Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Pretty self-explanatory
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Re: Liverpool Meet up?

Post by Top balcony »

Hats off indeed.

Great to meet the Boarders in Dr Duncans, most of whom I got to meet again in row G!

Throat still croaking from the community singing at Everton and Elvis. What a day.

My critical faculty tends to go AWAL at his live shows, but I really enjoyed myself. I think that was what he was after, roll up roll up and enjoy the show. I had expected that the audience/spinning bits would slow it down. But no, all achieved at a cracking pace. Who could fail to fall for the adrenalin rush of the Imposters at full throttle?

Bit thin on obscurities but the Booker-T intro into Temptation was fantastic and Ferry was indeed played,alongside Tiny Steps just like in 1986 when the Wheel visited the Royal Court down the road. Tramp made a welcome return. 4 songs off Ransom shows he hasn't given up on it altogether.

Only downside was the 3 noisy drunks sitting behind us. Pains.

Envious of Sulky and others who are following the wheel around the country. From the press coverage so far he might as well be touring in New York still. I wonder if this will change as he reaches London?

Colin Top Balcony
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Re: Liverpool Meet up?

Post by Azmuda »

Detailed setlist from elviscostello.com:
Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Liverpool, England
May 13th, 2012

Overture - featuring the former Mother Superior of Our Lady of Perpetual Torment, Dixie De La Fontaine

I Hope You're Happy Now
Heart Of The City
Mystery Dance
Radio Radio

The Spectacular Spinning Songbook

"King's Ransom" - Jackpot - Spin 1

Brilliant Mistake
Poisoned Rose
The Stations Of The Cross

Temptation - IMPROMPTU

Everyday I Write The Book - Spin 2

Accidents Will Happen - Spin 3

Tiny Steps/Ferry 'Cross The Mersey - Spin 4 - with Ian Prowse

Shipbuilding - IMPROMPTU

Watching The Detectives - Spin 5

Oliver's Army - Spin 6

Alison - Spin 7

Chelsea - IMPROMPTU

"Joanna" Jackpot - Napoleon's Spin

I Still Have That Other Girl
Talking In The Dark
She

The Hammer Of Songs

Please Please Me/Be My Baby/No Dancing/Be My Baby

Interlude

A Slow Drag With Josephine - Napoleon Solo

Jimmie Standing In The Rain - Napoleon Solo

Tramp The Dirt Down - with the Imposters

National Ransom No. 9

Finale

Beyond Belief

Tokyo Storm Warning - Spin 8

I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down

High Fidelity

Pump It Up

Peace, Love And Understanding/Rosalita - for Rosalita Prowse with Ian Prowse
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John
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Re: Liverpool Meet up?

Post by John »

His hat indeed did fall off at one point. He hurried off to the side at this point revealing short back and sides but couldn't see what was left on top!

Great show, band terrific, Elvis' voice strong and clear. Great fun was had by all. Highlight for me was Temptation and Elvis' dancing during it! I wasn't expecting too much after watching the DVD but this was so much better.

Great to meet Mr & Mrs Top Balcony, sulky and verbal. We were a bit late arriving at the pub so missed everyone else. Those drunks behind us were indeed a nuisance, especially the tall one who should have been kicked out.

Some great dancing in the go-go cage by a couple of the young females, really entered into the spirit.

Thatcher, Blair, Bush and especially Rupert Murdoch received some severe Elvis bashing. Elvis said his "mam" was in attendance. I am sure she was not impressed with some of young Declan's language when referring to the aforementioned people.
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Re: Liverpool Meet up?

Post by johnfoyle »

https://twitter.com/#!/IanProwse/status ... 44/photo/1

Image

Ian Prowse ‏ @IanProwse

First gig I ever went to was The Jam at Liverpool Empire in 1978 so it was a joy to sing there with Elvis last night.
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Re: Liverpool Meet up?

