Elvis/Imposters/Spinning Songbook, Chicago, May 15, 2011

[deerfried]

I recall that in one of the conversations someone asked about merchandise available for this tour...here is what they were selling last night.

[CraigatCoF]

My videos from last night's fantastic show:

Strict Time - http://youtu.be/c58uJ2Tm81U?hd=1
Next Time 'Round - http://youtu.be/NWazv0UHQL8?hd=1
Rocking Horse Road / Wild Thing - http://youtu.be/Xq1TL8Yq37g?hd=1
The Element Within Her - http://youtu.be/Wmky1kS8Ppw?hd=1
This Year's Girl - http://youtu.be/mbL568sL_4o?hd=1
The Other Side of Summer - http://youtu.be/3AJzQaUj4Po?hd=1
God's Comic - http://youtu.be/7mcxFTaIioE?hd=1
This Wheels on Fire / River in Reverse - http://youtu.be/eMOBwbfOJs8?hd=1
EC talks about Chicago weather and flying - http://youtu.be/Gi4YdXFBqUo?hd=1
EC intros Katerina Valentina Valentine - http://youtu.be/uJ5uQZK-YKU?hd=1
First wheel spin of the night - http://youtu.be/C5XxUlQnCt4?hd=1

[docinwestchester]

My videos from last night's fantastic show:

Strict Time - http://youtu.be/c58uJ2Tm81U?hd=1
Next Time 'Round - http://youtu.be/NWazv0UHQL8?hd=1
Rocking Horse Road / Wild Thing - http://youtu.be/Xq1TL8Yq37g?hd=1
The Element Within Her - http://youtu.be/Wmky1kS8Ppw?hd=1
This Year's Girl - http://youtu.be/mbL568sL_4o?hd=1
The Other Side of Summer - http://youtu.be/3AJzQaUj4Po?hd=1
God's Comic - http://youtu.be/7mcxFTaIioE?hd=1
This Wheels on Fire / River in Reverse - http://youtu.be/eMOBwbfOJs8?hd=1
EC talks about Chicago weather and flying - http://youtu.be/Gi4YdXFBqUo?hd=1
EC intros Katerina Valentina Valentine - http://youtu.be/uJ5uQZK-YKU?hd=1
First wheel spin of the night - http://youtu.be/C5XxUlQnCt4?hd=1

Dude, that's a great job by you. Who woulda thunk that The Element would work as a folk rock song? And thanks for showing Steve every once in a while.

[migdd]

Fantastic job! Thanks for posting these.

[sweetest punch]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... 8277.story

Elvis Costello's wheel of fortunate songs makes for thrilling show

Add tacky game-show host to the list of Elvis Costello's myriad guises. It's just one of the roles he played Sunday at a nearly sold-out Chicago Theatre, where a giant revolving wheel and audience interaction guided a marathon 140-minute concert loaded with surprise and urgency. Costello debuted the "Spectacular Spinning Songbook" 25 years ago but hasn't used the contraption since. Its return made for inspired entertainment and a welcome revisitation of several of the artist's great albeit seldom-aired album tracks.

Listing the names of dozens of Costello tunes as well as a few categories, the multi-color wheel anchored a kitschy display that included a go-go dancer platform and dumpy cocktail lounge. Plucked out of the crowd by assistants and invited onstage by Costello—embracing his carnival-barker persona by talking like a snake-oil huckster—fans spun the wheel to determine what song would come next. On occasion, Costello manipulated the stopping point. But by and large, he and the Imposters abided by chance.

While it yielded unscripted thrills, the random approach risked thwarting momentum. Yet aside from slogging through a low-key treatment of "The Element Within Her," the band maintained a cohesive flow. Indeed, the quartet established a feisty tone during a set-opening flurry, racing through five fast-paced songs ("Uncomplicated," "Mystery Dance" included) inside of 16 minutes, ripping into each selection with breathless speed and nervous energy. Agitated, aggressive and amplified, the performance contrasted with Costello's acoustic solo appearance last December at the same venue, during which he focused on exploring various genres. Not tonight.

