Nieve Down Under , Pt 2 , April 2018

Pretty self-explanatory
Post Reply
User avatar
Jeremy Dylan
Posts: 934
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:39 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Nieve Down Under , Pt 2 , April 2018

Post by Jeremy Dylan »

http://themusic.com.au/news/all/2014/07 ... ute-shows/

Elvis Costello Collaborator Steve Nieve To Play Aussie Tribute Shows
8 July, 2014

Staff Writer

Acclaimed pianist and Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer Steve Nieve will be heading Down Under this September for a run of shows in which he pays tribute to long-time collaborator Elvis Costello.

Kicking off at the Brisbane Festival on Wednesday, September 10, Nieve will travel to The Basement, in Sydney, on September 13, Perth’s State Theatre on September 17, and finish up at the Recital Centre, Melbourne, on September 19.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, July 11.

Since starting out as a member of Costello backing band The Attractions and, later, The Imposters, Nieve has also contributed to Costello’s solo albums and the latter’s collaboration with Burt Bacharach on the Painted From Memory album and tour. He has also sat as the sole accompaniment to Costello performances, so he’s no stranger to performing the material in an intimate arrangement.

Over the course of his storied career, Nieve has also appeared on-stage or in the studio with artists and performers such as Sting, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Madness, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Morrissey, Lou Reed, and an eye-popping array of others, still finding the time to drop eight full-length albums in the past 30 years, including the recent ToGetHer, featuring Costello, Sting, Ron Sexmith, Joe Sumner, Muriel Teddori, Glenn Tilbrook, Tall Ulyss, Vanessa Paradis and Laurie Anderson.

However, don’t expect to hear much in the way of that material – this tour is all about Nieve paying tribute to his time with the “other” Elvis, and his set list is said to span the entirety of his tenure with the iconic musician.
sulky lad
Posts: 2425
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2005 5:21 pm
Location: Out of the kitchen,she's gone with the wind

Re: Nieve Down Under

Post by sulky lad »

I bet his set lists will be as varied as ECs solo tours have been. Apart from when we trash Australia in the Ashes, here's another occasion when I wish I was going down under !! :wink:
sweetest punch
Posts: 5962
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: Nieve Down Under

Post by sweetest punch »

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/mus ... zt4e8.html

Finding the man (and the piano) behind the songs of Elvis Costello


You can hide in plain sight if you are Steve Nieve, the long running collaborator and keyboard-playing offsider to the more famous, more voluble Elvis Costello.

For a start that name does not appear on his passport or birth certificate: that would be Steve Nason. Nor is Nieve the only name he’s been credited with on a record sleeve: that list includes Maurice Worm and Norman Brain.

And as the pianist, an Englishman in Paris for more than a decade, reveals, none of his many names is even attached to his children.

"I once changed my name to avoid getting married and I adopted the surname of my partner at the time,” he says, somewhat ruefully. “As a result my children ended up with a name that doesn't refer to anybody because her name was changed on her passport.”

But there’s something nonetheless to the name, given to him as a punkish pun moniker by either Costello or Costello’s then manager Jake Riviera (neither of whom, of course, were using their real names either) back in 1977 when the 18-year-old Nason became the keyboard player for Costello’s band, The Attractions.

"The name Nieve I really like it. I didn't like it at the time when it arrived to me but now that I'm older I can appreciate the word naive and I’m going to stick with it,” says Nieve. ''I think your name does colour the way you regard things. I'm drawn towards slightly naive things, definitely in the world of piano.”

The term “naive art” often is ascribed to things that look simple or childlike or innocent, without sophistication but, as Nieve says, “when we look at those we find in many, not all, more complicated issues”. And as those who have followed Elvis Costello's career, and along the way inevitably followed that of his most crucial collaborator, would know the deceptively simple and the devilishly clever or wicked sit alongside each other in the piano and organ (and vocoder and Theremin) parts contributed by Nieve.

He may nominally be part of the rhythm section but from the Abba-referencing organ in Oliver’s Army to the classically minded piano in the songs on the album North, in many cases he has been the lead instrument – which is handy as now he will be the only instrument.

Nieve is to tour Australia as a solo pianist playing the songs of Elvis Costello reimagined, rearranged and probably never the same way twice. That variety is no surprise for someone who says that the idea of solo piano playing is “to pile the pressure on and to try to be relaxed about all the pressure” at the same time.

“I can't see the pieces becoming fixed in stone, like a score,” Nieve says. “I think it's because they are such inspiring songs and when you start to feel what the song is about you are [moved] and sometimes in a completely different way to any time before. It's reacting to emotions."

Here is a link to one of the complete recordings, All Grown Up, https://soundcloud.com/steve-nieve-offi ... 2014-paris.

The Costello songs are part of a larger project recording material from other artists – “volume one of what I hope will turn into an encyclopaedia”, which will include Neil Young, Lou Reed, Brian Eno, Frank Sinatra and Damon Albarn – on piano. And only piano, though as many different pianos as he can find, wherever he can find them, in Paris, Perpignon and beyond.

While on tour in Australia earlier this year with Costello’s current band, The Imposters, Nieve recorded several Elvis Presley songs in a Melbourne studio – "primarily because they have a very beautiful upright piano”.

On a recent trip from the UK back to Paris he came across a battered piano in St Pancras station and, with the portable recorder he carries with him, recorded a version of Costello’s Shot With His Own Gun. And his Australian shows will all be recorded with the possibility of ending up on the coming record.

Of course, this chasing down different instruments is all fine when you’re recording but live it’s not like a regular rock star who can have his roadie pack two dozen guitars into a hard case for the tour.

