Elvis & Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sept 5 & 6, 2014

[sweetest punch]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/ar ... z2sNWSq6v6

Hollywood Bowl 2014: Dudamel conducts Dudamel, 'Hair' goes bare

(...)
Elvis Costello and Ben Folds will perform separate sets with the Los Angeles Philharmonic behind them (Sept. 5-6), ...

[sweetest punch]

http://www.hollywoodbowl.com//tickets/e ... 2014-09-06

About This Performance

Prolific and evocative musical icon Costello delves into his diverse catalogue, and power-pop singer, songwriter and pianist Folds plays his hits, both humorous and earnest. Each star joins the Los Angeles Philharmonic for his own set.

[bronxapostle]

the man is a machine! 2014 "dance card" so far has: IMPOSTERS dates, THE ROOTS performances, solo shows and now, Orchestral appearances. what else will we get? more SPECTACLE tapings? RUDE 5 or SUGARCANES reunions? a with Burt Bacharach concert? a new band?

[johnfoyle]

Win tickets -

http://welistenhear.com/contests/win-a- ... ign=buffer

[johnfoyle]

Another tickets contest -

http://thescenestar.typepad.com/ss/2014 ... um=twitter

[sweetest punch]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/mu ... story.html

Elvis Costello looks at the orchestral possibilities in Bowl shows

Don't think that just because Elvis Costello is joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic for two shows at the Hollywood Bowl this week that the former Angry Young Man of the British new wave movement has gone soft now that he's turned 60..

In fact, Costello has played shows with orchestras in San Francisco, Chicago and Amsterdam (to name a few), tapping their massed sonic forces as part of the restless musical exploration that's marked his career for the better part of 40 years.

"You can create sounds with an orchestra that you can never create with a rock 'n' roll band," Costello said from his home in British Columbia, only briefly distracted when one of his 6-year-old twins with wife Diana Krall piped up in the background.

"I've been working with orchestral arrangements for 15 to 20 years now. It started out with small groups, but when I've had the opportunity to work with larger orchestras, I've found that the music can translate. I've learned a lot along the way about the kind of sounds I wanted to hear."

One sound he isn't interested in is having string and horn players simply provide sonic sweetening to his core songs.

"Why go onstage with an orchestra and play rock 'n' roll?" he said. "That's like making a dog walk on his hind legs. I'm playing with some of the best orchestras in America and Europe. These players don't want to be sitting middle distance in the music just playing whole notes in the background — unless it's incredibly well-arranged. You're kind of not using all the possibilities that are available."

Consequently, the British singer, songwriter and producer is selecting the songs for the Bowl shows, which he's sharing with Ben Folds, for their suitability to orchestral interpretation.

"It's tempting to play a lot of ballads with the orchestra," he said, "but I'm trying to get away from it just being ballad, ballad, ballad."

In fact, Costello said that joining forces with an orchestra afforded him the luxury of fleshing out a song the way he'd originally intended.

"I do have a couple of songs, things that in the original arrangements were imitations of orchestral arrangements," he said. "There were times I tried to imitate that Dusty Springfield in Memphis sound [with horns and strings], but I couldn't afford an orchestra, so we tried to imitate that sound with the instruments we had, with guitars and keyboards.

"It's curious to take some of those parts and give them to the instruments we were imagining."

For the Bowl shows, the orchestra will be conducted by Scott Dunn, and Costello will be accompanied by longtime keyboardist Steve Nieve from his Attractions and Imposters bands, plus bassist Dennis Crouch and drummer Karriem Riggins from Krall's jazz band.

Because he's sharing the orchestra with Folds, who plays the first half of the shows, Costello notes that each musician is restricted to about an hour's worth of music.

"It's really a great opportunity," Costello said, "but I'm faced with the same conundrum Ben has, of playing what amounts to half a concert. So I'm really trying to pick the best things, and the way it's working out is we're playing all the songs I've arranged myself."

Costello has long shown interest in a broad swath of musical styles, from the raw pub rock of his earliest albums to the '60s-inspired Motown sound of "High Fidelity" to the country music slant of "Almost Blue" and the near operatic rock of "King of America."

He took his biggest departure to date in 1993 with "The Juliet Letters," a song cycle he wrote in collaboration with the boundary-pushing Brodsky String Quartet.

How do classically trained musicians respond to working with one of rock's most prolific — and sometimes most venomous — songwriters?