Post by verbal gymnastics »

It was a great and well paced show. Having read that the two other shows so far clocked in at just under 3 hours, I thought we'd been "cheated" with a show about 15 minutes shorter than that. however there was no shortage of songs 8)

There were some terrific moments and my main recollections are:

1. Elvis was going to ask Ian Prowse to come and spin the wheel at some stage during the show. They would have then played Tiny Steps. However somebody spun it so they played it. Ian didn't get to spin the wheel. I thought he might get to do so as a final spin after the first encore.

Incidentally I think in 1986 the wheel showed "Ferry" and Elvis used to say they'd play the golden hits of Mr Bryan Ferry. They'd play Ferry Cross the Mersey and then play Tiny Steps. This time it was the other way round.

2.There was a tremendously comical and painful moment when one of the spinners rang the bell and wanted Elvis to play Shipbuilding although it had already been played. Elvis dealt with this diplomatically. The poor guy then simply could not pick a song off the wheel. In the end even Elvis lost patience and said along the lines of "I tell you what, we'll play something and then you can let us know what you've chosen". The guy then picked Please Please Me which segued into Be My Baby etc as per the website.

3. Watching the detectives segued into Help Me, so elvis, if you or your people are reading this then please update your website :lol:

4. In honour of being in Liverpool, there was a Cilla category. Unfortunately this did not get picked. I thought this would be Step inside love or (hopefully) Anyone who had a heart.

5. Crime and punishment was also on the wheel but did not get picked.

6. Elvis left the stage and walked around the audience while singing She.

7. Elvis, like the rest of us, watched in awe and smiled at Steve when Steve was playing Talking in the dark. Steve was fantastic.

8. Dixie is a fantastic dancer, with a body to boot and is incredibly beautiful! It was strange seeing her out of uniform coming out of the stage door. I think both Catalina and Dixie came out twice.

9. Tokyo Storm Warning was blistering.

10. We saw Alan Bleasdale.

11. We met Pete inside and Steve and Davey outside. Pete was chatty. Steve was in extremely good humour and very patient with a couple of fans who were trying to take pictures on their phones. He asked if he should take the picture on his own phone. :lol:

I pointed out to Davey that the last time I saw him was on the last Imposters tour in 2005. I think he looks much younger now.

It was raining outside and we had to be out of the car park by midnight so we left about 11.50pm. I'm not sure if Elvis came out but there was a large party with Alan Bleasdale and Elvis' mother was also there so we thought it might be a while.

12. Elvis was looking and calling for Ian Prowse ("where's Prowsey?") to come out for PLU. It was well into the song before Ian joined Elvis. Elvis was smiling away at Ian when he was singing Rosalita. Is there an in joke there somewhere?

13. When the wheel landed on Tokyo Storm Warning, Elvis looked either side of the wheel to see what the songs were before deciding to play it.

14. Elvis was in fine voice but didn't overdo it. He didn't stretch notes in I still have that other girl and there was the odd occasion when his voice didn't hit the right note. No complaints though!

All in all, a great night and I'm looking forward to driving the 240 miles to sulky's house again tomorrow!
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: Liverpool Meet up?

Post by And No Coffee Table »

verbal gymnastics wrote:In honour of being in Liverpool, there was a Cilla category. Unfortunately this did not get picked. I thought this would be Step inside love or (hopefully) Anyone who had a heart.
Or "I've Been Wrong Before." In fact, the "Cilla" spot on the wheel was occupied by "I've Been Wrong Before" at the previous show.
Elvis was smiling away at Ian when he was singing Rosalita. Is there an in joke there somewhere?
Ian Prowse's daughter is named Rosalita.
sweetest punch
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Re: Liverpool Meet up?

