When was your first Elvis gig?

Pretty self-explanatory
FAVEHOUR
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by FAVEHOUR »

sulky lad wrote:Bladders, what a hero - I've never heard of anyone who saw EC in 1980 (except Otis and his famous Guernsey gig) Can you recall much of th event ? I'm sure we'd all love to hear details.
I saw Elvis at The Roundhouse in 1978 but I don't know if it was the "freebie" in january or part of the UK tour in April. I didn't see Phil Lynnott so I think it might have been the earlier show. I wasn't too impressed mostly because of the amount of "gobbing" that went on by the audience !
After that I next saw him at Exeter 1981 and a few times since !!
Sulky you probably already knew this but there's a great audience recording of this show with Elvis reacting angrily to all the gobbing, and shouting at the audience before the encores, slamming "all you punks spittin' at us!!! This isn't fucking 1977, it's fucking 1978! Wake up!! " or words to that effect. The show was Jan 20, 1978 by the way.

Dave
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Top balcony
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by Top balcony »

I've really enjoyed this thread.
sulky lad wrote:Bladders, what a hero - I've never heard of anyone who saw EC in 1980 (except Otis and his famous Guernsey gig)
Sulky I can add to your list as i saw Elvis and the Attractions at Southport Floral Hall on 18th March 1980. Support act was Clive Langer and the Boxes. I love Get Happy so I get misty eyed recalling this one. Elvis dedicated Goon Squad to the Liverpool constabulary who had just wrecked Erics.

But this wasn't my first sighting. I was at Erics on 2nd August 1977. In my memory they were fantastic The small club was heaving, just like in the old days watching football from the terraces. Unfortunately my girlfriend of the time (now my beloved Mrs Top Balcony) hurt her leg on the crash barriers, and I had to take her home before the end of the set!!!!!!

I've been lucky enough to get to almost all of the Liverpool shows since 1977, and on 3 occasions I've lowered my standards and gone to Manchester.

Colin Top Balcony
Bladders
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by Bladders »

re Cliver Langer & The Boxes on the 1980 tour
Yes I remember them playing that night and recently purchased the re-issued CD

really enjoying the thread thanks for all your replies
sulky lad
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by sulky lad »

Favehour said
Sulky you probably already knew this but there's a great audience recording of this show with Elvis reacting angrily to all the gobbing, and shouting at the audience before the encores, slamming "all you punks spittin' at us!!! This isn't fucking 1977, it's fucking 1978! Wake up!! " or words to that effect. The show was Jan 20, 1978 by the way.
Can't believe I didn't identify this - thanks for the info, will check my boot tonight
As for Top Balcony "lowering his standards" to go to Manchester well :lol: I can identify with that, recorded Elvis in 1984 at St Austell Coliseum in Cornwall - I'm Devonian !!
johnfoyle
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by johnfoyle »

Sept. 29 1984.

Besides a thrillingly rocking show by Elvis 'n co. I remember the venue being freezing as a shambolic support set by The Pogues was greeted with scorn and indifference.


http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/inde ... 1984-09-29

Image
Butts
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by Butts »

October 15th 1977 - Leeds University - the Stiff tour. He came out when Dury was on and I managed to get his autograph on my first Barclays Bank cheque book. My main recollection of that night is an absolutely off-his-face Wreckless Eric.
charliestumpy
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by charliestumpy »

First Costello I saw was 1982 October 4th or thereabouts in UK Bristol Locarno (now O2 Academy) - he/they started with 'Get up' (I feel good) ... after Bluebells.

He/Attractions were great/the show was spoiled for me (overpriced audio ears...) by nasty buzzing bollocked nackered speaker-bin on left ...

Regretted not going the next week-ish to secret solo acoustic show at (old) Colston Hall (now revamped) ...
terryhurley
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by terryhurley »

First of my 9 EC shows was at October 1st 1984. Hammersmith Palais. Support - The Pogues.