"Some orchestra people would be naturally skeptical, but once we get into rehearsal, the orchestra members can see there is certainly a sincere desire to engage with the sounds we're making," Costello said.

"The world is not in any boxes anymore. When the Beatles used orchestras in the '60s, there were two different cultures that were colliding — in a fantastic new way. What created that great tension was these rock musicians playing with classical players in their Edwardian outfits, Brilliantined hair and their cardigans. Now there's some pretty groovy orchestras in the world.

"But really, the aim is to underscore, literally, or amplify the feeling of the lyrics," Costello said.

"In the long run, it's not about an exercise, it's about conveying feelings and ideas and the spirit of the song. It doesn't matter whether they're playing loud or soft. It just has to be truthful."

[bronxapostle]

in the words of king foyle...

WHO'S GOING????


look at the bargain basement price on cheap seats.......US $13.00

[docinwestchester]

in the words of king foyle...

WHO'S GOING????


look at the bargain basement price on cheap seats.......US $13.00

I really hope that waxdoll is there. Both nights.

[And No Coffee Table]

Setlist:
01. Accidents Will Happen
02. Veronica
03. All This Useless Beauty
04. The Girl In The Other Room
05. Shipbuilding
06. Bedlam
07. Wise Up Ghost
08. Almost Blue - EC on piano and Steve on melodica at end
09. Watching The Detectives
10. God Give Me Strength
Encore
11. Alison - EC & Steve Nieve only

Good show, but much too short at about 70 minutes.

waxdoll wasn't there.

[supplydavid]

A reasonably attentive audience but the rules for the Philharmonic shows mean you can bring your own food and booze!

Elvis's voice seamed somewhat strained a few times.

[johnfoyle]

[johnfoyle]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/mu ... olumn.html



Elvis Costello performs his song "Veronica" with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)


Elvis Costello, Ben Folds harness the L.A. Phil at the Hollywood Bowl

Randall Roberts
LOS ANGELES TIMES

randall.roberts​@latimes.com



Which Elvis Costello would the singer and songwriter born Declan MacManus ferry to the Hollywood Bowl for the first of a two-night stint with the Los Angeles Philharmonic?

So many to choose from, each another piece of an emotional artist: the alienated idealist of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love and Understanding"; the desperate obsessive of "Uncomplicated"; the soothsayer of Information Age malaise in "Satellite" or the furious critic in "Walk Us Uptown."


So deep is his catalog that Costello, who just turned 60, could have centered his tight, imaginative Friday set around specific themes -- a night of bitterness, or devotion, or remorse -- and emerged victorious. He seemed to admit as much in the opening line of his show, which used the full heft of the orchestra for 10 of 11 songs. "Oh, I just don't know where to begin," he sang, a man left speechless in "Accidents Will Happen" by volumes and varieties of ideas.

Headlining a bill that featured an illuminating curtain-raiser from North Carolina-raised singer/songwriter/pianist Ben Folds, Costello dipped into his nearly four decades of work for pieces well-suited for orchestral adaptation.

Unlike lesser "pop artist with strings" Bowl gigs that tend to drape simple songs with unsubstantial, one-size-fits-all backing, each measure during Costello's set was its own tiny epiphany. The so-called Impostor is also an Arranger.



The singer's focus was on hope and love, and great lyrical couplets echoed throughout the Bowl. He presented the mournful "Shipbuilding" with a swirling, percussive vibe adapted, said Costello, from Chet Baker's improvised arrangement of the song. Befitting the confusing state described in his lyrics, of a depressed town pining for jobs through war money, the orchestra performed with tense fluidity.

"It's just a rumor that was spread around town, a telegram or a picture postcard," sang Costello. As conductor Scott Dunn spun woodwinds and brass, Costello resolved to hope: "Soon we'll be shipbuilding."


Dressed like a pimp headed to a funeral -- black three piece suit, red fedora -- Costello was warm and relaxed, his demeanor befitting the occasion (and far removed from his game-show host persona of his "Spectacular Spinning Songbook" shows). Instead of electric guitar, the artist and orchestra were accompanied by Costello's longtime pianist Steve Nieve and a rhythm section -- bassist Dennis Crouch and drummer Kariem Riggins -- "borrowed," said Costello, from his wife Diana Krall's backing band.