“It could be,” Nieve says, ever ambitious. “I'd like to have maybe 20 pianos on stage, all with different sounds.”

With or without the 20 pianos, the bigger issue on stage may well be that history of hiding right in front of us as the quiet one up the back. In terms of testing himself, being the focal point of the show, the entertainer not the sidekick, could well be the ultimate challenge for a man who used to rarely give interviews, said even less on stage and tended to hide behind dark glasses, a hat and his bank of keyboards.

It’s hard to imagine him doing banter or looking comfortable doing so.

"I would say I'm not comfortable in any situation. Even just playing the piano I don't feel comfortable,” Nieve says. “But I feel the excitement about it and that's why I am pushing myself to do it all the time. The idea of banter [he chuckles to himself] is something else altogether.”

Steve Nieve plays the Brisbane Festival on September 10; the Basement in Sydney on September 13; Perth’s State Theatre on September 17; Melbourne’s Recital Centre on September 19.

Image

Image

Image
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
User avatar
Man out of Time
Posts: 1827
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2007 8:15 am
Location: just off the coast of Europe
Contact:

Re: Nieve Down Under

Post by Man out of Time »

Preview in Australian Musician dated 8 July 2014:

STEVE NIEVE PLAYS ELVIS COSTELLO

Steve Nieve has been playing keyboards for Elvis Costello for more than thirty years, firstly as a member of The Attractions, and in more recent times with The Imposters. Steve also has worked on Costello’s solo albums and alongside Elvis and Burt Bacharach as part of the Painted From Memory album and tour.

Perhaps the most intimate performances, however, were those where Elvis and Steve toured together creating a spellbinding tour-de-force of piano, guitar and voice. Anybody who has witnessed these or indeed any of Elvis Costello’s live shows will appreciate the special magic that occurs when Steve Nieve is let loose to solo on the piano.

Now, finally, Australia will get to experience a full evening of this magic as Steve and his piano take centre stage. Steve Nieve was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 as a member of Elvis Costello and the Attractions.

He has performed on stage or recorded with such greats including- Sting, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Madness, Squeeze, Burt Bacharach, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Morressey, Lou Reed, Annie Clark (St. Vincent), Vanessa Paradis, Robert Wyatt, Francois Hardy, Jane Birkin, Sandy Shaw, Allen Toussaint, Paul Weller, Kirsty Maccoll, Mick Jagger, Smokey Robinson, Barbara Bonney, Laurie Anderson and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

He has released eight solo albums since 1983. His most recent, critically acclaimed, ToGetHer features duets with Elvis Costello, Sting, Ron Sexsmith, Joe Sumner, Muriel Teddori, Glenn Tilbrook, Tall Ulyss, Vanessa Paradis, and Laurie Anderson.

His Australian shows will feature a set list covering his entire career with Elvis Costello.

STEVE NIEVE TOUR DATES

BRISBANE BRISBANE FESTIVAL Wednesday September 10
SYDNEY THE BASEMENT Saturday September 13
PERTH STATE THEATRE Wednesday September 17
MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE Friday September 19

For all booking details, go to http://www.tombowler.com.au
On Sale Friday July 11

MOOT
User avatar
verbal gymnastics
Posts: 13637
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2003 6:44 am
Location: Magic lantern land

Re: Nieve Down Under

Post by verbal gymnastics »

I'd love to see this show come to the UK.
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
User avatar
mood swung
Posts: 6908
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2003 3:59 pm
Location: out looking for my tribe
Contact:

Re: Nieve Down Under

Post by mood swung »

like many long-married couples, EC and Steve are beginning to look a lot alike.
Like me, the "g" is silent.
Neil.
Posts: 1576
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:14 am
Location: London

Re: Nieve Down Under

Post by Neil. »

Hi Jeremy - did you ever manage to put your Steve Nieve interview online? Loved the Pete Thomas one.
User avatar
Jeremy Dylan
Posts: 934
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:39 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: Nieve Down Under

Post by Jeremy Dylan »

Hi Neil, thanks for the interest. The Steve one actually has another bit of recording that needs to be added to the episode, which I'm coordinating with Steve at the moment. Should be out in the next month or so.
Neil.
Posts: 1576
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:14 am
Location: London

Re: Nieve Down Under

Post by Neil. »

Great - lookin' forward to it!
johnfoyle
Posts: 14852
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:37 pm
Location: Dublin , Ireland

Re: Nieve Down Under , Pt 2, April 2018

Post by johnfoyle »

Image

Steve Nieve working with Canadian singer Peaches in Australia this week . Photo via & with permission of Muriel Teodori



Steve posted on Facebook on March 25th -

Heading to the Gold Coast at the weekend for this, I'll be playing with the Re-Visitors once again, yeah the same who played Jim Jarmusch Revisited and Rain Dogs Revisited - wonderful band of musical maniacs - SSHH YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE -

David Coulter Sebastian Rochford Tom Herbert Terry Edwards @Alex Reeve Marc Cardonnel Bryn Ormrod Fanny Deroff


https://www.gc2018.com/event/great-australian-songbook
johnfoyle
Posts: 14852
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:37 pm
Location: Dublin , Ireland

Re: Nieve Down Under , Pt 2 , April 2018

Post by johnfoyle »

Steve just posted on Facebook - I just had the honour to play keyboards in rehearsal with the legendary "The Mahotella Queens". These ladies voices are incredible. The epic concert with David Coulter and the Revisitors, with Peaches, with Winston MCAnuff, with Patrick Wolf, with Nadine Shah, with Meow Meow, with Afrikan Boy tomorrow evening is going to be a real special outdoor treat, particularly if the approaching Typhoon can slow down a little!!!

Image
Post Reply