Post by sweetest punch »

Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
Azmuda
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by Azmuda »

bronxapostle
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by bronxapostle »

looking forward to the PLU with ROSALITA tacked on....anyone PLEASE?????

oh, just heard it here....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHCeljtT ... ure=relmfu

was hoping for a bit MORE.
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by And No Coffee Table »

bronxapostle wrote:looking forward to the PLU with ROSALITA tacked on....anyone PLEASE?????
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHCeljtT6gU#t=10m26s
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by The imposter »

some pics from Liverpool
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nicola76
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by nicola76 »

Very nice last photo - I took it :D
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by Top balcony »

Here's the Liverpool Daily post review:

MUSIC REVIEW: Elvis Costello’s Revolver Tour at the Liverpool Empire
• by Laura Davis, Liverpool Daily Post
• May 17 2012

Elvis Costello performing at The Liverpool Empire. Picture David Munn
THERE’S a touch of Derren Brown about Elvis Costello’s Revolver Tour, which gets members of the audience to decide which of his four decades of numbers he will perform by rotating a “spectacular spinning songbook”.
This gaudy whirlygig dominated the Empire stage, introducing an element of chance that ensures no two gigs are the same.
Costello was on full gameshow host form, swapping his trademark fedora for a ringmaster’s black top hat and a cane he claimed was a scale model of Rupert Murdoch’s head on a pike: “It would be a great thing for the Olympics,” he quipped.
The show’s now renowned format gave him the chance to reveal more of his personality than a traditional concert would – prowling the stage like the Childcatcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang looking for his next contestant and joking with those invited to spin the wheel.
Led up by Costello’s glamorous assistant, Katia, the volunteers became part of the attraction – either sitting on a pair of lounge bar stools to sip cocktails or dancing in a go-go cage.
There was Jim, a bald bloke in jeans, who spun Everyday I Write the Book, friends Moira and Angela who landed on Accidents Will Happen and Tiny Steps before Ian Prowse of the Liverpool band Amsterdam was invited up to guest on Ferry ’Cross the Mersey.
The slot “Detectives versus Hoover Factory” asked the audience to vote for which of the two hits they wanted to hear – 1977 single Watching the Detectives won with an almost unanimous roar.
Of course leaving the song choices to chance runs the risk of the audience going home without hearing the hits they’ve bought their tickets to see performed live. But Costello broke his own rules – “If you can’t cheat in Liverpool, where can you cheat?” – moving the wheel on to Shipbuilding, Alison and the “Joanna Jackpot” slot (I Still Have That Other Girl, Talking In The Dark and She, which he sang wandering through the audience and shaking people’s hands).
A two-minute break – Costello’s only pause for breath in a two hour and 40-minute back-to-back run of songs – heralded the acoustic numbers A Slow Drag With Josephine, Jimmie Standing In The Rain and Tramp the Dirt Down before his brilliant band returned for a storming grand finale/encore that included I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down, High Fidelity, Pump It Up and finally Peace, Love And Understanding with Prowse returning to the stage.
It’s rare that you get a concert by such a well-established artist that is totally unique – The Revolver Tour is just that while at the same time remaining quintessentially Costello.

Also available here : http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liv ... -30974585/

Colin Top Balcony
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by The imposter »

nicola76 wrote:Very nice last photo - I took it :D
Thanks Nicola for coming to the rescue, the other lass couldn't work the camera.
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by sulky lad »

And Steve patiently offered to take the photo on his phone :lol: :roll:
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by verbal gymnastics »

The imposter wrote:
nicola76 wrote:Very nice last photo - I took it :D
Thanks Nicola for coming to the rescue, the other lass couldn't work the camera.
Nicola - were you one of the young ladies under the umbrella or the lovely lady I was speaking to under the stage door or neither...!

Nice pictures by the way. It was good to meet everyone.
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by charliestumpy »

Has anyone please a share/link of track with 'Be my baby' bittie. I note from web-search of fine info-sites EC has often done this as a medley-bit, but I have missed out on sharing it so far. Thanks.
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by Man out of Time »

Review by Alan O'Hare at Sevenstreets.com

Review: Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Liverpool Empire

"Alan O'Hare witnesses the Birkenhead hero as he returns for a triumphant, unique, career-spanning night at the Empire.

You can have it all in music. Being great and successful are not mutually exclusive. Elvis Costello & The Imposters proved this and more at a packed Liverpool Empire last night.