Despite the title, "All This Useless Beauty" made a profound argument for beauty's utility, with Costello focused on fading luster and insecurity: "Our leaders have feasts on the backsides of beasts/ They still think they're the gods of antiquity," he sang as Dunn maneuvered the orchestra through a tangle of string and horn runs. "If something you missed didn't even exist/ It was just an ideal, is it such a surprise?"

For "Almost Blue," one of Costello's most enduring, and brilliant, love songs, the artist filtered dense, complicated emotions through the breath and fingertips of expert dozens, and his work blossomed.

From Hollywood High in 1978 to the Hollywood Bowl 36 years later, Costello has seen a lot of Los Angeles. He acknowledged as much near the end of his set, listing some L.A. joints he's gigged since his rise in late-'70s London as punk rock was erupting. He scrolled through the Whisky A Go Go, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, the El Rey and the Wilshire before thanking the Bowl's polite, business-casual crowd.

That Costello and the Phil so vividly transformed two songs from that Attractions-backed Hollywood High set -- "Alison" and "Watching the Detectives" -- serves as a testament to both his expertise as an arranger and the malleability of his work.

Prior to Costello's too-brief time onstage, Folds sat at the Steinway with the force of the Phil behind him. The pianist, best known for his breakout success as founder of the Ben Folds Five (ironically, a trio), is less the critical darling than Costello, but his performance proved the artist has earned his kudos.


Folds' set was dotted with smart, piano-driven songs accurately described by Dunn in his introduction as "quirky." The best, "Jesusland," explored suburban spirituality through lines about a Valhalla called Jesusland. Folds, though a witty lyricist with an ear for catchy but complex melody, has kind of a thin voice, one that succeeded at times by sheer force of will.

Draped with such a vast, velveteen body of sound, though, the bespectacled pianist seemed perfectly placed. His wonderfully vindictive, autobiographical "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces," which closed his set, served as a testament. His final couplet? "You will be sorry when I'm big," he sang as the orchestra grew large and loud. "Yes, you will be sorry."

The ovation that followed offered further, well-earned vindication.

[Poor Deportee]

Sounds like an especially intriguing show. I wouldn't mind hearing a recording, just to see how EC fulfilled the very well-articulated intentions expressed in the pre-show interview...perhaps they can issue it as a 'bonus CD' on some future release, or something.

[Azmuda]

Video from night 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK8xRAoH2TI -- Veronica
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTR4cY7gX1Y -- All This Useless Beauty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9aCJqyfIUE -- Shipbuilding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsT3_Kv-yXs -- Shipbuilding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIsxgztuMTo -- Almost Blue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDCaMwnZtVQ -- Watching The Detectives
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jk_RC0L_dU -- God Give Me Strength
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgvHMJiHkug -- Alison

[And No Coffee Table]

Night 2 setlist was the same as night 1.

[And No Coffee Table]

Night 2 setlist was the same as night 1.

Correction: The songs were the same, but the order was shuffled a bit.

01. Accidents Will Happen
02. Veronica
03. The Girl In The Other Room
04. All This Useless Beauty
05. Bedlam
06. Shipbuilding
07. Wise Up Ghost
08. Almost Blue - EC on piano and Steve on melodica at end
09. Watching The Detectives
10. God Give Me Strength
Encore 1
11. Alison - EC & Steve Nieve only

[And No Coffee Table]

A few other things:

EC acknowledged two of his producers in the audience — Dennis Herring (introducing "Bedlam") and Steven Mandel (introducing "Wise Up Ghost").

He said "Wise Up Ghost" was inspired by images he saw on a TV screen in the room where his father spent his final weeks. (If that was mentioned before, I missed it.)

"Alison" was dedicated to Linda Ronstadt.

Both nights Steve Nieve took the stage after "Accidents Will Happen." All the other musicians were onstage the whole time, even for "Alison," which EC and Steve played without them.

Elvis was in better voice the second night.

[johnfoyle]

Tweeted photos -

[sweetest punch]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/cost ... s-one.html

Elvis Costello and Ben Folds go orchestral at the Bowl

For Elvis Costello, one of pop music’s most creative chameleons, this sort of gig – playing the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic – is old hat: If there’s a setting in which he hasn’t performed yet it’s hard to think of it, the restlessly prolific musician having worked in every genre from the ’70s punk and New Wave scene from which he arrived to country, string quartets, jazz and ballet.