With Steve Nieve dialing up everything from sci-fi sound effects to soulful textures on keyboard, Hammond organ and grand piano, and a fist-tight rhythm section providing solid footing, Costello got reacquainted with his harder rock and harmonic pop sides. He buried disappointment amidst big hooks ("Next Time Round"), filtered fuzz-drenched reverb through pounding beats ("Strict Time") and dealt with the detritus of ruined relationships via crescendos that straddled celebration and sadness ("Rocking Horse Road").

Costello also extended bridges and refrains, giving him license to flirt with distorted avant-garde solos that would've been at home in New York's late 70s no-wave scene. Such spontaneous rearrangements and changes often preceded thematic covers ranging from The Band's "This Wheel's On Fire" to the Rolling Stones' "Out of Time" to Prince's "Purple Rain." Having added perspective to his original songs, the seamless transitions and interpretive snippets should convince Costello to permanently drop setlists from his repertoire.

[FAVEHOUR]

It was a lot of fun. Kind of crazy. My seat was right at the entrance to the stairway to the stage, so all the people came through there, and there was a security guy who got the job of patrolling the stairs to keep interlopers from getting onstage, he'd had a little too much caffeine and was very hyper the whole night. If you crossed him he hounded you the rest of the show. Funnily enough, the one girl he thought he'd stopped from getting too close actually jumped onstage from the other side of the theatre and jumped into EC's arms!

By the way, crazy black dress girl was right in front of me, and she danced like that the entire show. Boy was she jazzed. But hey, she knew every song by heart.

Great to hear rare songs like The Element (a trifle I've always had a soft spot for, and never thought I would hear live, certainly not with a band!), Paradise, the various covers.

Beauty or Beast was a letdown, he just asked the audience whether they wanted to hear Beauty (ballads, I guess) or Beast (rawk and roll). Considering we were in the last encore, and Elvis stopped the wheel at that selection, was there any question what the crowd would pick?

The most amazing thing about the show was that about 2/3 of the way through, the man's voice started to fray considerably. He struggled through the first encores, had to change the way he sang songs like God's Comic to steer clear of the higher notes. When he did Alison, I thought, well, he's finishing up.

When they came back out for the last encore, he proceeded to roar through 4 or 5 more blistering songs at full voice. An amazing and instant recovery. I was flabbergasted.

The second most amazing thing was that I made it to the show on time, after sitting on a plane on the tarmac in Baltimore for FOUR HOURS. They wouldn't let us fly west, for indeterminate "weather" reasons. I really thought I was gonna miss the show. Got to the theatre 10 minutes before showtime, right off the CTA. The things I do for you, Elvis.

Dave

[sulky lad]

Hey FaveHour, glad to know you made it on time if only by the skin of your teeth - are you sure crazy black dress girl wasn't BA or VG in disguise ??!!

[docinwestchester]

When they came back out for the last encore, he proceeded to roar through 4 or 5 more blistering songs at full voice. An amazing and instant recovery. I was flabbergasted.

Doesn't he have some sort of secret magic elixir he drinks to protect his voice? Maybe he took an IV dose during the break!

Got to the theatre 10 minutes before showtime, right off the CTA. The things I do for you, Elvis.

I can't tell you how many times I just made it to a concert despite ridiculous circumstances like that. It's karma, baby, that gets you there.

[deerfried]

For those who are wondering, you can see Crazy Black Dress Chick (CBDC) in all her glory here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c58uJ2Tm ... tu.be&hd=1 Thank you CraigatCoF!

Also, someone named "Swift Katana" posted this in the EC Facebook fan group, claiming to be CBDC's sister:

Had a blast in Chicago with my sister last night! We were fortunate to be selected from the audience by EC Oh by the way the crazy dancing chick is my sister haha;) The excitment got the better of her , now I call her the amazing jumpin' bean

[blureu]

How many jacket/hat wardrobe changes occur throughout the show?

[And No Coffee Table]

Beauty or Beast was a letdown, he just asked the audience whether they wanted to hear Beauty (ballads, I guess) or Beast (rawk and roll).

