Elvis and The Imposters, Cincinnati, (OH), October 16, 2021

[Man out of Time]

Elvis and The Imposters, with Charlie Sexton play the Andrew J. Brady ICON Music Centre in Cincinnati on Saturday October 16, 2021.

This is a new concert venue, opened in July 2021 and named after a local music teacher. It has a seated capacity of 4,500. The event is not sold out.

There seems to be no local press coverage, which may partly account for the availability of tickets.

Is anyone going?

MOOT

[IbMePdErRoIoAmL]

I expect to be there & will report back.
This new venue is much larger than the theaters he usually plays in Cincinnati. Many seats (floor included) are available for $20 per ticket. I picked up a pair 9th row center!
Cheers!

[bronxapostle]

I expect to be there & will report back.
This new venue is much larger than the theaters he usually plays in Cincinnati. Many seats (floor included) are available for $20 per ticket. I picked up a pair 9th row center!
Cheers!

Wish I could be there for $20...

[And No Coffee Table]

http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/inde ... Cincinnati

01. Big Tears
02. Truth Drug
03. Green Shirt
04. No Flag
05. Either Side Of The Same Town
06. The Comedians
07. Hetty O'Hara Confidential
08. Everyday I Write The Book
09. Mistook Me For A Friend
10. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
11. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
12. We Are All Cowards Now - including Back Stabbers
13. The Death Of Magic Thinking
14. Watching The Detectives
15. Brilliant Mistake / Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
16. Mystery Dance - including fourth verse
17. Magnificent Hurt
18. High Fidelity
19. Radio, Radio
20. Farewell, OK
21. Alison - including Tracks Of My Tears, Over The Rainbow and Somewhere
22. Pump It Up
23. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?

[IbMePdErRoIoAmL]

The setlist matches my own notes & seems correct. Some general observations:

-- I feel this was the best performance I've seen Elvis give in several years. He wasn't pitchy (a very real problem at the Just Trust show I attended) or dragging/singing far behind the beat (something that has gotten more pronounced in the last decade). He was in much better voice than I've heard in 8 or 9 years.
-- Charlie's presence livened up many of the arrangements but, on the whole, I feel like he's not being used to his potential. I've seen him for years w/ Dylan & he is an incredibly talented guitarist. But he didn't seem to be afforded many opportunities to stretch out & was far too buried in the mix.
-- Gone are the days of Elvis having dozens of guitars available onstage. He used the Burns for one number (Red Shoes) & a hollowbody for another (a radical minor-key reworking of Brilliant Mistake) but, aside from those, it was the Jazzmaster. Steve's rig seemed a bit paired down as well.
-- Davey played an upright bass for some numbers, including an INCREDIBLE performance of The Comedians (!) that really was the highlight of the show. Perhaps he's played upright at other shows but this is the first time I recall seeing it at any performance I've attended.
-- I thoroughly enjoyed the new songs & hope their release is imminent. They received a fairly good reception though, as is usually the case, the crowd was mostly interested in the MAIT & TYM numbers.
-- The venue was far too large for EC &, consequently, seemed more sparsely attended than it was. The last several times through Cincinnati, Elvis has played the Taft which has roughly 1/2 the capacity of this new venue. Perhaps I'm wrong, but Elvis did not seem too pleased w/ this crowd. No encores, very little chatting & the buses were gone by the time we made it outside, <5 min after the house lights went up. It was a helluva performance but Elvis seemed a little peeved.

On the whole it was a VERY good show... & well worth the $20 ticket!

[sulky lad]

Thanks for a great review - it's great to hear that Elvis' singing is in fine form. I too noticed a slowness in his delivery of recent times where he lagged behind the accompaniment and it got quite irritating after amore than a couple of numbers. Shame about the response to the crowd though - you'd think they'd all be glad just to be out there playing to an audience, ANY audience after the last 18 months or so - and it's not the crowd's fault if the venue is too big but rather greedy management and promoters, no?

[Man out of Time]

Shame about the response to the crowd though - you'd think they'd all be glad just to be out there playing to an audience, ANY audience after the last 18 months or so - and it's not the crowd's fault if the venue is too big but rather greedy management and promoters, no?

This is a general observation, rather than something specific to Charlotte, but there is a noticeable absence of local press coverage for this tour. I have yet to see a published review for any tour date. It is almost as though in the run-up to the tour, the focus was on promotion for Spanish Model, and the tour was secondary. Add in the effect of the pandemic on concert-going, and you have empty seats. We shall see whether later dates are any better attended.

MOOT

[IbMePdErRoIoAmL]

This is a general observation, rather than something specific to Charlotte, but there is a noticeable absence of local press coverage for this tour. I have yet to see a published review for any tour date. It is almost as though in the run-up to the tour, the focus was on promotion for Spanish Model, and the tour was secondary. Add in the effect of the pandemic on concert-going, and you have empty seats. We shall see whether later dates are any better attended.

MOOT

I suspect that all you've mentioned is contributing to somewhat less-than-stellar ticket sales (if that is indeed the case). But the change of venue in Cincinnati cannot be underestimated. I've seen Elvis many times, for many years, in & around this area and he simply doesn't have a large enough pool here, between the fanatics & the curious, to get anywhere near filling a 4500 seat theater. The last 2 Cincinnati shows at the Taft (capacity: 2500) were not sell-outs.
As I said, the show was the best I've seen in sometime. But I couldn't help but feel that, especially after a large group of tickets were available at $20 a piece, someone involved in the booking of this gig made a pronounced miscalculation.
Cheers!