Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Pretty self-explanatory
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johnfoyle
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Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by johnfoyle »

Who's going?
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Fishfinger king
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by Fishfinger king »

I'm going with one of the Fishfinger Princesses, who is at University in Bristol.
This doesn't seem one of the most popular ones with forum members so far............
Can't you see I'm trying to change this water to wine
johnfoyle
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by johnfoyle »

http://instantsteve.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... -back.html

(extract)


Tomorrow I'm off to see Elvis Costello at the Colston in Bristol and have high hopes. After his initial excellent seven albums I lost a bit of interest - especially when he started cropping up on US comedy and chat shows. But last year I rediscovered his 20th album - When I was cruel - in a charity shop and he was back on form (ten years ago). So maybe I'll post something about the gig, if it's any good. Meanwhile, thanks for reading this.
sulky lad
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by sulky lad »

I'll be there !!
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verbal gymnastics
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by verbal gymnastics »

sulky lad wrote:I'll be there !!
Just call my name...

We expect a full report tomorrow in the pub.
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
sulky lad
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by sulky lad »

Enjoying a cuppa in the cafe besides the Colatom Hall. The tour bus turned up just after I Was unable to swop my non- Colston purchased ticket ( row DD) for an upgrade and Steve and Elvis walked past. Sadly I was on the phone to our estate agent and couldn't hang up. Might bum Steve to try and get a better seat !!So far away I really do need opera glasses
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by And No Coffee Table »

Not much on Twitter so far:
Elvis opens with "I hope your happy now" Dancing Girls included
Radio Radio!
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by And No Coffee Table »

Also:
Shipbuilding
Green Shirt
Pump It Up
I wasn't expecting to see a David Cameron lookalike cage-dancing.
hardest worker in showbiz PETE THOMAS . fucker drums like a demon and sings every word !! # elvis costello bristol colston hall .
sulky lad
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by sulky lad »

Elvis' voice not great, doesn't bode well for tomorrow, but we got The Comedians and God's Comic (my least favourite EC track !!) EC said Steve was excited as he'll be let loose on the organ tomorrow so I've suggested Clowntime Is Over though I bet it'll be Favourite Hour. Dropped hints for the 4th time about Beaten To The Punch, all 4 very amicable after the show.
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by And No Coffee Table »

setlist.fm has this, but it's obviously incomplete since it's missing "The Comedians" and "God's Comic":

01. I Hope You're Happy Now
02. Heart Of The City
03. Mystery Dance
04. Radio, Radio
05. Good Year For The Roses
06. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
07. Beyond Belief
08. National Ransom
09. Shabby Doll
10. Stations Of The Cross
11. Almost Blue
12. Cry, Cry, Cry
13. Green Shirt
14. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
15. Watching The Detectives
Encore 1
16. A Slow Drag With Josephine
17. Who's The Meanest Gal In Town Josephine
18. Tramp The Dirt Down
19. Shipbuilding
Encore 2
20. Oliver's Army
21. Accidents Will Happen
22. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?
23. Pump It Up
24. I Want You

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/elvis-cos ... f84eb.html
johnfoyle
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by johnfoyle »

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caliban10
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by caliban10 »

My first Elvis show in 7 years (but #26 overall).

These are all just impressions but it did seem like Elvis and the band were distracted by various things last night and maybe didn't do the best show they could have done:
- Elvis' throat got worse and worse during the show
- occasional techs were crawling around the stage throughout the night as if perhaps Colston Hall and/or sound crew couldn't get something working (one of Steve's keyboards?)
- first few wheel-selected songs were pretty downbeat, as noted by Elvis
- Valentina had to drag a few people up on stage (Are British audiences not so eager to get on stage as American ones?)
- the band all seemed to be ready to leave after Pump It Up and Pete looked a bit pissed off that Elvis started I Want You.

Unfortunately, I think the 3 songs from National Ransom will make the non-hardcore fans go out and buy a greatest hits album instead.