Met EC before the gig on the steps of the Palais - I didn't have a pen/paper or a camera to capture the moment. I don't remember too much about the actual gig except EC changing the words of "Peace in our time" from "There's already one spaceman in the White House what do you want another one for?" to "There's already one spaceman in the White House what do you want the same one for?" (Ronald Reagan would be re-elected by a landslide a month later).

The gig was the first of a series of Mondays that month that EC did at the Hammersmith Palais. I showed up the following Monday hoping to catch EC again. Managed to meet Steve, Bruce, Pete and Gary Barnacle but missed EC. I would have to wait 20 years until Feb 2005 for that elusive in-person autograph!
bronxapostle
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by bronxapostle »

Concert 1979-03-30 Passaic
From The Elvis Costello Wiki
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Venue
Passaic, NJ, Capitol Theatre
Musicians
Elvis Costello
The Attractions
Setlist
01. I Stand Accused
02. Goon Squad
03. Two Little Hitlers
04. Opportunity
05. Oliver's Army
06. B Movie
07. Green Shirt
08. Idle Hands
09. Hand In Hand
10. Alison
11. The Beat
12. Accidents Will Happen
13. High Fidelity
14. Big Boys
15. Lipstick Vogue
16. Watching The Detectives
17. Radio, Radio
18. Pump It Up
19. You Belong To Me


i THINK the same as BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN's FIRST time seeing EC!!!!
Dr. Luther
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by Dr. Luther »

bronxapostle wrote:
Concert 1979-03-30
Passaic, NJ, Capitol Theatre
I had a tape of that show at one point.
First time I'd heard High Fidelity -- and it was the early treatment, of course.
Great version -- to the best of my recollection.
I was actually quite disappointed when the album version came out.
bronxapostle
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by bronxapostle »

yes Luther...i liked those five early GH versions he did that night also!!! i still have the boot. i should see if docinwestchester can handle upping LOADS more of my shows...but, this one was NOT my recording, but something acquired. LETS GO METS GO!!!! fookin' braves doing it to us again as usual. God help us!!!!

oh, did you see him with THE ROOTS this year??? he revived it with them...i call it HIGH FIDELITY 1979 version!!!
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docinwestchester
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by docinwestchester »

bronxapostle wrote:yes Luther...i liked those five early GH versions he did that night also!!! i still have the boot. i should see if docinwestchester can handle upping LOADS more of my shows...but, this one was NOT my recording, but something acquired. LETS GO METS GO!!!! fookin' braves doing it to us again as usual. God help us!!!!

oh, did you see him with THE ROOTS this year??? he revived it with them...i call it HIGH FIDELITY 1979 version!!!
Bring in on, dude. Ya got the Roots, too?

(Santana salvaged one for us today. Oh, and Betran's back, which means Frenchie sits....Yay!)
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docinwestchester
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by docinwestchester »

terryhurley wrote:
I don't remember too much about the actual gig except EC changing the words of "Peace in our time" from "There's already one spaceman in the White House what do you want another one for?" to "There's already one spaceman in the White House what do you want the same one for?" (Ronald Reagan would be re-elected by a landslide a month later).
So was the original line a reference to John Glenn (former astronaut), who ran against Walter Mondale in the primaries for the Democratic nomination?
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Ypsilanti
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by Ypsilanti »

Yes, and that always bothers me--John Glenn is a good guy.
So I keep this fancy to myself
I keep my lipstick twisted tight
jmm
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by jmm »

Of course the reference is really pointed Reagan as at the "current" astronaut, John Glenn is largely just the vehicle
I too am a limited, primitive kind of man
alexv
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by alexv »

1982, forest hills, NYC was my first. IB had just come out and had become my musical obesession. Those were the years when he would play The Pier, and Forest Hills and sometimes Jones Beach. I remember leaving work early to catch every show. Those were the days. The opening acts are memorable: Nick, Aztec Camera, Talk Talk...
bronxapostle
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by bronxapostle »

went to all of those alexv. excellent recall; great shows every last one. i just might say that your first was THE BEST! a VERY stellar show.
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Bezrodny
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by Bezrodny »

6 September 2006, Elvis Costello & Metropole Orkest @ Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam. Awesome stuff, with a very memorable unplugged second encore with the Man standing and singing as his lonesome self in front of over a thousand people. We were, to say the least, very psyched.

