Elvis solo, Louisville (KY), June 17, 2014

[sweetest punch]

Preview with interview: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/en ... /10320837/

Elvis Costello's 'SOLO' tour a master class in writing

Elvis Costello has been doing brief regional tours of the United States for the past few years, and these "SOLO" tours, as he calls them, have given him opportunity to dig deep into one of modern music's deepest and most intensely satisfying catalogs.

For this year's run, which comes to the Louisville Palace Tuesday, he's added a subtitle: "The Last Year of My Youth" acknowledges his pending 60th birthday in August.

"I only officially attached that to the two shows I played at Carnegie Hall, but in my mind it's the subtitle to the entire adventure. As time goes on, you've got to have a sense of humor about it," said Costello, a gregarious conversationalist who seems to have a sense of humor about quite a few things.

"Whenever I was approaching any significant birthday from the time I was 18, friends would ring me up and go, 'Are you all right?' as if you were about to fall off a cliff because you were no longer 20, or 40 and so on. So here I am approaching a number that people are fearful about and I go, 'What the hell? I'm alive and doing the thing I wanted to do.'

"I'm playing the Carnegie, the Palace in Louisville, the Ryman. These are places of dreams."

Costello is performing alone save for his guitars, and thinks that people have some knee-jerk misconceptions about solo acoustic tours, expecting them to be quiet, ballad-laden affairs. Think again. Costello can attack a song just fine all by himself.

"A lot of rock 'n' roll records only had a couple of instruments on them, and acoustic guitar was right in there at the beginning, so there's rock 'n' roll in this show," he said. "There's all kinds of music."

"All kinds of music" is a neat summation of Costello's monumentally creative career, which has spanned nearly 40 years and 30 studio albums, many of them classics. He has explored the worlds of rock, country, jazz, film soundtracks, hip-hop, string quartets and orchestral music.

It would take a week's worth of shows to scratch the surface, and that wouldn't even touch on the 45 new songs he's written with Burt Bacharach for a pair of musicals. To call Costello the pre-eminent songwriter of his generation is a bit of an understatement.

He began in 1977 with "My Aim Is True," an album of exquisite songwriting delivered with quick-witted vehemence. He averaged more than an album per year over the next decade, and many are considered milestones: "This Year's Model," "Armed Forces," "King of America," "Imperial Bedroom," "Blood & Chocolate."

Costello was practically machine-gunning songs, and while his pace has slowed to something a bit more human since the late 1980s, he continues to set the standard. Albums such as "All This Useless Beauty," "Painted From Memory," "Momofuku" and last year's "Wises Up Ghost," a collaboration with The Roots, all sparkle in different ways.

So putting together a solo show that rocks isn't a stretch.

"There are plenty of changes of color and pace and dynamic," Costello said. "And certainly, of course, because of all the different stories I have, I try to find, if not a common thread, a contrast, or something that carries you from one song to the next.

"I've given more thought to my choices of songs than perhaps I ever have before. ... I'm trying to make it alive. I don't want to just come out and recite a familiar script and expect to get a round of applause for that. You've got to try and look into it a little bit more."

The word most often used to describe Costello since his debut has been "intellect," and he's clearly a smart man. The wordplay in his songs can be astounding for both its complexity and content, but what lingers is more visceral.

"I don't really base what I do on intellect, but on emotion," he said. "It's all about emotion, and it always has been. It's other people's ideas that I'm, one, kind of smart, and, two, particularly focused on the structure and history of music. It's actually all about the emotion and story that's being told."

On Costello's last solo tour of the States, in November, he began putting together set-lists by creating a suggested storyline using only a couple of emotionally charged words, such as love and deceit.

"Well, I have a lot of songs about that, and I would try and make one lead to the next," he said. "It wasn't a scripted out thing, but something I had to do on the fly leading from the emotion of one song into the next, sometimes reacting to the way the audience fed back, sometimes to the architecture of the theater, because a lot of these beautiful old theaters have corners and shadows and their own stories, like the one you have in Louisville.

"I really enjoyed those shows, and it felt like it was getting progressively more intense, so we'll start from there and go up."

[Heats101]

"45 new songs he's written with Burt Bacharach for a pair of musicals"
Really ???
Or should that be 4 to 5 songs.

I hope !!!

[bronxapostle]

well, as about 3 months ago i heard a dozen, and about a month ago, up to 20...i'm guessing this 45 might not be wrong!

[blureu]

Anyone going? I hope to be there. Taking a road trip since I can't make the Atlanta show.