At the risk of either overthinking or underthinking this, could the horse in "Rocking Horse Road"'s title be the beast?

If it came up earlier in the show, there could be a set of animal-related songs: "King Horse," "Leave My Kitten Alone," "Pads, Paws And Claws," "Monkey To Man"...

Maybe he could reprise "Who Let The Dogs Out" or at least "Hey Bulldog."

"Swine"?

[FAVEHOUR]

Fantastic job! Thanks for posting these.

What he said!!


Dave

[FAVEHOUR]

How many jacket/hat wardrobe changes occur throughtout the show?

He wears three different hat and coat combos.

Dave

[johnfoyle]

A blog account in , I think, Dutch - lets see if Elvis' official site link this !

http://www.mixedgrill.nl/2011/05/16/rec ... 5-mei-2011

[deerfried]

The most amazing thing about the show was that about 2/3 of the way through, the man's voice started to fray considerably. He struggled through the first encores, had to change the way he sang songs like God's Comic to steer clear of the higher notes. When he did Alison, I thought, well, he's finishing up.

When they came back out for the last encore, he proceeded to roar through 4 or 5 more blistering songs at full voice. An amazing and instant recovery. I was flabbergasted.

I was thinking the same thing, but then I realized that one of the risks of the spinning song wheel is that Elvis loses a measure of control on how to pace the show. Some have complained that the pacing of a set can be marred by an unwanted string of slow songs. But last night the opposite happened. Until he got to the first encore (!) there was not a slow tempo/quiet song in the entire opening set (with the possible exception of The Element Within Her)! Surprisingly, he did not break the rules of the wheel to force a slow song or two into first 90-100 minutes, which he spent in full-volume, high energy rock singing. No wonder he was struggling noticeably when he came out for Slow Dance with Josephine and Gods Comic. (He did stop Josephine and start over after about a minute...I couldn't quite tell why.)

PS one of my only clear photos is of the whistling break in Josephine, so I attach it herewith. He looks adorable, no?

[FAVEHOUR]

Great picture!

[bronxapostle]

Hey FaveHour, glad to know you made it on time if only by the skin of your teeth - are you sure crazy black dress girl wasn't BA or VG in disguise ??!!

nah, gave that approach up years back SULKY! i was in swingin' hackensack, nj for my little cousins school of rock performance: RICHIE ARTHUR and FAST FORWARD! not bad at all...but i am back in JERSEY in two days. WELLMONT!!!! glad you got there last night Dave...good show, huh?

[deerfried]

My three videos:

-Wheel-spinning action and "Chelsea": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1O1gHeQ6z0
-"Man Out of Time" featuring Crazy Black-Dress Chick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTyhqdlPt7g
-PLU/Purple Rain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uO0q4zAGtI

[johnfoyle]

http://blogs.suntimes.com/music/2011/05 ... _thea.html


Elvis Costello at Chicago Theatre: Let the spinning wheel ride

By Thomas Conner

May 16, 2011



Pity the poor set list. Exposed by web sites and attacked by the current album-in-concert trend, it's getting harder to find an artist who can deliver real surprises anymore, much less one who carefully crafts a song sequence as if making a mix for a lover -- shaping the experience (and the message conveyed) not only by the selection of songs but by the order of their ideas. Now here comes pop music chameleon Elvis Costello, throwing every set list over to chance.

Half of it, anyway. Costello's Sunday night concert at the Chicago Theatre found him again dwarfed by the Spectacular Spinning Songbook, a giant, vertical roulette wheel he debuted on tour in 1986. The wheel-of-misfortune contains 40 songs and a few themes; fans come on stage, spin the wheel, and the band plays that selection. It's a clever gimmick, but it has its perils. Thankfully, Costello prefigured those and crafted a show that side-stepped the wheel's cruel fate for most of the evening's performances. A nimble vaudevillian, he kept things moving.