It would appear I'm quite a newbie to the scene here...
Every Elvis has his army.
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by Man out of Time »

27 March 1978, Malvern Winter Gardens. It was just after TYM had been released, so most of the set was from that album with some from MAIT thrown in plus Watching the Detectives, which had failed to make it onto either album on their initial release. I must try to put together a list of other EC gigs I have seen over the last 32 years.

These include solo gigs, gigs with SN, gigs with The Attractions and The Imposters, a Coward Brothers Gig, at least one with the Confederates, a Sugarcanes gig, one with Burt Bacharach, many with the Brodsky Quartet, one with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, several with Allen Toussaint and the Crescent City Horns including the legendary "New Picket" gig, possibly a Rude 5 gig, Watch this space....

MOOT
sinatra57
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by sinatra57 »

First time I saw EC was 1977 July 26th at Dingwalls in Camden Town, can't say I remember much about the gig now, it's a long time ago. Then there was a gap of nearly three years until I caught up with him again and that was at the Rainbow on the 29th September 1980, The Stray Cats were the support.

27th December 1980 NEC Birmingham this was a package with Rockpile, UB40, Madness, The Selecter and Squeeze.
28th March 1981 Hammersmith Odeon
27th September 1982 Southend, Cliffs Pavilion
24th December 1982 Royal Albert Hall
14th August 1983 Convention Hall Asbury Park NJ support Aztec Camera
20th October 1983 Southend, Cliffs Pavilion
22nd December 1983 Hammersmith Odeon support Prefab Sprout
3rd November 1984 Dominion Theatre
9th March 1985 Logan Hall University of London Miners Benefit support Billy Bragg, The Men They Couldn't Hang and The South Wales Striking Miners Choir
29th November 1986 Royalty Theatre support Nick Lowe
7th May 1989 (Solo) London Palladium support Nick Lowe
28th May 1989 (Solo) London Palladium support Nick Lowe
1st July 1991 (with The Rude5) Hammersmith Odeon
7th July 1991 (with The Rude5) Hammersmith Odeon
28th February 1993 (with The Brodsky Quartet) Theatre Royal Drury Lane
5th July 1994 Royal Albert Hall
6th July 1994 Royal Albert Hall
5th July 1996 Shepherds Bush Empire
27th July 1996 The Roundhouse
29th October 1998 (with Burt Bacharach) Royal Festival Hall
15th April 1999 (with Steve Nieve) Royal Albert Hall support Ron Sexsmith
10th December 1999 (with Steve Nieve) Royal Festival Hall
26th June 2001 (with Steve Nieve) Royal Festival Hall
16th April 2002 (with The Imposters) Virgin Megastore
16th April 2002 (with The Imposters) Astoria
28th April 2002 (with The Imposters) BBC Broadcasting House
13th September 2002 (with The Imposters) Hammersmith Odeon support Chris Difford
11th October 2003 (with Steve Nieve) Royal Festival Hall
9th February 2005 (with The Imposters) Dome Concert Hall Brighton
20th June 2010 (Solo) Royal Festival Hall
30th June 2010 (with The Sugarcanes) The Sage, Gateshead
Hosko
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by Hosko »

Hmmm...this takes me back to the days of my first motorbike, when I was just 23. After drum lessons I'd ride over to the Nashville Rooms in West Kensington and watch whoever was performing. It was like that in those days, 50% of the pub acts were excellent and went on to make big dents in the music world. The acts I saw there included The Rezillos, The Adverts, Wreckless Eric, John Cooper Clarke, Be-Bop Deluxe, The Cimarons, Rico, Roogalator, The Pirates, Wire and Elvis Costello & The Attractions. The support band for Elvis that evening was The Yatchs. MAIT had just been released the previous month and there were 3/4-lifesize cardboard stand-ups of this geek Elvis in the record shops. I wanted to know what all the hype was about. (I later found out that I worked not far away from the Stiff Records office - that was an "interesting" place to hang out!)