So for his headlining debut at the Bowl on Friday, which featured singer-songwriter Ben Folds with his own orchestral set as the opener, Costello was comfortably in his element. He cheerfully chatted between songs with the audience of 11,000, called out the names of the musicians in the orchestra and his band after solo turns, and presented 10 of the 11 classic songs in his set in classical arrangements, with only the final encore done in a more traditional version.

It was a lovely night of music, yet one that fell just shy of the live masterpiece it might have been, mostly because at roughly just an hour it felt like you’d just finished the appetizers when the waiter dropped the check and flipped the sign in the window from open to closed.

As the strings in the orchestra started to swell at the top of his set, Costello arrived on stage in a dark and dapper suit, topped with a spiffy red fedora, singing the opening to “Accidents Will Happen,” a bit rough here and there – it’s surely a tad tricky to match a jazzy vocal to the orchestral backing – though by the end it all felt in sync.

With the L.A. Phil playing the intro to the next song, “Veronica,” Costello’s longtime keyboard player Steve Nieve, from his original backing band the Attractions, took a seat at the piano on stage and, with Costello on acoustic guitar, the two played the opening verse mostly on their own, before everyone joined together for a lush take on the tune. (In addition to Nieve, Costello had borrowed bassist Dennis Crouch and drummer Karriem Riggins from his wife Diana Krall’s band.)

Where some rock or pop musicians might use an orchestra as more or less a bigger version of their usual backing band, Costello’s arrangements, which conductor Scott Dunn had praised him for in his introduction, tended to retool the songs more completely.

For instance, “Wise Up Ghost,” from Costello’s most recent album – a collaboration with the Roots – felt much less an bluesy burner, much more a modern symphonic piece. “Watching The Detectives,” meanwhile, was much less the sneering tell-off of the original version, transformed here into a big band jazz orchestra take, as it originally had been for performances with the Metropole Orkest a few years back.

Two songs with connections to jazz trumpeter Chet Baker were among the highlights of the set. On “Shipbuilding,” for which Baker had improvised his parts in the studio nearly three decades ago, Costello said he’d primarily taken those bits and used them as the basis for the arrangement he wrote.

“Almost Blue,” a torch song from the album “Imperial Bedroom,” was one Costello had dreamed of Baker singing from the moment he wrote it, and later both Baker and Costello’s jazz singer wife Krall both covered it. At the Bowl, both “Shipbuilding” and “Almost Blue” were presented in lush and lovely versions, with the latter getting an especially moving cello solo midway through the number that helped offset the fact that for the first half of Nieve’s solo on the melodica couldn’t be heard.

“God Give Me Strength,” a song he co-wrote with Burt Bachrach, wrapped up the orchestral part of the night, with “Alison,” his earliest and perhaps best-loved song, done mostly just with Costello on guitar and Nieve on piano to wrap up the night too soon.

Folds was equally winning in his 45-minute opening set, the transition from his piano-based songs to the orchestra an easy one to make, and one he clearly enjoyed making. In addition to the L.A. Phil – “How ’bout my band tonight, huh?” he joked after the second song, gesturing to Dunn and the players – Folds had his drummer and an eight-person choir to flesh out songs such as “Effington” and “Jesusland” that started off his show.

Where his songs are often bittersweet and funny at the same time, from his seat at the piano Folds focused on the latter. He shared stories about the inspiration for songs – “Cologne” was written on stage in Germany, when he was sick and accidentally over-medicated, inspired in part by the astronaut who put on a diaper to drive all day and night to shoot her ex-lover. He also expressed his happiness at playing on the bill with Costello, whom he’d cut school in North Carolina as a teen to travel to New York City to see, only to be stood up by the scalper who’d promised him tickets.

Folds used the dynamics of the instruments on stage strongly. On “Narcolepsy” his piano and the strings alternated delicate motifs with Folds pounding the keys as the brass and percussion roared and tenor Kerry Marsh, the director of Folds’ choir, added a lovely operatic bit of singing.

As with Costello, Folds has stretched his musicality to write directly for classical performance, playing a movement from a piano concerto he’d written a year or so ago during his set. The piece again offered the dramatic dynamics of some of the song arrangements, finding Folds at one point playing the strings inside the open grand piano or holding them down with one hand while playing the keys with the other.

“Landed,” which featured Folds’ falsetto on the chorus, was a standout, while the set-closing “One Angry Dwarf” was proof that sometimes it’s hard to blend the wildness and spontaneity of rock with the more formal strictures of classical, coming off a bit of a runaway train, though enjoyable for that same reason, too.