So it was a pretty good show but not as much of a 3-hour powerhouse Elvis extravaganza as I was expecting. The majority of the audience seemed to love it though. Perhaps I should have bought some RAH tickets as well.
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by bronxapostle »

Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Bristol, England
May 22nd, 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
Good Year For The Roses - Spin 1
I've Been Wrong Before - Spin 2
Chelsea - Spin 3
"Imperial Chocolate" Jackpot - Spin 4
Shabby Doll
Almost Blue
Honey, Are You Straight Or Are You Blind?
The Comedians - Spin 5
Watching The Detectives/Help Me - Spin 6
The Stations Of The Cross/Get Ready - Spin 7
The Hammer Of Songs
Oliver's Army
Less Than Zero - IMPROMPTU
Cash - Spin 8
Cry Cry Cry
Accidents Will Happen - Spin 9
God's Comic - Spin 10
Beyond Belief - IMPROMPTU
National Ransom - Spin 11
Interlude
A Slow Drag With Josephine - Napoleon Solo
Jimmie Standing In The Rain- Napoleon Solo
Tramp The Dirt Down - with the Imposters
Shipbuilding
Finale
Greenshirt
Red Shoes
Pump It Up
Peace, Love And Understanding
I Want You
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by And No Coffee Table »

Live gig review: Elvis Costello and the Imposters – Colston Hall, Bristol

ELVIS Costello isn’t so much reinventing the wheel on his latest tour but bringing it out of a 26-year retirement.

The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook finds him sharing the stage with a 20-foot high Victorian Fairground-style wheel colourfully painted with nigh-on 40 songs from his vast back catalogue.

He first used it back in 1986 and the idea has been resurrected for these epic three-hour live shows. It’s a simple but very effective theatrical concept that gives an intriguing twist to the night.

Not only does it bring the audience into the heart of the action as they get to choose the songs by spinning the wheel but it adds an air of unpredictability to the setlist.

But before the games begin, and as a knowingly kitsch silver catsuited go-go dancer in her cage gets busy stage left, Costello and his three-piece band The Imposters propel themselves into a clutch of punkish power pop gems to warm us up including a fiery I Hope You’re Happy Now and Radio Radio.

The first song choice via the wheel is a belter, offering up a particularly fine Good Year For The Roses which boasts a swelling piano accompaniment from long-time Costello sideman Steve Nieve.

More off-piste selections from the wheel included the tender Randy Newman cover I’ve Been Wrong Before and Shabby Doll.

The hits come thick and fast, too, from a crackling (I Don’t Want To) Go To Chelsea, through Watching The Detectives to the evergreen Oliver’s Army.

There are also moments of breathtaking drama such as the solo fingerpicked A Slow Drag With Josephine and a quite beautiful Jimmie Standing In The Rain.

The politically charged anti-Thatcher classic Tramp The Dirt Down was dusted off after decades in cold storage and followed in a devastating one-two punch with Shipbuilding.

We rounded off with all-guns-blazing versions of Pump It Up, (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding and a stunningly broody I Want You.

Wheel or no wheel, this was a masterclass in songwriting and charismatic, nuanced rock’n’roll.

8/10
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by And No Coffee Table »

Elvis Costello and The Imposters – Bristol Colston Hall, Tuesday 22nd May

There’s our hero, clad in a fetching combo of shiny suit and dapper hat; a little older, a little rounder, just as angry. Or so we hoped…..one question buzzed incessantly around my head like a fidgeting fly coated in itching powder; what if Elvis has gone soft? The signs were there in ominous neon, a hundred feet high. Happily married, doting dad, living in Canada….What if Elvis has gone soft? There it was again; the nagging doubt. And then he strapped on his telecaster and began to sing. Any lingering fears as to the mellowing effect of multi-millionaire middle age were instantly dispelled, as he launched into a blistering version of I Hope You’re Happy Now, sneering and snarling like it was 1978 and he was directly addressing a doggy dropping. Marvellous! Sorry I ever doubted you Mr Costello.

