Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Pretty self-explanatory
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by And No Coffee Table »

http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/inde ... -10_London

01. Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)
02. I Can't Turn It Off
03. Accidents Will Happen
04. Ascension Day
05. Church Underground
06. Everyday I Write The Book
07. The Comedians
08. Oliver's Army
09. Shipbuilding - on piano
10. London's Brilliant Parade - on piano
11. A Face In The Crowd - on piano
12. Walkin' My Baby Back Home
13. Ghost Train
14. She
15. Watching The Detectives
Encore 1
16. Pads, Paws And Claws - with Larkin Poe
17. Love Field - with Larkin Poe
18. Clown Strike - with Larkin Poe
19. Burn The Paper Down To Ash - with Larkin Poe, sung by Rebecca Lovell
20. Vitajex - with Larkin Poe, EC on ukulele
21. That's Not The Part Of Him You're Leaving - with Larkin Poe
Encore 2
22. Alison - inside the TV
23. Pump It Up - inside the TV
24. Side By Side - on piano
25. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down - on piano
26. Jimmie Standing In The Rain - including Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?
27. Good Year For The Roses - with Larkin Poe
28. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? - with Larkin Poe
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by johnfoyle »

Via Twitter

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Neil.
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by Neil. »

Great evening - glad to see it was so well attended! Not that much different from the Basingstoke Detour set.

Good to hear the new songs - A Face In the Crowd cut through v strongly on first listen - v much in the Bride Over Troubled Water/You've Got A Friend/ You'll Never Walk Alone mould. The Ashes song was great too - Vitajek is deliberately meant to be snake oil advert, so it worked as that!

Glad to see the return of the hatless Elvis after all these years.

Always glad to hear That's Not the Part of Him You're Leaving and Love Field. Elvis was in fine voice in the high notes and the rockers - lower slowies seemed harder for him - Shipbuilding and London's Brill.

Bit overall - great gig with an appreciative crowd!
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by sulky lad »

I love that line from S&G , " I will lay me down, like a bride over troubled daughters " :shock: :wink:
Great review Neil are you going on Saturday ?
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by johnfoyle »

Thanks to Verbal for these -

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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by bambooneedle »

Looking forward to verbal's detailed review...
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Time doesn't permit a really detailed review I'm afraid.

It was a good evening and a good turn out (Neil. MOOT, little fool (thanks for taking my annual picture of me and the Lovell Sisters 8) ), Mr Getgood, FrankieJ (was that you on the end who gave a standing ovation on The Comedians - we know Elvis' people take song requests from this site back to Elvis) and no doubt some others who I didn't see. Sheeptotheslaughter's cousin Peter also said hello to me!

I totally agree with Neil. in that Elvis' voice struggled on the slower numbers.

General comments

- On Side by Side Elvis said Diana was in the audience and she was seen in one of the boxes.
- Burn the paper down to ash was beautifully sung by Rebecca - a real highlight
- I started the clapping in Clown Strike which they all seemed to enjoy :D
- The sound was very good. The only criticism I would have is that the Palladium has a pretty big stage and Elvis was quite set back on it
- The images on the screen have changed a lot and the one for Detectives is really colourful and hard to keep up with
- I'm so pleased those annoying lyric captions (remember those!) have not reappeared in any way
- The VIP laminate for the expensive tickets was ridiculous - I love the words "no access backstage" written on it. They also did not have any
programmes so you had to leave your name and address
- Elvis gave detailed explanations about Face in the Crown and joked about "having a word with the boss [Andrew Lloyd Webber] while we're here.
Well, you never know"
- One funny moment was that a lady whose voice, shall we say, did not carry, kept shouting for London's Brilliant Parade which was funny the first
couple of times but annoying after 4 times. Elvis played it and, by sheer coincidence, it was the next song on the setlist. Elvis struggled with it
though

I didn't stick around afterwards as it had started raining and, as the show finished about 11.15, it was a rush to get my train (and keeping the setlist dry!)

All the rage tonight would be most welcome :wink:
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/musi ... 45206.html

He stood alone and stripped his music to the bare bones


Tall tales from a true rock original, says David Smyth

Evening Standard , May 11 2016

With an autobiography rather than a new album to promote, Elvis Costello was all talk on his latest tour. Acknowledging the showbiz heritage of his chosen venue, there was an element of “I say I say I say” to his quickfire patter, all bad jokes and tall tales.

