have stayed all night. Elvis really seemed to feed off of the crowd’s energy and looked to be having a great time. My wife said to me after the show, “He’s like Shakespeare, it takes me a while to understand what he’s saying, but the more I listen the more I get it.” I thought that was a great comparison, it does take a while to get into Costello’s world. But once you’re there, it’s a fabulous world to be in. After the show, we ran into some friends who have met Elvis before by waiting at the stage door. It was a beautiful night, so we waited for a while and chatted, and lo and behold, Elvis himself soon appeared. He was generous with his limited time, shaking hands, posing for pictures, and signing autographs. I wasn’t able to get close enough to get a picture, but I did get a handshake as he was walking towards his bus. And I learned that he’s left-handed! I knew there was a reason I liked him so much!