[johnfoyle]

Ben & Elvis with Delivery Man producer Dennis Herring

[johnfoyle]

http://www.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/ ... lText=true


Elvis Costello, Ben Folds - Hollywood Bowl - September 5, 2014
By Andy Hermann

Mon, Sep 8, 2014

“How ‘bout my band tonight?” Ben Folds asked the audience, gesturing behind him to the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The crowd responded with a throaty, rock ‘n’ roll roar. Although Folds and headliner Elvis Costello were atop the marquee, the Phil, led by conductor Scott Dunn, was the real star of the evening. The Hollywood Bowl’s resident orchestra has developed a well-deserved reputation over the years for providing brilliant accompaniment to a diverse array of pop and rock acts, from John Legend to Belle and Sebastian. Backing up two celebrated singer-songwriters on Friday, they did not disappoint.

In a way, it was an odd double bill. Costello and Folds may share a gift for clever wordplay and tricky melodies, but the similarities end there. Where Costello constantly experiments with a laundry list of styles and collaborators, from The Roots to Burt Bacharach, Folds rarely strays far from the piano-pop that got him started - though he did on Friday. And while Costello is sometimes guilty of taking himself too seriously, Folds remains, by contrast, addicted to playing the smart aleck.

Not surprisingly, the two men made use of the Phil in strikingly different ways.

Folds, in the midst of an international tour with various orchestras, took the more conventional approach. The string arrangements on “Jesusland” and “Landed” hewed closely to the studio originals, lush and highly indebted to Madman Across the Water-era Elton John.


Andy Hermann Ben Folds When Folds and the Phil got more experimental, the results were occasionally thrilling. “Narcolepsy,” one of the oddest tracks from his early catalog with the Ben Folds Five, swelled to a cacophonous climax. For his latest work, a classical piece called “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra,” Folds reached inside his Steinway to pluck the strings while grandiose, Tchaikovsky-like surges of strings and horns swirled behind him.

Ever the wiseass, Folds concluded his brief set with a jokey Ben Folds Five chestnut, “One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces.” It was a smart, high-energy finish to a set that otherwise mostly steered clear of his ‘90s alt-rock roots. It was also a great excuse to hear eight classically trained singers – Folds’ touring chorus – have fun chanting the outro verse, “Kiss my ass goodbye now.”

Costello, looking sharp in a black ascot and red fedora, treated the Phil more like a Count Basie-style big band orchestra. Backed by a core trio of his longtime Attractions pianist, Stevie Nieve, and his wife Diana Krall’s rhythm section, Costello often seemed to be channeling Van Morrison, crooning, belting and – occasionally – over-singing jazzed-up versions of songs spanning his entire 37-year career.

After starting strong with a sparse rendition of “Accidents Will Happen” from 1979’s Armed Forces, Costello’s set lost some momentum with a poorly arranged version of “Veronica,” a 1989 co-write with Paul McCartney, and the title track from 1996’s forgettable All This Useless Beauty. He rebounded with “The Girl in the Other Room,” a song he co-wrote for Krall in 2004, which gave Nieve a chance to flash his considerable jazz chops and seemed to wake up upright bassist Dennis Crouch and drummer Karriem Riggins.

The rest of Costello’s set was assured and often brilliant, especially a Henry Mancini-like rework of “Watching the Detectives” and a dramatic new arrangement of title track from his most recent album, his Roots collaboration Wise Up Ghost. That and “Bedlam,” from 2004’s The Delivery Man, were nice reminders that, after losing the plot a bit in the ‘90s, Costello has rebounded over the past decade to write songs on par with his classic late ‘70s/early ‘80s catalog.

Speaking of that catalog: Wisely, Costello let the Philharmonic sit back and join the rest of the Bowl audience as spectators while he and Nieve delivered the encore, a beautiful acoustic-guitar-and-piano reading of “Alison” from his 1977 debut, My Aim Is True. Some songs, even after nearly four decades, don’t need an orchestra to make an impact.

Set list below
Set list:

Ben Folds:
Effington
Jesusland
Narcolepsy
Cologne
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (3rd Movement)
Landed
The Luckiest
One Angry Dwarf

Elvis Costello:
Accidents Will Happen
Veronica
All This Useless Beauty
The Girl in the Other Room
Shipbuilding
Bedlam
Wise Up Ghost
Almost Blue
Watching the Detectives
God Give Me Strength
Alison (Encore)

[johnfoyle]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/cost ... s-one.html


Orange County Register

Peter Larsen: 7th September 2014.