After rattling off a few innovators to get the party started, attention turned to the giant wheel that dominated the stage; the famous spinning songbook; essentially a fairground apparatus with 40 different songs and themes displayed around its garish face. Assuming the guise of mischievous MC Napoleon Dynamite, Costello donned a top hat and twirled his cane with fiendish relish, quipping and hustling as though his life depended on it, whilst his ravishing/ravishable assistant prowled the aisles, selecting random members of the audience to spin the wheel and have their song played whilst they danced onstage in a cage. And why not? Whilst my inner Costello says the Spinning Songbook is a labour saving device designed to alleviate the pressure of choosing a setlist from such a diverse back catalogue, it made for an undeniably entertaining spectacle, as well as producing a show that touched bases with career highlights and obscure gems, as well as the occasional all out snoozefest. But whenever things threatened to get a mite too grown up and sophistimicated, an Accidents Will Happen or a Watching The Detectives was never too far away to relieve the tedium of the old, “here’s one off the new album” syndrome.

Elvis and his Imposters sound as though they’ve been playing together since the dawn of time, which if your worldview began with the birth of punk, then I suppose they have. Essentially The Imposters are The Attractions with a different bassist. These boys have got history and you can tell, whether on an out of control Oliver’s Army or a show stopping, even more psychotic than usual I Want You. It’s all there in Steve Nieve’s swirling organ patterns and Pete Thomas’s pounding drums, with that voice right upfront, telling it like it is; like he always has. And in amongst the gimmicks and distractions, that was all that mattered.
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by Mikeh »

"Essentially The Imposters are The Attractions with a different bassist. "

GULP! EC won't like that will he????
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by edney »

I enjoyed it (of course I did) even though I thought the whole "Spinning Songbook" idea, apart from being something that has been done before, would be too gimmicky and would drag the show down somewhat. It didn't. To be honest I've never seen Elvis looking so relaxed in front of an audience before. Looks like his stint as talk show host on "Spectacle" really has turned him into some kind of "Beloved Entertainer". Ironically spent part of the night before reading Allan Jones account of Costello's paranoidal performance after the 1980 Montreaux Jazz Festival. It's hard to believe that these two Elvis' are one and the same. Still disappointed at the proliferation of "let's give em what they want" hit material but there were enough gems splattered across almost 3 hours of entertainment to keep me happy. "The Comedians" was a highlight, as was a heartfelt rendition of "Good Year For The Roses" (chosen incidentally by a songbook spinner called Rose) Wanted to hear "Country Darkness" and "The Spell That You Cast" but didn't get em. Most of the material from "National Ransom" made me realise what a career highlight that album is with "Stations Of The Cross" coupled with a red hot version of The Temptations "Get Ready" and particularly, a dark and broody "National Ransom" stunning highlights. Elvis suffered, yet again, with vocal problems. He also produced, during the halfway point of the show what looked suspiciously like Ken Dodd's tickling stick, found "backstage at Newcastle City Hall". Pete Thomas looks more like Jeremy Clarkson every day, Steve Nieve, resplendant in pork pie hat, looked to be enjoying himself immensely throughout and I even managed, fairly successfully, to ignore the gyrations of Dixie De La Fontaine in the go-go cage for fear of losing concentration, but I can tell you guys, it wasn't easy.
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Fishfinger king
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by Fishfinger king »

Enjoyed this one a lot but in retrospect overshadowed by the two London gigs.
Got better and better with each show.
Highlights were Cry, Cry, Cry and The Comedians. Interesting to hear I've Been Wrong Before but clearly didn't work that early in the set as Elvis almost admitted.
A bonus was seeing the (real) Olympic Torch beforehand, whatever disparaging comments EC makes!!
Can't you see I'm trying to change this water to wine
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by Azmuda »

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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by docinwestchester »

Azmuda wrote:Shipbuilding -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVoyhrP0uOY
Outstanding!
sulky lad
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Re: Elvis/The Imposters, Bristol, May 22 2012

Post by sulky lad »

My recording up on dime now - sorry struggling to paste the link. Also as I'm only near an iPhone could some kind soul edit the wiki and put the correct order for Nottingham (Beyond Belief comes in at song 7 and at Bristol Elvis didn't do Who's The meanest Gal at all. One of the most awesome versions of I Want You ever at Bristol aided in no small way by dramatic red lighting
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