2054 - The Centenary Show

Pretty self-explanatory
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And No Coffee Table
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2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by And No Coffee Table »

We've already seen all these dates, but here's the tour announcement. It sounds like new songs are involved.


http://www.elviscostello.com/news/2054- ... y-show/358

"2054 - The Centenary Show"

Image

"Following his recent highly-acclaimed series of concerts in capital cities from Brussels to Istanbul, London, Vienna, Amsterdam, Oslo, Berlin, Stockholm, Prague and Reykjavik, Elvis Costello returns to the performing arts centers and theatres of California with a solo performance with the intriguing title, "2054 - The Centenary Show"...

Asked about the title, Costello explained,

"This show may contain any song I've written"

"Some you will know already, some are the hits of tomorrow"

"I'm playing this show now in the unlikely event that I'm not around to perform the songs on the appointed date"

"Don't be late, we're going to have a big time"

Redding, CA / The Cascade Theater / Monday, September 24th / On Sale Wednesday, June 20th

Chico, CA / Laxson Auditorium / Tuesday, September 25th / On Sale Monday, July 2nd

Arcata, CA / Van Duzer Theatre / Wednesday, September 26th / On Sale Monday, July 23rd

San Luis Obispo, CA / Christopher Cohan Center / Saturday, September 29th / On Sale Tuesday, July 31st

Santa Barbara, CA / The Granada Theatre / Sunday, September 30th / On Sale Saturday, August 18th

Irvine, CA / Irvine Barclay Center / Tuesday, October 2nd / SOLD OUT!!

Keep your eye on this space for more dates to be added in near future!
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by Jack of All Parades »

I only wish him such longevity-judging by the agility shown in the photo- perhaps attainable!
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
Paul B
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by Paul B »

The picture looks to me like he's lost his keys again in the multi storey car park. Gig wise he's on a roll though isn't he? Really we're lucky to be alive at the same time as him.
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by Jack of All Parades »

"Following his recent highly-acclaimed series of concerts in capital cities from Brussels to Istanbul, London, Vienna, Amsterdam, Oslo, Berlin, Stockholm, Prague and Reykjavik, Elvis Costello returns to the performing arts centers and theatres of California with a solo performance with the intriguing title, "2054 - The Centenary Show"...

Asked about the title, Costello explained,

"This show may contain any song I've written"

"Some you will know already, some are the hits of tomorrow"

"I'm playing this show now in the unlikely event that I'm not around to perform the songs on the appointed date"

"Don't be late, we're going to have a big time"


Yes it is nice roll and it has put me to thinking. Over the past months I have been spending time with my middle daughter as we explore the city she now calls home and which has played a significant part in her family's history and development. Walking the streets of Queens or the lower East Side or off of Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn has been instructive and therapeutic for myself. I get the sense that Declan too is in just such a reflective mood.

I am at the two thirds point of my life if I am generous and give myself a solid 90 years- something that is attainable given the longevity gene within my family. My own father is in his mid 80s and in declining health. I want my children to know who they are and how they got to where they are now. It is a time of assessment for me and I suspect for Declan, as well. The sights, sounds, smells, and feel of the city streets are something I want my children to feel and absorb. I want them to be an ingrained part of their psyche-the marrow and sinew and synapses within their beings as they age into mature adults.

For going on four decades Declan has been a life mentor for me- political voice, social advocate, musical guide, sartorial inspiration, another pair of eyes on the world around me. Of late I have been eying park benches on my walks as future means to rest and reflect- face it I would have difficulty kicking my heels up like Declan in his photo. I would welcome his company on that metaphorical park bench as we both contemplate aging and the void we are approaching. Another old 'friend' put it this way:

Toads Revisited
Philip Larkin

Walking around in the park
Should feel better than work:
The lake, the sunshine,
The grass to lie on,

Blurred playground noises
Beyond black-stockinged nurses -
Not a bad place to be.
Yet it doesn't suit me.