[And No Coffee Table]

Twitter:

An evening of solo @ElvisCostello at @LvillePalace opens with "Jack of All Parades." Off to radio silence ... http://pic.twitter.com/sVhZPXMiwt

[And No Coffee Table]

A bit of "Little Triggers": http://instagram.com/p/pXZn51TCPm/#

[docinwestchester]

Jeffrey Puckett ‏@JLeePuckett 22m
Brigid Kaelin has joined Elvis Costello for a set, and Jim James in the wings. Elvis is a gracious guest as opposed to gracious host. Props.

http://instagram.com/p/pXfSlvTCHB/#

Kyle Meredith ‏@kylemeredith 7m
Jim James and Elvis Costello covering Femme Fatale

http://instagram.com/p/pXhvwTtKpu/

Laura! ‏@backtogray 4m
And now Elvis Costello and Jim James are covering Bob Dylan. #louisvillepalace

[And No Coffee Table]

After an incredible version of "Shipbuilding," ‪@ElvisCostello‬ is joined onstage by ‪@JimJames‬. Pretty incredible evening at ‪@LvillePalace‬.

Costello, Jim James, Brigid Kaelin on Dylan's "You Ain't Going Nowhere," with BK on musical saw. Sweet.

So @jimjames joining @ElvisCostello for Femme Fatale+Bring It On Home To Me+You Ain't Goin' Nowhere tonite in Louisville was a fun surprise.

Watching The Detectives: http://instagram.com/p/pXetjxTCGO/#

[MOJO]

Nice - Jim James! Love that guy. My Morning Jacket rules.
.

[And No Coffee Table]

a bit of You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (with Jim James): http://instagram.com/p/pXttv-zZEm/#

[blureu]

It was quite a show as you can see. Looking forward to the tally update with this show.

Start: 8:07
End: 10:25
Theme: "Life in Exile"

Jack of All Parades
45
Either Side Of The Same Town
Veronica
Last Boat Leaving
Watch Your Step
Come The Meantimes
Little Triggers
Poor Napoleon
Walkin My Baby Back Home
Ghost Train
Beyond Belief
There's A Story In Your Voice
Just About Glad
Green Shirt
Watching The Detectives
Allison

Encore 1 (with Brigid Kaelin on accordion)
A Slow Drag With Josephine
American Without Tears
Waiting For The End Of The World/Gloria

Encore 2
Shipbuilding
Femme Fatale (with Jim James)
Bring It On Home To Me (with Jim James)
You Ain't Going Nowhere (with Jim James and Brigid Kaelin on saw)

Encore 3
Jimmie Standing In The Rain/Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?
Radio Soul
Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4
The Last Year Of My Youth
(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding

[MOJO]

Well, this post has nothing to with EC's show tonight, but a flashback to the Bridge School event. Elvis was on the bill as well.. Here is a classic - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvhIPtInLQo - Jim James! Neil, not too shabby either!

[And No Coffee Table]

in performance: elvis costello
June 18, 2014 @ 2:05 am

Elvis Costello decided the theme for his deliciously rough-cut performance last night at the Louisville Palace would be “life in exile.”

“That means we can play this anywhere,” said the veteran songsmith.

Well, technically, yes. But if anything represented an exile, it was Costello’s self-imposed separation from onstage collaborators. A band man since his breakthrough days with The Attractions, Costello is now in the midst of a rare solo tour. Armed with five guitars, a keyboard and 35 or so years’ worth of champion songs, Costello took to the Palace stage alone as an artist in his own exile. That was the case, however, until a couple of Louisville pals helped out at encore time.

Solo performance settings for contemporary singer-songwriters can’t help but summon a folk connotation. Certainly there were elements of that last night, especially when Costello took some of his chestnut post-punk tunes and toyed with their pace (Watch Your Step), their central melody (Veronica) and even their very intent in unvarnished acoustic deliveries. The latter came into play when an encore of Radio Radio was slowed into a quiet affirmation that Costello confessed had little to do with literal airwaves, but “the radio inside you, broadcasting out.”

But there were several solo electric segments, as well, that upheld Costello’s rock ‘n’ roll heritage. The popular Watching the Detectives employed loop-like effects to establish a dub style groove. The guitar solo Costello hammered out on top of it was hardly full of masterful chops. Instead, blunt, raw instinct was implemented, which rekindled the some of the dark glory the song was born with. Ditto for the jagged lyrical edge and noisy intuition summoned late in the program for the new and unrecorded The Last Year of My Youth.

