New London date - Barbican 23/04/2009

[reviR]

http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event- ... sp?ID=8301

[verbal gymnastics]

Thanks for this.

I spotted it yesterday in the Bristol date thread

http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3 ... f=2&t=7311

but the old clock on the wall told me it was time to go home before I had time to put it up myself.

Roll call...

[johnfoyle]

Who's going? I am.

[sheeptotheslaughter]

This must be the shortest trip I've ever had to make to see Elvis, I work 6 minutes walk from the Barbican. Anyone ever had to make a shorter journey to see him

[verbal gymnastics]

Sulky Lad and myself will be there.

[Neil.]

Me too! I paid for my ticket, this time.... I'll buy you that beer I owe you, Verbal!

[verbal gymnastics]

Excellent!

Anyone else going to the gig?

[kilburn_bhoy]

I'm seriously considering this one, I've never heard any of the Brodsky Quartet stuff though. Is Elvis likely to stick to this material or pull out some other stuff along the way?

[sweetest punch]

I'm seriously considering this one, I've never heard any of the Brodsky Quartet stuff though. Is Elvis likely to stick to this material or pull out some other stuff along the way?

It's almost sold out!
https://www.barbican.org.uk/eticketing/ ... tblock.asp

[Neil.]

Kilburn Boy, Brodsky stuff is pretty heavy going, I always think, but I always see Elvis whenever he's in town - even with the Brodskys. It's cos the pace is often slow, the songs often mournful. Quite good fun to see whether he pulls it off as an evening's entertainment, however.

[verbal gymnastics]

It can be heavy stuff but there are new and old songs on this tour. Some of the old stuff is rearranged.

It's worth getting a ticket for if you can. Mainly to meet me and see how ugly I am in real life.

[Neil.]

See you in the bar at some point, Verbal - I owe you that beer, remember, for getting me that free Tower ticket!

[sheeptotheslaughter]

2 hours until I finish work and then off to the gig, cant wait. Good reviews from last night.

[martinfoyle]

Nick writes on the eclistserv

Set was identical to that played in Basingstoke yesterday with the addition
of a completely new song - One Bell. Ringing - as the first encore. EC
played this solo accompanying himself on acoustic guitar.

The song was described as "Bedlam part two" and concerned either
Guantanemo Bay or the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. It includes
a reference to a young man the victim of some kind of violence
imagining a spoon of honey and the voices of Portuguese girls.


Choosing to play a completely new (and unrecorded song) on the London
stage, rather than (say) a song from his new album, seems to be an
example of the artistic freedom that EC now enjoys. And of course, if
you were worried that the New Album was a collection of mostly old
material (e.g. I dreamed of my old lover last night) here is evidence
that EC is still writing songs.

And finally EC did raise the possibility of coming back to London with
some electric guitars, but made no promises

[cwr]

Choosing to play a completely new (and unrecorded song) on the London stage, rather than (say) a song from his new album, seems to be an example of the artistic freedom that EC now enjoys.

Is he technically a "free agent" now? Meaning he's not signed to any record label? I know the new record is on Hear Music, but I haven't seen any news of him signing a deal beyond that. It would be great if he finally took the step of recording and releasing new songs on his own through his website from time to time, especially if he has something timely and new like this "sequel" to "Bedlam." Wouldn't it be great if he would put that out soon rather than waiting a year or two for it to show up on his next album, whenever that might be?

(And unlike his current super-secret single, "Complicated Shadows", which appeared so discreetly on iTunes and Amazon that it's almost as if they don't want anyone to know about it, he could actually put the word out that there's a new Elvis Costello track for sale. I know that elviscostello.com is currently in a transitional phase, but it seems remarkable that they still have banners advertising Taking Liberties and Out Of Our Idiot in mp3 form, but zero mention of the NEW COSTELLO SINGLE NOW FOR SALE!)

It would seem to me that releasing songs in a way that makes them instantly available for purchase to people all over the globe would be at least as profitable as, say, putting out almost any of the CD singles that he released since "Veronica" most of which were hard to find and mostly didn't even make the charts. And if he wrote a modern day "Pills And Soap", for instance, it could catch fire on the Internet in a way that has eluded him in recent years.