Being one of the men
You meet of an afternoon:
Palsied old step-takers,
Hare-eyed clerks with the jitters,

Waxed-fleshed out-patients
Still vague from accidents,
And characters in long coats
Deep in the litter-baskets -

All dodging the toad work
By being stupid or weak.
Think of being them!
Hearing the hours chime,

Watching the bread delivered,
The sun by clouds covered,
The children going home;
Think of being them,

Turning over their failures
By some bed of lobelias,
Nowhere to go but indoors,
Nor friends but empty chairs -

No, give me my in-tray,
My loaf-haired secretary,
My shall-I-keep-the-call-in-Sir:
What else can I answer,

When the lights come on at four
At the end of another year?
Give me your arm, old toad;
Help me down Cemetery Road.


I look forward to such guidance from Declan.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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verbal gymnastics
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by verbal gymnastics »

As you get older you become more aware of your own mortality. I'm 50 next year but seem to be going to more funerals of people only 10-15 years older than me.

On a lighter note this tour sounds like a grand way of saying Elvus still won't be previewing any new material.

And at least there'll be a shake up in that it'll be the first time for a very long time that PLU won't be played. Or Roses. Or many others covers.
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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verbal gymnastics
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by verbal gymnastics »

I accidentally posted before I'd finished. :oops:

I would like to see Elvis do a tour comprising of songs which he has not written.
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by And No Coffee Table »

verbal gymnastics wrote:On a lighter note this tour sounds like a grand way of saying Elvus still won't be previewing any new material.
I thought the promise of "the hits of tomorrow" meant new songs.

When "the hits of tomorrow" was a Hammer of Songs category, he said it meant "songs so great I haven't written them yet."
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Good point. I stand corrected although whether any new songs will be hits of tomorrow is a but of a long shot.
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when i was cruel
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by when i was cruel »

I can't help but notice that his clothes are not dissimilar to some I own, also that he dresses like a 17 year old lol.
It's not the days when you leave me, but all I fear are the nights.
Poor Deportee
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by Poor Deportee »

Great post, Jack! (Quoting Larkin is never a bad practice, it seems).

I don't seem to be quite at the reflective stage of life that you describe, but Bob Dylan's comment in 'I and I' about 'noontime' and stepping 'into the narrow lanes' - focused on career and family, the great vistas of youth having narrowed into the long channels of early middle age - that comes to mind fairly often. Be that as it may, this tour concept, like the accompanying photo, seems less in the way of 'reflective' and more like a breezily defiant raspberry in the face of time! I'd guess that Elvis was refreshed by his unambitious 'greatest hits' go-round, has come to terms with his dad's passing, and is ready to do creative battle once again. The outrageous nature of the title is certainly vintage EC.

And in that vein, I sure hope these shows do see him bringing out new material. The concept promises as much.
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I hope no living thing cries over his bones
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Let's hope there is new material but even if there isn't, no doubt some rare gems will be unearthed.
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by Jack of All Parades »

PD- that is a strong image from the pen of Mr. Zimmerman:

"Noontime, and I’m still pushin’ myself along the road, the darkest part
Into the narrow lanes, I can’t stumble or stay put
Someone else is speakin’ with my mouth, but I’m listening only to my heart
I’ve made shoes for everyone, even you, while I still go barefoot"

Yes a little further on that 'track' then you, perhaps. Probably in spirit closer to the "Not Dark Yet" statement of over a decade back- though in reality a more realistic "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" clouds my horizon. What an image you give of 'the long channels of middle age'- I love the sense of forward time that provides.

