Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Chicago , 16 September 2012

[johnfoyle]

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/chicago/20 ... ica_3.html

http://www.riotfest.org/

[FAVEHOUR]

May not be with the band....not billed as such. Who knows?

[sweetest punch]

http://www.elviscostello.com/#/dance-card


Sep 16, 2012
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Riot Fest
Elvis Costello & The Imposters

[johnfoyle]

The poster has been revised to include The Imposters

[johnfoyle]

Win tickets -

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/1 ... ef=chicago

[bronxapostle]

I WANT AN IGGY/ELVIS duet!!!!!!!!!!

[krm]

it would be more fun to see him perform with Gwar.....

[bronxapostle]

hope we got an attendee from amongst us that will give us a full report. last night sounded like it went well. best news was there WAS a NEW song!

[And No Coffee Table]

Twitter:

Elvis Costello racing through Nick Lowe's "Heart of the City" #riotfest

Damn the sound guy sucks for Elvis Costello. Makes me sad

Elvis Costello rocking #RiotFest. Great festival act. You can tell how is no stranger to the stage. #experience #hopscotch

Radio,Radio #Riotfest, #ElvisCostello http://instagr.am/p/Ppz2f4vThL/

Elvis Costello is playing the fuck out of all the old stuff I love but WTF IS UP WITH THE SOUND. It sucks!

Elvis Costello seems to be taking the punk rock nature/origins of this festival seriously, at least right out of the gate #riotfestchicago

Costello Set list so far: Lipstick Vogue / Heart Of The City / Radio Radio / I don't Want to Go to Chelsea / Less than zero

Elvis Costello playing a really fast and loud punk rock set right now. Totally making NOFX eat their disparaging words. #RiotFest

(Not sure what this is about. Did NOFX say something disparaging about Elvis?)

Hand held siren for the intro to Watching The Detectives.#ElvisCosteelo #riotfest

The last two Elvis Costello songs have used theremin and megaphone. Expect he'll be jumping on a trampoline during the next one. #riotfest

Feel like throwing up. Not excited enough about Elvis Costello to stay. Going to go home and drink a ton of water. It's been fun, Riot Fest.

Reason 3,238 why Elvis Costello is cool. Just dedicated a song to the teachers who were on strike in Chicago.

Elvis Costello doing a "red shoes" parody of his smash Elmo duet "A Monster Went and Ate My Red Two" #riotfest #dadofatoddler

Screamo band at Rock stage just yelled "Hey Elvis Costello- you ain't got shit on this, bitch!" and launched into worst song I've ever heard

A day to remember just claimed that Elvis Costello "ain't got shit on this bitch". Just no.

Elvis closes set with "Pump It Up" and "What's So Funny..." Appeals to the masses. The man gets it. Stellar performance.

Obv in honor of Rahm and Karen Lewis, Elvis raves up What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding? #riotfest

Killer theramin @Elvis Costello at #riotfest

Elvis struts off the stage like the sheriff who just took out the bad guy in a western. Cool.

[johnfoyle]

From Facebook-


Steve Mendel



DiDi Grimm

[Azmuda]

From Time Out Chicago

Elvis Costello + the Imposters at Riot Fest | Photos and live music review

Riot Fest | Elvis Costello | Sept. 16
Photos: Ashlee Rezin

Riot Fest 2012 has a weird, vintage-circus aesthetic: all of Humboldt Park was converted into some kind of half-carnival, with maybe fifteen people riding the Ferris wheel all weekend. Banners flanked the stages with hip sepia images and faded circus reds. The whole thing didn't seem to make a lot sense, but when Elvis Costello busted out a megaphone siren for “Watching the Detectives,” the festival’s shaky aesthetic was suddenly validated over eight bars of reggae. Costello, always more entertainer than artist, played to a massive crowd of mostly middle-aged couples on Sunday evening. There were some youngsters catching the man's dubby grooves, but I wouldn't be surprised if Fat Mike drove off the teens by defaming Elvis Costello as "the most overrated band of all time” during NOFX’s set. The irony is pretty rich there, not just because the singer from NOFX had the audacity to call someone else overrated, but even more so because Costello helped pave the way for Mike and most of this weekend's artists to be commercially successful. Ignorant? You betcha. But again, we're talking about NOFX here.