Because let's face it: if he waits a year or so to record or release that song, it's probably gonna leak out in a live recording at some point anyway-- wouldn't it be better for EC to beat everybody to the punch and put it out himself? Wouldn't it be more exciting to know that, at any moment, a new Costello song could just APPEAR?

[scielle]

So, according to Twitter, Clive Owen was there last night, and EC 'has just bought a kayak' - very BC of him

[johnfoyle]

Identical as it pretty much was to Basingstoke , this was another accomplished outing by Elvis and co. The new song was a welcome sign that new compositions are still forthcoming. It was great to be able to anticipate some of the physical tics that the performers are useing.

Afterwards a few of us waited until Elvis appeared out. He was chatty enough , appearing to be genuinely unsure about any plans to perform after Aug. 09. He's booked up until then ; anything after is dependant on reactions to the new album. He drew a little picture beside his autograph on the setlist for Sulky Lad , getting into a riff about Rolf Harris in the the process. He happily posed for photos with us ; I hope to be able to upload them tomorrow.

Last nights roll call of fans who were great company was Verbal, Sulky , Sweetest Punch , Mrs Sweetest Punch, Nick , Neil , Peter and ''Mrs Peter' ( sorry - I'm awful with names!).

Right now I have a few hours to see gallerys here in London before getting the train to Birmingham.

[Neil.]

Another celeb spot - Rick Stein, TV seafood chef, was on the end of the first row near me and my mate.

Good concert - best tracks for me were Rockinghorse Road, Romeo's Seance (always love that one), Either Side of Same Town, Sulfur to Sugarcane, Jackson's Monk & Rowe, the one about the war that I never remember the name of about the female soldier called constance - and that new one about the bell and the bird.

Elvis did appear to look less happy toward the end of the gig, but I don't really understand why, as the crowd were ecstatic and gave rapturous applause all the way through.

The Brodskys are fab musicians, but some of the songs don't quite work in the quartet setting - I thought New Lace Sleeves lost all its tension, and I missed Steve's piano in Shipbuilding.

Nice to see you guys - Verbal, John etc. - sorry didn't get to go for a drink, but glad you got to meet the man!

[scielle]

Another celeb spot - Rick Stein, TV seafood chef, was on the end of the first row near me and my mate.

And Eddie Izzard too, apparently.

[Paul B]

Great show. I've quibbles here and there but I took a non hardcore fan and they loved it. Agree with others here that the rearranged older songs didn't all work. Real issue is that Elvis's voice can in no way match the incredible dexterity of the quartet and a little too often he sang as though he had the Attractions or his own savant strumming behind him. A great night though, moving, beautiful, funny, frightening (Bedlam was the sort of mean groove that's out of the house and hotwiring the car while you're still looking for your keys). Great to hear the numbers actually conceived with the Brodsky's again. The new song, One Bell Ringing, was heart stopping. It'll be one among his best.

[verbal gymnastics]

It was an enjoyable show although I thought that on a few of the songs the orchestration was superfluous. New Lace Sleeves was quite messy.

Elvis was in good form chatting and made a few little quips as well as some off mic singing and a couple of dances.

Highlights for me were Rockinghorse Road (which included Wild Thing) and the new song One Bell Ringing. I was hoping that he would sing Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4 but you can't have everything...

There was a good turn out from the Board - it was a shame that a couple of the people who went didn't meet up with us. Great to meet Sweetest Punch and his lovely wife and to see Neil. again. You should have stayed with us mate!

We ended up having a great chat with Elvis afterwards. Having shaken Elvis' hand (and him saying it was good to see me again ) we had a little chat about our respective toddlers. I can safely say that in all the years I've seen Elvis I did not ever imagine ourselves having a discussion about babies I thanked Elvis for signing a first birthday card for Mini VG last year (everlasting thanks to Sulky Lad for doing this) and his manager, Jill asked how old Mini VG was now. I replied she is 18 months and Elvis said that was a lovely age. I semi apologised for not being able to get to see him because travelling was a little bit more difficult last year to which Elvis laughed "You should try taking them on tour with you".

I also asked him to bring the Sugarcanes over here and he replied that if someone paid then he would love to. He also joked about him being the least known member of the band.