In between anecdotes he found a fresh way to present one of rock’s most wide-ranging back catalogues. Leaving behind the spinning wheel of song titles that he has operated in recent years, he stood alone and stripped his music to the bare bones.

It meant he could skip quickly from old favourites such as Accidents Will Happen and Oliver’s Army to brand new material including A Face in the Crowd, which he suggested would be part of a new musical. However, the volume was low and heavier songs such as Watching the Detectives felt lacking, rather than newly invigorated, by the restrictive setup. A shift to the piano meant that Shipbuilding was delivered with far more feeling.


There was great warmth in his reminiscences of his musician father and grandfather, without whom it might not have occurred to him to embark on a singing career. Jimmie Standing in the Rain, from 2010, colourfully described the touring life of old. A giant retro television showed vintage footage, and Costello himself, when he jumped inside to perform Alison and Pump It Up.

When sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell of American roots band Larkin Poe joined him for a lengthy encore, their mandolin and slide guitar added where Costello had taken away. He’s better with a band, even this small impromptu one. But it was his voice that dominated, singing and talking, and it was well worth hearing.
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by johnfoyle »

Photos via @sandymackinnon / Twitter


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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Impromptu band?
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by Man out of Time »

Not much to add to Verbal's review. I also thought Elvis' struggled with singing Shipbuilding and London's Brilliant Parade, certainly compared to some of the faster ones. The latter song was really "plodding", I thought, and Elvis barely kept up with the slide show. For me, Hurry Down Doomsday and The Comedians were highlights.

It was good to hear the new songs. Burn The Paper Down To The Ash, sung by Rebecca Lovell is excellent. Elvis remarked that the song came in the middle of the proposed "A Face In The Crowd" musical. He said that he was working on this "with a couple of friends". The songs sound more T-Bone than Bacharach, so interesting to speculate who those friends might be. Sadly we can rule out Allen Toussaint. Perhaps T-Bone and/or Jim Lauderdale or someone from the "New Basement Tapes" sessions? The musical does have a "Trump" theme to it.

I did like the new slide show, an improvement on the previous flying song lyrics. The imagery for Watching The Detectives is wonderful, if a little distracting. Elvis seems to have made a further raid on the MacManus family photo albums. I also spotted what I think was the poster for the second Rockin' Athens Festival (from 1996) where Elvis shared the bill (for only the second time) with David Bowie.

I also noted a Claret and Blue West Ham scarf draped over the backline monitors on stage. This could have been to mark the last ever game at Upton Park (the Boleyn Stadium) that night, but more likely it was in memory of Hammers Fan Milo Lewis, whose photo also appeared in the on-screen slide show.

After the show, I chatted to Paul Cassidy (Brodsky Quartet) in the audience. He was just back from a tour of Australia where the Brodskys played with Katie Noonan. Paul was very impressed with Elvis' show.

I look forward to more of the same (but different) tonight. As Elvis said, "We're here all week", but he went on to promise some different songs every night. We would expect nothing else.

MOOT
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by johnfoyle »

Verbal's photos -


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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by johnfoyle »

Hopefully the print edition of this will actually name the reviewer.



http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/m ... are_btn_tw



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Riveting … Elvis Costello at the London Palladium. Photographs: Rob Ball/Redferns


Elvis Costello review – stripped-back star at his impish best
4 / 5 stars

Palladium, London


Costello is on playful form in a show that pays tribute to 60s light entertainment


“Welcome to my opening night at the London Palladium – I’ve been waiting to say that since I was seven years old,” smirks Elvis Costello on the first of his solo Detour tour’s four nights in the illustrious home of light entertainment. He’s certainly set out to make that seven-year-old’s Tarby-hosted dreams a reality. Dominated by “on air” signs and a 20ft 60s television set screening test-card photos from Costello’s Liverpool childhood, when he was known as Declan MacManus, the stage set reflects the experience of watching Sunday Night at the London Palladium in 1962 – Synecdoche, Bruce Forsyth, if you will – and from it Costello delivers the most revealing show of his career.



For 40 years Costello has been a master of attacking retro styles – country, jazz, folk, 50s croon, prom night rock’n’roll – with his own acidic new wave twist, and tonight provides a riveting insight into why. Having recently published a weighty autobiography, he’s brimming with raconteur anecdotes about his family’s musical history, from his grandfather’s years as an army brass player to memories of trying to prise open the TV to get to his bandleader father singing If I Had a Hammer at the 1963 Royal Command Performance, as well as his own early adventures. A post-punk Ustinov, he tells of falling in love with a Tucson taxi driver the night he wrote Accidents Will Happen, trying to rid the world of alcohol “by drinking it” and eating feasts of broccoli with the New Orleans musical legend Allen Toussaint.