The solo setting became a hootenanny of sorts when Jim James (who is collaborating with Costello and others this year in Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes, a project generating newly composed music for unpublished Bob Dylan lyrics) and accordionist/musical saw stylist Brigid Kaelin joined Costello for a set of encore covers that included Dylan’s You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere, the pop-soul classic Bring It On Home and an especially lovely and longing version of Lou Reed’s Velvet Underground gem Femme Fatale.

Costello got the last word in, though, by ending the show with a solo electric reading of (What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding that sounded coarse, vital and eerily topical.

[verbal gymnastics]

Ba's going to have a fit when he sees the setlist for this show

And we've got the Larkin Poe supports to come which I'm sure will add different songs each night.

[sweetest punch]

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/en ... /10742391/

Elvis Costello solo show sparkles at Louisville Palace

Elvis Costello’s solo tours in recent years have been constructed around themes that change from night to night, depending on the singer’s mood. His options are legion, given the 30 albums from which he has to draw inspiration.

But there are certain ideas that have consistently surfaced over those albums, and they all have to do with the havoc that can be wrought when two hearts and lives collide. Costello has a gift for illuminating those dark corners.

Tuesday night at the Louisville Palace, his theme was “A Life in Exile,” which proved to have a couple of meanings. It was occasionally meant literally, a reflection of the life imposed upon a traveling musician, but far more often it had to do with hearts in exile.

That was made clear early with a stunning version of “Either Side of the Same Town,” from 2004’s “The Delivery Man.” The song, a pure Southern soul lament that Costello sung with an unhinged passion, explores the worst kind of exile: one where you’re not alone, but instead doomed to coexist with a person who no longer cares.

Costello explored a different kind of lovelorn exile with “Veronica,” a deceptively peppy song about a woman whose life was frozen in time after the man she loved died in battle. And on early songs such as “Watching the Detectives” and “Little Triggers,” frustrated partners fume as their lovers’ attention wanders.

Given that Costello was alone on stage the night’s theme had added resonance, but it was tempered by his warm, funny stage presence. He also proved a gracious guest by bringing out a pair of Louisville musicians in Jim James, of My Morning Jacket, and Brigid Kaelin.

Costello first teamed with Kaelin a few years ago at the Palace, and she again played accordion on a few selections, including “A Slow Drag With Josephine.” James met Costello earlier this year when they partnered with Marcus Mumford, Rhiannon Giddens and Taylor Goldsmith to put music to previously unheard Bob Dylan songs (“Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes,” will be released later this year).

After Costello and James dueted on the Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale” and Sam Cooke’s “Bring it On Home to Me,” all three ripped through a rollicking version of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” with Kaelin dropping a fine musical saw solo.

[Jack of All Parades]

" He also proved a gracious guest by bringing out a pair of Louisville musicians in Jim James, of My Morning Jacket, and Brigid Kaelin.

Costello first teamed with Kaelin a few years ago at the Palace, and she again played accordion on a few selections, including “A Slow Drag With Josephine.” James met Costello earlier this year when they partnered with Marcus Mumford, Rhiannon Giddens and Taylor Goldsmith to put music to previously unheard Bob Dylan songs (“Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes,” will be released later this year).

After Costello and James dueted on the Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale” and Sam Cooke’s “Bring it On Home to Me,” all three ripped through a rollicking version of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” with Kaelin dropping a fine musical saw solo.[/quote]

A nuanced appreciation of a show for my eyes and given the guest appearances a show I would not have minded attending. I usually cannot get enough of Mr. James and his band.

[Emotional Toothpaste]

Hoping for some special guest appearances in Nashville. I check Emmylou though and it looks like she is out of town on her own tour. Maybe Vince Gill and the Time Jumpers?

[blureu]

Femme Fatale:

http://youtu.be/Pob0ghldJ2Q

[bronxapostle]

" He also proved a gracious guest by bringing out a pair of Louisville musicians in Jim James, of My Morning Jacket,

James met Costello earlier this year when they partnered with Marcus Mumford, Rhiannon Giddens and Taylor Goldsmith to put music to previously unheard Bob Dylan songs (“Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes,” will be released later this year).

After Costello and James dueted on the Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale” and Sam Cooke’s “Bring it On Home to Me,” all three ripped through a rollicking version of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” with Kaelin dropping a fine musical saw solo.

Elvis first played with Jim at THIS show's encore: http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/inde ... 0_New_York

which reminds me that i have asked ANCT to help fill in the "ALL" at the encore for this and a couple other shows i've seen (and kept accurate record of just WHO was on stage at encore time.) we'll get around to those edits real soon.

[sulky lad]

There's got to be a recording of this , hasn't there ?