He said he was busy up until September this year and was only playing twice with The Imposters.

I was going to book a holiday in October but now I'm not so sure..

The set list by the way is typed and not handwritten. During the show Elvis joked that his handwriting is as bad as a doctor's.

It was a good night but I need to see Elvis cutting loose.

[scielle]

The Evening Standard
ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE BRODSKY QUARTET
BARBICAN HALL, EC1

Unquestionably a great British songwriter, allowing himself to be sidetracked into areas (country, jazz, classical, soundtracks) he's merely average at has effectively scuppered Elvis Costello's career. Yet, jaunty of disposition, the father of two-year-old twins with third wife, jazz singer Diana Krall, seems more content than ever.

His far from skittish collaboration with The Brodsky Quartet began in 1993 with The Juliet Letters album. Last night, the second of six British dates, showcased the best and worst of Costello's unyielding commitment to the less than obvious.

A man who runs so scared of his past wasn't going to surrender to his hits despite opening a 150-minute performance with a deftly reworked Accidents Will Happen. For a heady moment, I fancied Costello might spend the evening re-imagining his best work. Silly me. That Number 28 hit, plus Pills And Soap, recorded under his Imposter guise), Shipbuilding, the protest song he gave to Robert Wyatt and Rocking Horse Road's brief excursion into Wild Thing was as user-friendly as he allowed himself to be.

Wearyingly, this meant the unrequested exhumation of such lumpen dirges as Either Side Of The Same Town, For Other Eyes and the Johnny Mercer/Gordon Jenkins Thirties mood-killer, PS I Love You.

Mercifully, Costello is such an intriguing artist and The Brodsky Quartet such flexible foils that there was much to relish, not least Jacksons, Monk And Rowe, the fleet-footed Juliet Letters stand-out.

All This Useless Beauty was given a new, superior lease of life, while the tongue-twisting Bedlam remains that rarity: a 21st-century Costello song capable of standing alongside his best work of the 20th.

More encouraging still was the unrecorded One Bell Ringing, delivered solo but so full of wordy bile that those who have written off Costello may yet have to re-consider.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Positive review from The Guardian...

Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet

Barbican, London

4 / 5

Ian Gittins
The Guardian, Saturday 25 April 2009

Elvis Costello recently marvelled that his 1993 collaboration with the Brodsky Quartet, The Juliet Letters, ever saw the light of day, let alone got a rerelease 13 years later. A conceptual piece for string quartet and voice imagining a series of letters sent to Juliet Capulet, the project was largely ignored by rock fans and scorned by classical critics.

The fiercely eclectic Costello has continued to collaborate with the quartet, however. This rewarding evening of Juliet Letters material, freshly written pieces and adroitly selected tracks from Costello's voluminous back catalogue shows exactly why he has persevered.

The former angry young punk and the classical quartet are united by consummate musicianship. Costello's famously adenoidal, strangled vocal is pitch-perfect on the Beatles-esque I Almost Had a Weakness and his own 1983 hit Pills and Soap, while sensitive playing by the Brodsky Quartet turns the Irish traditional air Raglan Road from a sparse lament into a melancholy jig.

The revisits to The Juliet Letters prove fertile, with pizzicato strings rendering Romeo's Seance gorgeously puckish. They are surpassed, though, by an elegiac reading of his anti-Falklands war song, Shipbuilding, where mordant strings capture the exquisite melancholy. The Quartet attack The Juliet Letters' Jacksons, Monk & Rowe with the brio of Costello's old band, the Attractions; they close the evening with the brittle Sulphur to Sugarcane, from his upcoming country-leaning album, and then the valedictory Juliet letter, The Birds Will Still Be Singing. Few rock artists could carry off such a maverick evening without appearing a preening dilettante, but Costello remains among their number.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Needless to say, I'm now wishing I'd got a ticket to one of these shows. Sounds like some great song selections were included, as you'd expect. Glad you all had fun.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Needless to say, I'm now wishing I'd got a ticket to one of these shows. Sounds like some great song selections were included, as you'd expect. Glad you all had fun.

You blew it Otis. Here's an idea - fly out to New York for the show at the Beacon.