In between, he performs stark solo renditions of key tunes from his life; his own songs, songs he’s made his own and songs that have owned him. The largely acoustic setting suits his rootsy recent material and mid-80s pop moments such as a pastoral folk take on Everyday I Write the Book, but this is no fireside singalong. Acerbic fury still fuels the antiwar polemic of Oliver’s Army and the apocalyptic visions of Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over), delivered with the cranky locomotive intensity of Neil Young. Over at a piano he’s borrowed from his wife, “so I won’t be setting it on fire and pushing it into the audience as usual”, he spills jarring chords on to his smoky jazz Falklands lament Shipbuilding and flounders wonderfully through a rare and unrehearsed London’s Brilliant Parade, his voice a fragile, cracking instrument. Political barbs still abound: unveiling showtunes from his new musical adaptation of 1957 film A Face in the Crowd, he describes the show about Satan becoming a radio celebrity as “a timely warning about the appeal of demagogues”.

Costello’s last major outing, in 2013 as the ringmaster of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook tour, at which audience members span a gigantic wheel of fortune to decide which songs he’d play, indulged his impish persona, but this one captures his twisted 50s aesthetic better than ever before. A squealing electric Watching the Detectives is accompanied by film noir posters floating across the antique TV screen. During a country encore including Pads, Paws and Claws and a lilting gospel Love Field, joined by support duo Larkin Poe on mandolin and slide guitar, he throws in a spoof ukelele sponsor jingle for pep pills. For Alison and Pump It Up, he climbs inside the giant television, as if finally joining his dad in 1963.

A last encore dominated by his most celebrated covers receives multiple ovations for good reason. Despite all of his collaborations with childhood heroes – Toussaint, Bacharach, McCartney – Costello stripped bare is his most affecting tribute yet to the music that made him.
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by Man out of Time »

Review by Bernadette McNulty in the Daily Telegraph today.

"Elvis Costello still has plenty of talent to burn at the London Palladium - review
4 Stars

Elvis Costello has always been a man of many words. His latest tour is as much about his written and spoken ones as the hefty body of work he has turned out as a songwriter. Following on from Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink, his entertaining if self-excoriating autobiography last year, Detour delves into the roots of the boy born Declan MacManus who became the British New Wave wunderkind – and sees him sharing memories from his life on the road and the influence of his family and musical heroes interspersed with songs from across his back catalogue, all played without a band.

This was in no ways an earnest ‘unplugged’ set, though. Costello moved between electric guitar and piano, playing with the undiminished fury of his youth, packing in a dazzling range of numbers from the explosive run of albums he put out in the late Seventies and early Eighties: from Oliver’s Army and Accidents Will Happen up to new songs such as A Face in The Crowd that he said he was writing for a musical.

It was a fresh way of hearing the impressively energetic and still impishly bespectacled 61-year-old drawing the dots between the wildly different styles he has dipped into. As if making up for the lack of bodies on stage, Costello wrenched and wrangled his guitar with the calm fury of a serial killer, but the sound could sometimes not match his powerfully expressive voice, still one of the most distinctive Scouse American drawls in music but that, in the mix, sometimes ended up booming like a pub crooners wail.

The numbers where he dialled down the theatricality and let the words and music speak with more reserve were the most impressive. Shipbuilding, performed delicately on the piano, is still a plaintive wonder and one of the most perfect songs written, as near poetry as Costello has reached.

Alison was given added tenderness solo, while London’s Brilliant Parade, his 1994 love letter to the city he was born in, was evocatively nostalgic of a place that has near disappeared. Picking up a trick from Ed Sheeran, he used guitar loop pedals to transform Watching the Detectives into a spooky, dark dub nightmare, a flash of radical invention that would have been good to see him use more.

Costello’s anecdotes were funny, if well worn, but grew in emotional power the more he delved into his family tree, telling stories about the musical legacy his father and grandfather had created for him. A clip of his dad, bandleader of the Joe Loss Orchestra in the Sixties, was particularly poignant, looking physically like the spit of Costello and nearly bouncing off the screen with irrepressible energy. Later on, his account of his grandfather’s mixed fortunes ended with a reflection on how lucky Costello still sees himself to be able to play music

You could see that the quality that has often been seen as arrogance has perhaps rather been a burning sense of mission to be able to make a life in music in the way his forefathers couldn’t.