The Birkenhead bard brought his Spectacular Spinning Songbook across the Atlantic and treated his adopted hometown to a night of hits, horsing around and high art.

The concert is a return to Costello’s late 80s concept of inviting members of the audience on-stage to spin a giant wheel to decide what the band play next.

The stage is dressed up with vaudevillian props and the singer is on double duty for most of the night, moonlighting as cheesy MC Napoleon Dynamite and keeping the show moving, as his tight-as-a-pair-of-skinny-jeans band groove on Booker T & The MG’s hits (a nice touch, following the death of legendary Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn).

It’s a risky concept towards the set list, but ‘the house’ (Costello never loses control) isn’t above giving the wheel a nudge towards a hit or three as the night moves on. They were all there and delivered viciously and at breakneck speed: Oliver’s Army, Accidents Will Happen, Watching The Detectives and (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea all sounded as fresh as the day they were born.

The wheel brought a few surprises too – and we’re not just talking about the Scouse dance moves on display when Costello’s victims were placed inside a go-go dancer’s cage. A dramatic reworking of The Beatles’ Please Please Me stretched into Be My Baby; the majestic Brilliant Mistake from 1985’s King Of America got an airing and Tokyo Storm Warning raged around the Empire for close to 10 minutes.

The big lights kept coming: a venue wandering serenade of She, the full force gale of Pump It Up and the preppy Everyday I Write The Book. It was breathtaking stuff. For nearly three hours, Costello had the place in the palm of his hands.

The gig took on a for-one-night-only feel as well, when he called for his pal Ian Prowse (the songwriter responsible for Does This Train Stop On Merseyside) to duet on a melancholic take of Gerry Marsden’s Ferry ‘Cross The Mersey. It went down a storm.

The gig had it all: showbiz, songs and sizzle. And on a night when Costello was in the mood for fun, the epic Shipbuilding and a definitive take on the Thatcher-baiting Tramp The Dirt Down brought political polemics right onto the table, front and centre.

That’s the type of night it was and the kind of artist we’re talking about. He’s got the front, and all the talent in the world to back it up. The songs are great, the music moves you and the singing is from the top drawer. What more could you ask for?

Long live the king.

– Alan O’Hare

http://www.sevenstreets.com/music-and-l ... ol-empire/

MOOT
sweetest punch
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by sweetest punch »

Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by sulky lad »

Beat me to announce this, Sweetest!
Dedicated entirely to the blue half of Liverpool - can we buy your back 4 for next season please - and maybe your star man upfront as well!!
Please forgive the profanities during Shipbuilding, I'll never take VG to another show again !!
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by charliestumpy »

Ta for Dime HUP - am part of downloading/uploading show now.

Dedicated for the ones I love/to those who DO want to go to Chelsea/have often been ...
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Re: Liverpool Meet up?

Post by Fishfinger king »

sulky lad wrote:Especially if Everton are the highest placed League side in Merseyside, just like us Gunners in London!!!
Just looking at old setlists - don't like to know before gigs.
Sulky, I didn't know you were a Gunner too like Solack and me.
My respect has just grown exponentially!!!
Can't you see I'm trying to change this water to wine
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by sulky lad »

Fishfinger King
My respect has just grown exponentially!!!
Likewise !!!
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Re: Liverpool Empire 13th May 2012

Post by Top balcony »

sulky lad wrote: Dedicated entirely to the blue half of Liverpool - can we buy your back 4 for next season please - and maybe your star man upfront as well!!
Please forgive the profanities during Shipbuilding, I'll never take VG to another show again !!
Biggest of thanks for this recording- as a token gesture you can certainly buy Tony Hibbert for the same price you got Arteta !

I don't know how you kept you sanity with those idiots behind. Would have been justifiable homicide in my view m'lud. Low point was mid-song when male A was explaining to Male B what Elvis meant by every phrase in Tramp the Dirt Down. And explaining at fog horn volume as they had Female C sitting between them.

Colin Top Balcony
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