http://trinachow.blogspot.com/2011/05/e ... sters.html
Elvis' site seems happy to list this rather mean-spirited review -
http://www.elviscostello.com/news/the-s ... tures-/118
http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainmen ... i_18031389
Review:
Elvis Costello spins roulette wheel, and it doesn't pay off
By
Jim Harrington
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 05/10/2011
Talk about audience participation.
During Elvis Costello's two-night stand at the Fox Theater, which finished up on Monday night, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer invited fans onstage to help formulate set lists via "The Spectacular Spinning Songbook," a game-show-style roulette wheel that listed some 40 song titles.
Fans would spin the wheel -- which stood at least twice as tall as Costello -- and where it stopped would dictate what the star would play next.
It sounds like fun, right? And it was -- to a degree. But it also presented many problems, some of which the 56-year-old Englander was unable to overcome during his nearly 2½-hour show on Monday in Oakland.
First and foremost, set lists are best assembled by professionals -- not by chance. The one that came to fruition on Monday hardly delivered the best Costello has to offer. Plus, it's not just what you play -- but also what order you play it in. This particular shuffle was iffy at best, bunching together too many ballads and mid-tempo offerings.
Then, of course, there is the key issue of momentum. A live show should feel like it's going somewhere -- that there's some degree of forward progress -- yet nothing kills momentum quite liking taking a break between songs to bring a fan up onstage.
It's no wonder that Costello hasn't toured with this wheel in 25 years. It's more trouble than it's worth.
Costello must realize that, for he decided to hedge his bet on this gamble on numerous occasions during the show. For instance, the vocalist-guitarist and his band the Imposters -- keyboardist Steve Nieve, drummer Pete Thomas and bassist Davey Faragher -- ignored the wheel when they first took the stage, opening the concert with a well-chosen four-song blast that was far stronger than anything else we'd hear over the next 1½ hours.
Costello then donned a top hat, grabbed a cane, and launched into full-on Bob Barker mode. "My name is Napoleon Dynamite," he announced. "I'm your host for the Spectacular Spinning Songbook!"
His lovely assistant then brought the first contestant -- George from Anchorage, Alaska -- up to give the wheel a spin. It would land on "Shipbuilding," a dreary meditation on the sad relationship between war and the economy, which Costello recorded on 1983's "Punch the Clock." Not exactly an ideal choice to kick off the segment.
While Costello sang, George from Anchorage sat at a makeshift bar erected onstage and sipped a pink cosmo.
Later, two women from the crowd spun the wheel to "The Other Side of Summer," a rather weak offering from 1991's "Mighty Like a Rose." The females would initially listen from the bar, then move over to boogie in the go-go cage set up at stage right.
Besides, individual song titles, the wheel also listed a few categories, which at least gave the star some wiggle room. The first category hit was "I can sing the colors of the rainbow," which resulted in Costello crooning the colorful offerings "Green Shirt," "Blue Chair," "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" and a snippet of Prince's "Purple Rain." That last bit may have seemed like an ad-lib, but Costello had reportedly soundchecked the number earlier that day.
The encore segment, which stretched approximately 45 minutes, basically ignored the wheel. Not coincidentally, it was much better than most of the main set.
Let's hope that Costello waits at least another 25 years before bringing "The Spectacular Spinning Songbook" back to town.