And I know, Costello isn't exactly the punkest of all time. He can't hold a candle to Iggy, or most of this festival’s performers in that respect. But (last time mentioning them, I'm sorry), NOFX probably wouldn't have written “Eat the Meek” into their all-hits setlist today if Elvis hadn't found success with “Detectives” and “I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea.” Costello belongs on this weekend’s bill because he wrote great, accessible pop tunes with a punk edge, and not the other way around. Costello's set was heavy on uptempo hits, frontloaded with “Lipstick Vogue” and “Radio Radio” to draw the crowd in. I was glad to have left Jesus and Mary Chain early, as the drums to “Lipstick” started immediately after the Chain left Riot Stage—but latecomers still got to hear plenty of great songs. The set retained a high level of energy throughout, despite a bit too much wankery from Elvis when solo time rolled around. The set was rich with solos, and if his band wasn’t so damn incredible, it might have been a serious problem.

Still, Elvis got the crowd going, noodling around on his custom “Elvis Costello”-inscribed guitar neck to unconditional applause on several occasions. Parts of the show felt like a Dave Matthews Band concert, with fans too obsessively dedicated to differentiate between sonic brilliance and things that just happen onstage. I think what turns a lot of people off from Costello, myself included, is a near-complete lack of insight in his lyrics, an almost endless litany of supposedly witty nonsense layered via nasal garbling over otherwise excellent pop music. With that in mind, Costello’s fading voice wasn’t so much of a bummer for this reviewer. Noodling aside, we got a pro performance from one of rock’s hardest-working veterans Sunday evening, and you can’t overrate that.

[fred darden]

worked this event and scored el's set list from the stage. lipstick vogue/high fidelity/heart of the city/radio,radio/red shoes/less than zero/chelsea/bedlam*/detectives/stella hurt*/i want you/riot act/pump it up/peace. asterisk denotes not played [or not heard], and he played clubland after less than zero. great show

[fred darden]

also at merch had only two styles of t's. one grey w/ pretty well known b&w photo of elvis w/ headphones. one black with yellow silkscreen photo from early[70's]show, maybe mocambo. it looked very punk rock

[fred darden]

also at merch had only two styles of t's. one grey w/ pretty well known b&w photo of elvis w/ headphones. one black with yellow silkscreen photo from early[70's]show, maybe mocambo. it looked very punk rock

[fred darden]

oops,don't know how that happened. they looked as if designed for the event.

[johnfoyle]

Love the photo gallery at the Time Out link , especially this -

[johnfoyle]

http://www.depauliaonline.com/arts-life ... FjAJq5hdt8



Photo by Milos Markicevic

[johnfoyle]

http://insidetherockposterframe.blogspo ... -fest.html




Clearly inspired by Barney Bubbles concept for the cover of MAIT - JF.

http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-at-ni ... day-91612/

Concert Review: Riot Fest Chicago, Day 3 - Live in Humboldt Park (Sunday, 9/16/12)

by Jim Ryan,
19 Sept. '12


( extract)


Elvis Costello & The Imposters - I wrote recently following a festival performance by George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, that occasionally the shortened sets of a festival work in the favor of an ambitious artist, forcing a more focused set.

Sunday afternoon in Humboldt Park, Elvis Costello and the Imposters put on the best set that I saw at Riot Fest (if not one of the best that I've seen in 2012). While a few newer numbers were played, surprisingly, this hour set spotlighted the hits.

Not that it's a surprise, but Costello and his band are amongst the tightest I've seen recently and while hits like "Radio Radio" were great early, it was some of the deeper, vintage material that stole the show.

Anyone who fails to grasp what a great guitarist Elvis Costello is need look no further than the fiery solo he laid out on "(I Don't Want to go to) Chelsea."

And as great a performer and entertainer as Costello is live, it's actually his longtime partner in crime that helps him to steal the show: Steve Nieve. Having performed with Costello since 1977, it's clear that the two are on the same page musically, able to anticipate just where one another is at at all times.