The next time I saw EC+A was at the Dominion Xmas shows. I think we arrived with little time to spare and rushed straight through to take our seats. Because of this I missed out on my copy of the "Talking In The Dark"/"Wednesday Week" freebie :(

A couple of weeks later I got a job in Germany and have been here ever since. Elvis is not very keen on the place and tends to especially avoid Munich, which is where I am. However, I have seen him here 3 times and also the Juliet Letters as ballet.

Ciao,
Paul
sheeptotheslaughter
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by sheeptotheslaughter »

sinatra57 wrote:First time I saw EC was 1977 July 26th at Dingwalls in Camden Town, can't say I remember much about the gig now, it's a long time ago. Then there was a gap of nearly three years until I caught up with him again and that was at the Rainbow on the 29th September 1980, The Stray Cats were the support.

27th December 1980 NEC Birmingham this was a package with Rockpile, UB40, Madness, The Selecter and Squeeze.
28th March 1981 Hammersmith Odeon
27th September 1982 Southend, Cliffs Pavilion
24th December 1982 Royal Albert Hall
14th August 1983 Convention Hall Asbury Park NJ support Aztec Camera
20th October 1983 Southend, Cliffs Pavilion
22nd December 1983 Hammersmith Odeon support Prefab Sprout
3rd November 1984 Dominion Theatre
9th March 1985 Logan Hall University of London Miners Benefit support Billy Bragg, The Men They Couldn't Hang and The South Wales Striking Miners Choir
29th November 1986 Royalty Theatre support Nick Lowe
7th May 1989 (Solo) London Palladium support Nick Lowe
28th May 1989 (Solo) London Palladium support Nick Lowe

1st July 1991 (with The Rude5) Hammersmith Odeon
7th July 1991 (with The Rude5) Hammersmith Odeon
28th February 1993 (with The Brodsky Quartet) Theatre Royal Drury Lane
5th July 1994 Royal Albert Hall
6th July 1994 Royal Albert Hall
5th July 1996 Shepherds Bush Empire
27th July 1996 The Roundhouse
29th October 1998 (with Burt Bacharach) Royal Festival Hall
15th April 1999 (with Steve Nieve) Royal Albert Hall support Ron Sexsmith
10th December 1999 (with Steve Nieve) Royal Festival Hall

26th June 2001 (with Steve Nieve) Royal Festival Hall
16th April 2002 (with The Imposters) Virgin Megastore
16th April 2002 (with The Imposters) Astoria
28th April 2002 (with The Imposters) BBC Broadcasting House
13th September 2002 (with The Imposters) Hammersmith Odeon support Chris Difford
11th October 2003 (with Steve Nieve) Royal Festival Hall

9th February 2005 (with The Imposters) Dome Concert Hall Brighton
20th June 2010 (Solo) Royal Festival Hall
30th June 2010 (with The Sugarcanes) The Sage, Gateshead

I wished I could remember all the shows I've been to I know I've been to those I have put in bold
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Ypsilanti
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by Ypsilanti »

A hearty welcome to Hosko & Sinatra!
So I keep this fancy to myself
I keep my lipstick twisted tight
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pophead2k
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by pophead2k »

I drove 13 hours from Spokane, WA to Berkeley, CA for the MLAR tour in June of 91. Sam Phillips was the support and the show (with the Rude 5) was great. I've seen him a dozen or so more times since then, most memorably at one of the Oxford, MS 'Club Dates' as he was recording TDM.
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krm
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Re: When was your first Elvis gig?

Post by krm »

I found the old ticket from my first EC show in 1979!!! that must mean that I have seen EC in 5 different decades now!
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