[Azmuda]

https://twitter.com/BrigidKaelin/status ... 4777358337



https://twitter.com/BrigidKaelin/status ... 0749965313

[And No Coffee Table]

Brigid Kaelin: Life lessons I learned from playing with Elvis Costello

By Brigid Kaelin

Backstage at Tuesday’s Elvis Costello concert, I contemplated why some musicians — and not even well-known musicians — can be such pompous jerks, while Elvis is pretty much the coolest person ever. Now I’m not talking “cool,” as in funky glasses and polka dot scarves (though he’s got that down, too). I mean he’s genuine. He’s kind. He’s interested in other people, in new experiences, and he gives his all to every show, whether it’s Carnegie Hall or the Louisville Palace.

I’ve since played with Elvis Costello three times – once in Glasgow, Scotland, and twice in Louisville. He is always kind, gracious, and completely professional. We could all learn a few things from him. Here are some pointers that I’ve picked up:

Take risks. I first met Elvis back in 2008 when I was at WFPK doing some promotion for my new album. He was scheduled to come in for an interview that day. I wanted to meet him, but I didn’t want to be a creep and hang around the studio.

So I left him a note.

On the back of a handbill, I scrawled something like, “Dear Mr. Costello, I will be at your show tonight. If you need any accordion or musical saw, please give me a call.” I didn’t expect anything but thought it might make him smile. Then my phone rang. It was Elvis, inviting me to soundcheck.

Was writing that note a little crazy? Probably. But a little moxie can go along way.

Say yes. When Elvis asked me if I was comfortable playing musical saw on a song I’d never heard before. I said yes. Say yes, and then figure out how to make it happen. We played through the tune once in the green room, and it got the biggest applause of the show — a musical saw solo on “Mr. Feathers.”

Be confident. By far the most common question I get when people hear my Elvis story is: Aren’t you nervous? My answer? “Nope.” Ask me to run the lights or play the trombone, and I’d be a nervous wreck. But the accordion? The saw? It’s what I do.

Be trusting. Elvis didn’t hover or tell me how to play my instrument. He trusted that I knew what I was doing or I wouldn’t be there. Hire pros and let them do their thing.

Be nice. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or if you’re playing your first open mic: Don’t be a jerk. I’ve played in bands that have had a different manager for every tour because the singer is so difficult to work with. It says a lot that most of Elvis’s road crew and bandmates have been with him long-term.

Put on a show. Just because you’ve sold millions of albums doesn’t mean you’re off the hook when it comes to performances. Every Elvis show I’ve seen is just that: a show. Your audience could easily stay home and listen to your record, but they came out to be entertained. Elvis makes his own setlists, curating the evening. But he is so in tune with the crowd that he’s not afraid to add a song if whatever comes next on the list just doesn’t feel right. On Tuesday while we were playing “Waiting for the End of the World,” he suddenly morphed into Van Morrison’s “Gloria” without missing a beat. The crowd went nuts.

Live music is different. A painting, a photograph, a book — these things are eventually finished. Printed. Mounted. Framed. But live music is something else. I’ve seen Elvis decide at the last minute to change the time signature or tempo or even the instrumentation of a song. On Tuesday he even played a song, “The Last Year of my Youth,” which he hadn’t even finished yet. When is the last time you heard of a writer sharing a first draft? It was powerful, intimate, and (see No. 5) part of a great show.

Say thank you. Every single time I’ve played with him, he’s thanked me so much for joining him on stage. I’m not delusional. I know very well that I should be the one thanking him (and I do thank him, I assure you), but his effortless politeness is so sincere. It’s a nice reminder that kindness and manners are still important.

Every time I’ve shared the stage with him has been magical and fun. But ultimately, it’s been about playing good music with good people. Most of these “lessons” aren’t shocking or innovative, but they are all nice reminders that we all have a choice. No matter how successful you are, you have choices to make. Maybe it’s that Costello has nothing to prove, but I suspect it’s more that he is just a good human being.

[Jack of All Parades]

That piece on 'life lessons' this musician learned from playing with EC was a joy to read- sweet, enthusiastic and appreciative. It is nice when one encounters these genuine appreciations.

[verbal gymnastics]

I agree.

What they say about meeting your heroes is not always right. Elvis is genuinely respectful and always keen to try new things. There's so much about this post that I love.

I have met Elvis a number of times and he has always been courteous and generous with his time where it permits. He's even listened to me once or twice

It will be difficult to beat the time we were talking about our kids, when he wished me good luck with our (soon to be) new arrival and my "All the Rage" request last year.

Thanks for posting this ANCT.