Like a mad professor, Nieve sits pounding the keyboards throughout, his crazed performances on the aforementioned "Chelsea" and later on Nick Lowe's "(What's so Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" stood out as some of the best examples Sunday.

"Watching the Detectives" and "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" continued the hit parade. There was a moment following another ridiculous guitar solo during "Wathcing the Detectives" where Costello stood still, staring down the crowd as Nieve weaved a soundscape behind him. It was clear he was quite happy with the performance. It ain't arrogant if you know that you're right. Isn't that what they say?

A particularly raucous version of "Pump it Up" was followed by "Peace, Love, and Understanding" to close the set.

[verbal gymnastics]

Good to see somebody fully appreciating the genius, importance and contribution of Steve.

[johnfoyle]

http://anobiumlit.com/2012/09/17/riot-f ... cago-2012/

Photos by Jacob Singer, including -

[sweetest punch]

Pump It Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU7TNn3s6A8
WTD / Red Shoes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra08qfuKTB4
Heart Of The City / Radio, Radio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlR-NC-1MNQ
Red Shoes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mODM9TCKdgs
Lipstick Vogue / Heart Of The City: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sTpCf6U91Y
Pump It Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Hmkx1VUVyA
Chelsea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHVUnzmHxIk
Riotfest 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2r_f_Z4xhM
Lipstick vogue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-6BCHdxuhI

[sweetest punch]

http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt ... 39776.html

Riot Fest, part two: Elvis Costello
BENT NIGHTS Special to the online edition of Windy City Times
by Vern Hester

Yank ravers Iggy Pop and the MC5 may have been the true architects of punk rock long before the Brits turned it into a social movement, but only Elvis Costello has managed to reinvent himself constantly through the ages. Of this year's line-up at Riot Fest, Costello was the only true Renaissance man. When his debut, My Aim Is True (Stiff/CBS Records), came out in 1976 it introduced him as not only a breath of fresh air but as a savior, along with Bruce Springsteen, of rock and roll itself.
By that time commercial radio was crammed with the likes of John Denver, Olivia Newton-John and the laid-back Eagles; apart from a few flashes of brilliance (David Bowie's "Thin White Duke," Stevie Wonder's dominance, Fleetwood Mac's re-emergence and Elton John's streak of hit singles), the most passionate music was turning into product.

Costello didn't look like a rock star or anyone you could take seriously. Presented in horn-rimmed glasses, tweed jackets, zits and an outgrown crew cut that looked as if it had been maintained with garden shears, he was obnoxiously nerdy decades before nerds became sexy. But the man was a contradiction; not only was Costello a brilliantly cunning linguist but his band, The Attractions (who debuted on the sophomore This Year's Model-Stiff/CBS in 1977), was more than willing and able to attack the music. The sound was like nothing anyone had ever heard; a barrage of nagging Farfisa organ, numbing halting bass lines and Costello's thick vocals piled on top. They may have packed a wallop and offered a sound untypically sophisticated for punk; however, Armed Forces (Stiff/CBS, 1978) was not only his first "finest hour" but exposed the notion that punk was merely a means to an end with him.

From the start, Costello was focused on government ("Senior Service," "Oliver's Army," "Hoover Factory"), censorship ("Radio, Radio") and fascism ("Two Little Hitlers," "Goon Squad") as well as making romance ("Alison," "Hand in Hand," "Stranger In the House," "Party Girl") and sex as blatant a transaction as politics and ideology. By 1979's Get Happy (Stiff/CBS)—a breathless concept album about pursuing that one special woman—it was clear that Costello would have to change his direction. What followed, for better and worse, could only be expected: albums with fuller songs (Get Happy was crammed with 21 songs averaging three minutes apiece); forays into pop and country; unlikely collaborations (Burt Bacharach, Chet Baker, The Brodsky Quartet, Paul McCartney, Allen Toussaint); and even an Oscar nomination for Best Song. "So where did the punker in Costello go?," you would have to wonder as he hosted his own talk show on cable.