Costello and his band, the Imposters, roared to life on stage, starting the show by barreling through five rockers with a ferocity revisited only sparingly for the rest of the show. Looking trim and lively in a gray suit and hipster hat, Costello barked out the tunes backed by bassist Davey Faragher (Cracker) and his former mates from the Attractions, drummer Pete Thomas and wildly versatile keyboardist Steve Nieve. A pink-fringed go-go dancer in a beaded cage complemented Nieve's '60s-era runs on a Vox organ and occasional theremin.

Scripted moments like these were the best ones Sunday night. The wheel, well -- if you're going to tour a greatest-hits show, the wheel is at least occasionally amusing if also a real momentum killer. Switching to a top hat and brandishing a cane, Costello introduced himself as Napoleon Dynamite (a pseudonym predating the 2004 cult comedy) and started pulling game-show contestants on stage. At first, the wheel produced interesting results -- "45" ("There's a record / so you put it on," he sang, reflecting the evening's whims) and "The River in Reverse" (dedicated to the people of New Orleans, who Sunday night were awaiting the Mississippi's flood waters and no doubt also wondering "What do we have to do to send / the river in reverse?") -- but soon began throwing up some clunkers ("Accidents Will Happen" is an example of a great song that bursts to life, and thus suffers from a lengthy, spoken here-it-comes introduction).

The wheel's theme labels produced mini-sets. "Time" was the first (selected by an ecstatic female fan), and the thrill returned because we didn't know what was coming next -- the quivering piano of "Strict Time," the Rolling Stones' old-fashioned "Out of Time," the ripping "Next Time Round" and more -- followed by "Girl," which included "Girls Talk" and the Beatles' "Girl."

Costello's voice started to evaporate by this point, but it didn't slow him. After a two-hour set, he came back and imposed an hour of encores, sounding hoarse and occasionally dreadful. Every song in the final hour -- wheel-free surprises all -- finished big, as if it were to be the night's capper ... and then turned into another, or a medley (tacking Prince's "Purple Rain" onto "Peace, Love and Understanding," Smokey Robinson's "Tears of a Clown" onto "Alison," Ray Charles' "I'm Busted" onto a 6/8 blues reading of "Pump It Up," quoting Van Morrison's "Gloria" in the middle of "Waiting for the End of the World," on and on). After more than 30 years of making music -- in almost as many styles -- Costello boasts a lot to showcase. Amazingly, this partly random method of doing so was fairly fluid, engaging and worth the money.

[bobfrombob]

For those who are wondering, you can see Crazy Black Dress Chick (CBDC) in all her glory here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c58uJ2Tm ... tu.be&hd=1 Thank you CraigatCoF!

I'm a fan of CBDG. But what's with the women in blue? Did she come straight from yoga class?

[sweetest punch]

A Slow Drag With Josephine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8BrU7MBrlE
Watching The Detectives: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMcZ9BozlL4
Pump It Up (in 6/8): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU1Chn_VRkE
Chelsea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NskATLqRm8

[CraigatCoF]

So does anyone know who the "professional" go-go dancer was at the Chicago show? I'm not talking about any of the girls brought up from the audience, but the redhead in the 60's style pink dress and go-go boots, who was in the cage for much of the show. Elvis introduced her as Felicity something, I think, after the opening 5 song assault. Is she a part of the tour like Katerina Valentina Valentine, the girl who picks the wheel spinners? It seems like it's a different girl each night. If so, where do they come from? Does EC hire them locally?

Also, does anyone know the name of the song that EC and the band enter the stage to? I know it had the words "Rise, robots, rise" in it.

[decland can]

what time did EC come on stage to kick things off?

thanks.

[MOJO]

For those who are wondering, you can see Crazy Black Dress Chick (CBDC) in all her glory here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c58uJ2Tm ... tu.be&hd=1 Thank you CraigatCoF!

I'm a fan of CBDG. But what's with the women in blue? Did she come straight from yoga class?

Yoga class... I thought she might have come from the Dom DeLuise convention. That's not nice, sorry. My appearance is not much better, so I shouldn't comment at all. The dress seems a bit big for her frame, though. Now, CBDC is a bit of a freak. I can't watch it. I sink in my seat and put my hands over my face when I look at it. Although, Strict Time sounds great.

[blureu]

I can see it now. The CBDC video goes virual!