Elvis and The Imposters, Port Chester, NY, October 29 & 30 2019

[bronxapostle]

Night TWO

STRICT
CLUBLAND
GREEN SHIRT
BLUE CHAIR
MISTAKE
PHOTOGRAPHS
K HORSE
CHARM SCHOOL
MOTEL MATCHES
13 STEPS
MOODS MODERNS
DETECTIVES
I CANT STAND UP new year's eve version
FACE CROWD
TYGIRL
BURNT SUGAR
WHISPER TO SCREAM
ALISON
THE BOOK
BIG STUFF
PLU


night one was better for me. Yes, No PUMP tonight!

[docinwestchester]

Steve played a snippet of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" at the end of From A Whisper to a Scream.

[clowntimeisover]

Some kind soul has recorded Whisper to a Scream!

Whisper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3JDXniiPmQ

Now if only someone took some video of Charm School...?

[Arbogast]

Charm School was a delight...maybe the highlight of the show.

That said....All things taken together, I was disappointed. The only thing that was truly great was the setlist. His voice did not sound good for the first half hour; in fact, there was a lack of...something (electricity? excitement) in the playing overall for that first section. I was in tenth row, and the people in front of me were planted in their seats, barely moving to those first six songs or so. And for most of the show it just wasn't very loud. Finally, it was appallingly short (for him); I have to go back to 3/31/79, the very first time I saw him, to recall a show that was that short. And: no encore!

[bronxapostle]

Some kind soul has recorded Whisper to a Scream!

Whisper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3JDXniiPmQ

Now if only someone took some video of Charm School...?

Dumb luck, i usually try to film one song completely at my shows. And when i started it, he played this!!!
It's okay for my crappy phone. Hope you enjoy...
Despite the annoying couple that had to pass by 2 or 3 times in the same five minutes.


https://youtu.be/PRE-hFw2Nns

[maxrocker59]

The concert last night (Wednesday) was fantastic, but I agree that it was too short (15 minutes shorter and 3 fewer songs than Tuesday night, which wasn't that long by any standards). I also was disappointed that he only played a few mega-hits, again 3 fewer than the night before. Am I the only one that feels that way?

[docinwestchester]

I also was disappointed that he only played a few mega-hits, again 3 fewer than the night before. Am I the only one that feels that way?

Yes, most likely. He has to play the hits, but we as a group tend to like the rarities. The more obscure the better.

[maxrocker59]

I agree with you. 13 Steps Lead Down is pretty darn obscure, and was one of my favorites last night. I just wanted more!

[verbal gymnastics]

I also was disappointed that he only played a few mega-hits, again 3 fewer than the night before. Am I the only one that feels that way?

Yes, most likely. He has to play the hits, but we as a group tend to like the rarities. The more obscure the better.

Yup. We generally recognise that he has to play some hits but for many of us, as the good doc says, the more obscure the better!

[Arbogast]

I corresponded with a friend after the show. His take (which I think is pretty spot-on):

The show made me sad in a way. He’s gotten older. He was sick and you can tell. It’s the first time I sensed a weakness in him. He’s always been so mighty. He had breathing issues for sure. Range issues. The mix wasn’t great. Not loud enough, for sure, and just not seamless and powerful. Couldn’t hear the bass at all. Zero clarity on the bottom end. Just muffled rumbles most of the time. Elvis’ music requires bass clarity in a big way. The whole thing was kind of a mush. Elvis did eventually find his groove and voice but it took longer than it should have.

But, then again, no such thing as a bad Elvis show. Was still him and there were enough high points.

[docinwestchester]

Night 2 thoughts:

EC's vocals were definitely rougher vs Night 1. Keeping the set lengths under 2 hours is a good idea if he's going to sustain a full tour at a high level. I was looking forward to hearing Charm School, but it really was a mess vocally at the start. On the plus side, he played Photographs Can Lie, which I think is the best song on Look Now, especially in concert. Burt can still write a classic melody, can't he? From A Whisper to a Scream was the pleasant surprise of the night. The 13 Steps Lead Down > Moods for Moderns segue was seamless and cool. No Pump It Up was something different. I'm not sure if I like the super slow version of I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down, but he sang it well.

The acoustics where I was sitting (Loge) were fine.

Finally, I like when Kitten and Briana move from the side of the stage, first to join EC at the piano, then to stand center stage next to him for the remainder of the concert. It's a good look visually and EC seems happy to share the spotlight.

Thanks for coming to Port Chester, Elvis. Come back any time.

[Arbogast]

I've been so accustomed to his preternaturally high energy level over the years that I took it for granted. But it really, finally hit me on Wednesday night: He's a 65-year-old man...and a cancer survivor at that.