Granted, it was a damn good talk show (as he talked and jammed with musical heroes such as Lou Reed, Smokey Robinson and Elton John) but what he actually did with a cloak of subtlety was invade the pop consciousness in the same way as punk rock without losing his bite or "selling out." As expected, his set at Riot Fest was loaded with the early rockers that made him famous (as Riot Fest was hardly the place for pap like "Everyday I Write the Book" or "Veronica"); however, it's not what he played but how he played it.

For starters, "Clubland" had a thumping violent emphasis in its choruses, making the "club" in the title sound less like a place and more like a weapon. "Pump It Up" may have been appropriate and expected at such a celebration but the stinging guitar-picking that propelled "(I Dont Want to go to) Chelsea" was fiery and surgically precise.

Hearing "Radio, Radio" in this post-Bush era—35 years after it was recorded—gave it a dimension far more disturbing than the original. When Costello snarled, "So you had better do as you are told/You'd better listen to your radio...," the connotation went beyond Orwell and censorship, and right to the heart of the Patriot Act. Like the song says, "They think we're really getting out of control." Even more pungent was the sinister venom coiled through "Watching the Detectives," which was extended into a psychedelic goth jam. When Costello cooed, "She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake," it seemed entirely appropriate that images of Jeffrey Dahmer popped into my head.

The only difference in these songs between when they were recorded (1976-80) and now, of course, is the realization that the hypocrisy that Costello sang about then are our everyday reality now. Like the horrors in Martin Scorses' film Taxi Driver (1976), there is a whole world of ickiness that the public was blissfully unaware of by choice, which is nothing new except that now we know more than we want to about it.

Later in the evening, when Gogol Bordello front man Eugene Hutz barked "There ARE no good old days" during the band's first song, you had to admit that Costello and the rest of the punkers had it right all the time. We aren't in a new era of shit; we're stuck up to our tits in the same old stuff, but with a different vintage and awareness.

Heads up: Queer favorites The Gossip will be playing The Bottom Lounge Wed., Oct. 3. For those who have a craving for old-school gutbucket soul, Millie Jackson and Clarence Carter will be headlining at the Venue in Hammond, Ind., Friday, Nov. 16. For those who did not get enough Minneapolis funk when Prince came through last month, you can get another dose when his cohorts, Morris Day and the Time, hit the Venue Saturday, Nov. 17.

[Man out of Time]

Extract from a set of reviews across the RiotFest festival published at Consequence of Sound.net on September 17, 2012 - review by Ryan Bray.

"Elvis Costello and The Imposters – Roots Stage – 5:25 p.m.

Um, really? Yeah dude, really. Riot Fest committed itself about 90 percent of the way to being a punk and metal festival reminiscent of Warped Tour’s early days. But while the addition of a finely tuned pop songsmith amongst the rest of the punk, metal and indie rock lot might seem curious to some, let’s all remember that Costello‘s earliest and best work is shrouded in new wave fury and surly, punk rock attitude.

So how were those bluegrass songs? Funny, a-hole. To be fair though, it was hard to predict what exactly fans were in for given Costello’s hefty and sprawling body of work. Within the context of the Riot Fest set up, it was easy to hope and pray for at least a few Attractions-era rockers, and the rock icon delivered mightily. Decked out in a purple pinstripe suit and porkpie hat, Costello took the temperature of the crowd perfectly, loading his hour-long set with tracks from My Aim is True, This Year’s Model, and Armed Forces.

Lesson learned: Never rule out a legend.
Unsung hero: Drummer Pete Thomas. The Imposters are an amazing, incredibly tight band, but watching Costello bang out a set full of classics with his early Attractions-cohort behind the kit was enough to give seasoned fans a chill in itself. Watching Thomas effortlessly move and thrash around the kit helped keep the old catalog young and fresh.
Headbanger’s Cut: Can I cop out and just say everything? “Pump it Up”, “Less Than Zero”, “Radio, Radio”, “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding”, and “Watching The Detectives”.
Riotous Scale [1-5 fists]: Five big ones, all falling mightily on Fat Mike for talking shit about Costello during NOFX’s (also awesome) set. Love ya Mike, but you can’t do that."

Proof once again of Elvis's very broad musical appeal - "Never rule out a legend".

MOOT