While Costello clearly has talent still to burn, it shines best when he has a foil to play off, and when he was joined by his support band, the American roots sister act, Larkin Poe, the evening really sparked over into a truly joyous celebration of his incredible music.

‘Elvis Costello: Detour’ continues to July 19; http://www.elviscostello.com"

MOOT
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by Bradwellboy »

An 11.15 finish is a bummer when you have to be on a train in Liverpool Street for 11.30. Wait and see what Saturday night brings. Just as well that I have seen the final encore several times before.
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by And No Coffee Table »

Mary McCartney posted a brief clip of "Alison":

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFQhtwvThmC/
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... d243e7e9a2



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Elvis Costello in concert at the Palladium, London Roger Goodgroves/REX/Shutterstock


A moving tribute to his late father Ross MacManus and Allen Toussaint

The career-spanning show is Costello's first of a four-night residency at the venue

Alison King


In a career-spanning show, Elvis Costello brings his solo "Detour” to the London Palladium, in the first of four nights at the grandiose venue.

Wearing a three-piece suit and trademark sunglasses, Costello arrives onstage backed by an array of guitars and a gigantic replica of the ancient Lupe-O-Tone television set - apparently similar to the one he had growing up in Liverpool in the early ’60s.

This round of solo performances comes as part music concert and part conversation that ties in with his recently published autobiography ‘Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink’. Full of anecdotes from his life that are both revealing and often very funny there are moments too of heavy reflection. For Costello, that reflection is within the stories shared about his late father Ross MacManus and the songs offered up to absent collaborators and friends like Allen Toussaint. Pictures of his childhood as well as snippets from his vast collections of lyrics and poetry flash up throughout the show as we join up the threads of his varied personal and musical history.

Moving from the piano-led version of "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" to a sombre "Ascension Day" and "That's Not the Part of Him You're Leaving"- there are tributes everywhere you look.

A scattering of new songs like "A Face In the Crowd" (a reference to the 1957 film of the same name) comes as rumours circulate among fans that Costello is writing a musical version of the film, followed by “Vitajex” and a touching duet with Rebecca Lovell on "Burn The Paper Down to Ash.”

Songs from his glory days with the Attractions are still fan favourites: "Accidents Will Happen", "Oliver's Army" and "Shipbuilding" still pack a punk punch and he is joined by Larkin Poe- sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell on "Pads, Paws and Claws” as well as "Love Field” for the first encore.

Standing inside the giant television to provide the quick fire hits "Pump It Up" and "Alison,”

Costello is back with Larkin Poe for the blues-rock energy of "A Good Year For The Roses" and ends with the immortal “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding”.

This intimate show is just as nostalgic for the audience who grew up with these songs as it is for Costello. Providing a moving tribute to those that have passed away, Costello continues to be a remarkable and emotionally engaging musician, poet and storyteller.
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/d7c844be-1767 ... 8e39d.html

Elvis Costello, London Palladium — ‘A vast range of music’

Ludovic Hunter-Tilney
Financial Times , May 11 2016

Elvis Costello’s new show is named “Detour” because, he explained, “where my folks are from, going on tour is called going on ‘de tour’.” There should have been a “bada-bing” from the drummer at this quip about Costello’s Merseyside-Irish background — but none was present. The main attraction, and former leader of The Attractions, was alone at the Palladium with his guitars, a piano, his shaggy dog stories, his puns and an inexhaustible stock of songs.

The staging is a companion piece to Costello’s autobiography Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink. Published last year, the book is a digressive affair of some 700 pages, written as though to endorse the critic Kenneth Tynan’s stereotype: “The English hoard words like misers; the Irish spend them like sailors.” A show that stretched to three encores and included almost 30 songs was devised in the same profuse spirit.

A large mock-up of an old-fashioned television set dominated the stage decor, showing family photographs and footage from Costello’s days as a Tynan-esque angry young man. Now 61, he has mellowed into relaxed anecdotage. Songs, mainly strummed with vigour on acoustic or electric guitar, were introduced with entertaining tales. Some were fanciful, such as the yarn about a failed Mexican elopement that preceded “Accidents Will Happen”. Others memorialised his family of musicians, most notably his father Ross MacManus, a dance band singer and trumpeter.