I would welcome from Declan his take on these cycles. It would seem he is ripe for it, having experienced with passing regularity loss in his close circle and amongst his peers. Armed to do 'creative battle' is a good way to describe the possibilities that could be attained in a new round of shows and songs unencumbered by the prior constraints of that "unambitious 'greatest hits' go-round"[nice visual pun on the wheel by the way]. Dylan is again inspiration for just such a refreshment- look at the example of "Time Out of Mind" and what it did for his career in the following years. Reflection would be nice of that kind and quality- I think Declan is most capable of that.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
Poor Deportee
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by Poor Deportee »

Jack of All Parades wrote:PD- that is a strong image from the pen of Mr. Zimmerman:

"Noontime, and I’m still pushin’ myself along the road, the darkest part
Into the narrow lanes, I can’t stumble or stay put
Someone else is speakin’ with my mouth, but I’m listening only to my heart
I’ve made shoes for everyone, even you, while I still go barefoot"

Yes a little further on that 'track' then you, perhaps. Probably in spirit closer to the "Not Dark Yet" statement of over a decade back- though in reality a more realistic "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" clouds my horizon. What an image you give of 'the long channels of middle age'- I love the sense of forward time that provides.

I would welcome from Declan his take on these cycles. It would seem he is ripe for it, having experienced with passing regularity loss in his close circle and amongst his peers. Armed to do 'creative battle' is a good way to describe the possibilities that could be attained in a new round of shows and songs unencumbered by the prior constraints of that "unambitious 'greatest hits' go-round"[nice visual pun on the wheel by the way]. Dylan is again inspiration for just such a refreshment- look at the example of "Time Out of Mind" and what it did for his career in the following years. Reflection would be nice of that kind and quality- I think Declan is most capable of that.
Well, I'm not sure EC is anywhere close to writing an album as dark and elegiac as Time Out of Mind. A song here or there, certainly, but not a complete and major statement with that kind of tone. Remember, he has two relatively young children, so for all that mortality has brushed his cheek of late, his day-to-day experience is probably closer to that of the conventional mid-life person (notwithstanding, of course, his wealth and his weird job). More to the point, I suspect that Elvis is just too damned vibrant and willful to look death so chillingly in the face as Dylan did on that record. A song such as 'A Voice in the Dark' seems to me more prototypical of what to expect from an aging Elvis: glorious, defiant romp, overflowing with demented creative energy - less a raging against the dying of the light ('Cold Irons Bound'), or a sighing acceptance of it ('Not Dark Yet'), than a gleeful, knowing rave-up in the twilight.

In this sense, I see Elvis sliding into old age more in the cackling, dirty-old-man spirit of 'Love and Theft' than Time Out of Mind. :wink: Since 'Voice in the Dark' is one of my all-time favourite EC tunes, and 'Love and Theft' my all-time favourite Dylan record, I can really handle more music of that order!

One thing's for sure. We can expect Elvis to continue to evolve and to try to come to grips with whatever is preoccupying him as honestly and vigorously as he can. Whether or not we end up liking whichever specific direction he takes - I certainly did not care for many of his excursions between ATUB and WGW - that, more than any specific sound or tone, is what really counts, and makes him an artist worth following over a lifetime.
When man has destroyed what he thinks he owns
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Hey I hope he whistles 'past the graveyard' as you hope, as well, very much in the spirit of "Voice in the Dark". It would be fun to hear that same fierce jokiness as is to be found in Loudon Wainwright III's latest "Older than my old man now"[ a wonderful record that contemplates time's passing]:

http://youtu.be/X0oaYHikVVo

or this "The Here & the Now"

http://youtu.be/-WfkBGs0kf8

or this "My Meds"

http://youtu.be/SjQG0aGozMI
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
nicola76
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by nicola76 »

Anyone have any idea if there are any other photos from that particular photo shoot kicking around? That's a cracking photo :wink:
Jocko Wainwright
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by Jocko Wainwright »

It looks like he's been listening to R. Kelly.
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Or he's slipped on one of the twins' toys :lol:
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Re: 2054 - The Centenary Show

Post by Neil. »

I think he was chuffed with himself for losing so much weight - at last able to demonstrate the karate kicks Bruce Thomas probably taught him!

He also did a bit of a 'look how slim I am these days' dance on the Spectacle website a while back.

Good on 'im - he looks great for a guy fast approaching sixty!
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