[clowntimeisover]

Some kind soul has recorded Whisper to a Scream!

Whisper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3JDXniiPmQ

Now if only someone took some video of Charm School...?

Dumb luck, i usually try to film one song completely at my shows. And when i started it, he played this!!!
It's okay for my crappy phone. Hope you enjoy...
Despite the annoying couple that had to pass by 2 or 3 times in the same five minutes.


https://youtu.be/PRE-hFw2Nns

Thanks for capturing this

[bronxapostle]

And i initially thought this was a bit rough, but actually a very near perfect take considering NO HIDING PLACE is not a song played nightly on the tour. Good work all....

https://youtu.be/VqgDDAeFugU

[sweetest punch]

https://www.centerline.news/single-post ... in-concert

Elvis Costello promotes peace in concert

All due respect to the Rolling Stones, but there’s no greater rock ‘n’ roll band in the world than Elvis Costello & The Imposters (omni-keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Davey Farragher and “the one and only” Pete Thomas on drums).

Currently out on a tour entitled Just Trust (the name answers, per Costello’s website, inevitable fan questions like “Will they play my favorite song?” or “Are they going to frighten the horses with a lot of excellent songs that are rarely performed?”), the band, augmented once again by stellar backup singers Kitten Kuroi and Briana Lee, showed why Oct. 30 at The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, N.Y.—the second of two consecutive SRO nights at the venerable venue.

The set was weighted to classic Costello and included “Green Shirt,” “Clubland” and “Motel Matches”--always a vocal tour de force that requires exacting precision and puts his extraordinary prowess as a pop singer upfront. On the more recent tip, he performed his “Burnt Sugar is So Bitter” co-write with Carole King from last year’s acclaimed album Look Now, and “A Face in the Crowd,” from his upcoming theatrical effort based on the Bud Schulberg short story that also spawned the Andy Griffith movie.

Of course he did the must-do “Alison,” which has become a showpiece for him and his adoring and adorable backup singers, and “Watching the Detectives,” which as in the last couple tours, was augmented visually by the lurid English, French and Italian film noir movie poster imagery, fast-moving upon three big projection screens hanging above the band.

The striking set-up was employed throughout the set, with another notable demonstration accompanying “This Year’s Girl,” from Costello’s 1978 second album This Year’s Model. Here the quick-cutting graphic consisted of cartoonish representations of the album’s arresting cover photo of a confrontational Costello, standing behind a still camera on a tripod aimed at the cover’s holder and essentially taking his/her portrait. The pose was lifted from a movie poster for the 1966 Antonioni masterpiece Blow-Up, and Costello played on it by cleverly substituting a caricature of David Hemmings, who played the film’s fashion photographer, on a couple of the images; another one showed Debbie Harry in a nod to last summer’s concert pairing of Costello/Imposters with fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act Blondie.

But the dizzying pictorial manipulations—sort of a digitally achieved post-impressionist cross of Warhol with Van Gogh—was most impactful on Costello’s traditional concert-closer, Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding.” Said by Lowe to have been originally intended as a joke song, Costello long ago made it into a stirring peace anthem; in concert now, he graces it with artwork evoking that of England’s innovative graphic artist Barny Bubbles’ for his third album Armed Forces (the U.S. version of the 1979 release ended with the song), emphatically including the anti-military directive “Don’t Join.”

Other slogans slugged upon the screens included “Don’t Kill,” “Make love…You know the rest,” and “Pay attention—Stop the adoration of the warrior class.” Many were dramatically spread out over the three screens, like “Missing…Presumed…Dead,” and “Kill…Kill…Kill”—which gave way to “Thou Shalt Not Kill.”

Non-text images included one featuring lightning sundering the U.S. and U.K. flags like swords, and a hammer-and-sickle superimposed upon Old Glory.

But the most powerful pictures, perhaps, were those of young World War I soldiers. One vintage photo happened to show Costello’s grandfather Pat McManus—then a boy bugle player—the other, his grandfather Jim Ablett, who was a prisoner-of-war. Refocusing on the musicians, Kuroi and Lee have incorporated two-handed peace signs into the “What’s so funny ‘bout peace, love and understanding” chorus, driving the message of the song home with a flourish.

Costello’s loyal crowd tends to know his vast repertoire inside out. Pacifism having long been one of his central tenets, no doubt many remembered how he ended his stint subbing for David Letterman on Late Show in 2003 when the host was recovering from an eye infection.

It was a week before the start of the Iraq War, and Costello closed, simply, with three words that would fit in well with the others projected above him: “Let peace prevail.”

[Dr. Luther]

Without checking, I believe that it was: "May peace prevail".
(Perhaps I'm wrong...)