The range of music was vast, reflecting Costello’s immensely varied career, from composer of acidic post-punk gems to collaborator with Burt Bacharach and Allen Toussaint. “You know I can’t turn it off,” he sang at the start. The set duly encompassed American songbook standards, New Orleans blues, a scrappy series of US roots-rockers played with support act Larkin Poe and solo versions of back catalogue favourites. Highlights included a dramatic “Shipbuilding” at the piano and a paranoiacally noisy “Watching the Detectives” on electric guitar.

Costello’s best songs are a pop classicist’s dream, dazzling formal exercises in melody and wordplay. There is nothing garrulous about them. But his show suffered from too many detours. The non-chronological structure, shared with the memoir, proved frustrating, with threads picked up and discarded seemingly at whim. A fascinating life in music was illuminated only in fits and starts.
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by johnfoyle »

This review isn't in the print edition here in Dublin. I'll check for it in the London one later , or maybe someone here has a subscription & can get the text.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/elvis ... -7x8zqs8df
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by FrankieJ »

Verbal - No, it wasn't me. But I was THRILLED he did The Comedians. What were the chances? I'm very intrigued to know why the forum seems to know that Elvis's people come here for requests. Enlighten me, if you will? :)
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by verbal gymnastics »

FrankieJ wrote:Verbal - No, it wasn't me. But I was THRILLED he did The Comedians. What were the chances? I'm very intrigued to know why the forum seems to know that Elvis's people come here for requests. Enlighten me, if you will? :)
We're aware that Elvis' people read the forum (hi guys! :lol: ) and there have been many occasions where individuals have said their favourite song, or have said they hope he plays a particular song and it's been played that night. Some of these songs had not been played in a very long time but appeared in that night's set. It has happened too often to be coincidence, particularly given Elvis' vast repertoire.

I also know Elvis takes notice as I've spoken to him after gigs to ask him to play a song and he's done it on the next night or 2 (it helps if you say the next date you're going to) otherwise he'll play it and you're not there!)

I think the fact that The Comedians is a more obscure song will have helped. It's more of a fan song than a mainstream one.
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by Man out of Time »

johnfoyle wrote:This review isn't in the print edition here in Dublin. I'll check for it in the London one later , or maybe someone here has a subscription & can get the text.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/elvis ... -7x8zqs8df
"Pop: Elvis Costello at the London Palladium, W1

Ed Potton
May 12 2016

★★★☆☆

“He’s never going to stop, is he?” said one audience member as Elvis Costello embarked on his 26th song. The 61-year-old loves to rail against the capacity of the powerful to screw over the proles, and he certainly gave us mortals our money’s worth during this mammoth, mainly solo set of classics, curios and covers. Such was the volume of material, it was perhaps inevitable that not every song was a zinger.

There were half a dozen too many lo-fi guitar rants and wry-yet-passionate piano ballads. And, while Costello’s strangulated drawl remains one of the most distinctive voices in pop, it wore thin over two hours plus, especially on I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down, where he over-emoted like the kind of X Factor wannabe whom he probably disdains. The faithful were rapt throughout, but for the casual fan it was rather gruelling at times.

The last time I saw Costello he was backed by the American rap-soul band the Roots and, as charismatic a performer as he is, he benefits from bouncing off others. When, towards the end of this show, he was joined by the sister duo Larkin Poe there was a noticeable surge in energy.

His high points were superb: a growling, punky Pump It Up; a version of London’s Brilliant Parade that was full of poignant psychogeography; and She, on which his voice became a gentle, heartbreaking lilt. There were twinkly anecdotes too as he recalled his musician father playing on the same bill as the Beatles for their “rattle your jewellery” show and the modest delights of his first tour where the hotel offered “shortbread fingers wrapped in cellophane — enough to turn a man’s head”.

An admirable show, then, but one that could have been trimmed by half an hour. Costello finished, as he always does, with a unifying rendition of Nick Lowe’s (What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding. Hard to argue with that list — although he could maybe add “brevity”.

London Palladium, Friday and Saturday"

MOOT
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by sulky lad »

Ok then, Saturday night Dr Luther's Assistant please ?!!!
Note my little location as a sign of my devotion you EC monitors :wink:
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by Cocktail Murderess »

Elvipoos. Friday. King Horse. Please? ;-)
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Re: Elvis (solo ) , The Palladium, London , Tues May 10th 2016

Post by sulky lad »

Don't think calling our man Elvispoos stands much chance of being acknowledged unless you know more than we do ? :oops:
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