For Elvis Costello, one of pop music’s most creative chameleons, this sort of gig – playing the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic – is old hat: If there’s a setting in which he hasn’t performed yet it’s hard to think of it, the restlessly prolific musician having worked in every genre from the ’70s punk and New Wave scene from which he arrived to country, string quartets, jazz and ballet.

So for his headlining debut at the Bowl on Friday, which featured singer-songwriter Ben Folds with his own orchestral set as the opener, Costello was comfortably in his element. He cheerfully chatted between songs with the audience of 11,000, called out the names of the musicians in the orchestra and his band after solo turns, and presented 10 of the 11 classic songs in his set in classical arrangements, with only the final encore done in a more traditional version.

It was a lovely night of music, yet one that fell just shy of the live masterpiece it might have been, mostly because at roughly just an hour it felt like you’d just finished the appetizers when the waiter dropped the check and flipped the sign in the window from open to closed.

As the strings in the orchestra started to swell at the top of his set, Costello arrived on stage in a dark and dapper suit, topped with a spiffy red fedora, singing the opening to “Accidents Will Happen,” a bit rough here and there – it’s surely a tad tricky to match a jazzy vocal to the orchestral backing – though by the end it all felt in sync.

With the L.A. Phil playing the intro to the next song, “Veronica,” Costello’s longtime keyboard player Steve Nieve, from his original backing band the Attractions, took a seat at the piano on stage and, with Costello on acoustic guitar, the two played the opening verse mostly on their own, before everyone joined together for a lush take on the tune. (In addition to Nieve, Costello had borrowed bassist Dennis Crouch and drummer Karriem Riggins from his wife Diana Krall’s band.)

Where some rock or pop musicians might use an orchestra as more or less a bigger version of their usual backing band, Costello’s arrangements, which conductor Scott Dunn had praised him for in his introduction, tended to retool the songs more completely.

For instance, “Wise Up Ghost,” from Costello’s most recent album – a collaboration with the Roots – felt much less an bluesy burner, much more a modern symphonic piece. “Watching The Detectives,” meanwhile, was much less the sneering tell-off of the original version, transformed here into a big band jazz orchestra take, as it originally had been for performances with the Metropole Orkest a few years back.

Two songs with connections to jazz trumpeter Chet Baker were among the highlights of the set. On “Shipbuilding,” for which Baker had improvised his parts in the studio nearly three decades ago, Costello said he’d primarily taken those bits and used them as the basis for the arrangement he wrote.

“Almost Blue,” a torch song from the album “Imperial Bedroom,” was one Costello had dreamed of Baker singing from the moment he wrote it, and later both Baker and Costello’s jazz singer wife Krall both covered it. At the Bowl, both “Shipbuilding” and “Almost Blue” were presented in lush and lovely versions, with the latter getting an especially moving cello solo midway through the number that helped offset the fact that for the first half of Nieve’s solo on the melodica couldn’t be heard.

“God Give Me Strength,” a song he co-wrote with Burt Bachrach, wrapped up the orchestral part of the night, with “Alison,” his earliest and perhaps best-loved song, done mostly just with Costello on guitar and Nieve on piano to wrap up the night too soon.

Folds was equally winning in his 45-minute opening set, the transition from his piano-based songs to the orchestra an easy one to make, and one he clearly enjoyed making. In addition to the L.A. Phil – “How ’bout my band tonight, huh?” he joked after the second song, gesturing to Dunn and the players – Folds had his drummer and an eight-person choir to flesh out songs such as “Effington” and “Jesusland” that started off his show.

Where his songs are often bittersweet and funny at the same time, from his seat at the piano Folds focused on the latter. He shared stories about the inspiration for songs – “Cologne” was written on stage in Germany, when he was sick and accidentally over-medicated, inspired in part by the astronaut who put on a diaper to drive all day and night to shoot her ex-lover. He also expressed his happiness at playing on the bill with Costello, whom he’d cut school in North Carolina as a teen to travel to New York City to see, only to be stood up by the scalper who’d promised him tickets.

Folds used the dynamics of the instruments on stage strongly. On “Narcolepsy” his piano and the strings alternated delicate motifs with Folds pounding the keys as the brass and percussion roared and tenor Kerry Marsh, the director of Folds’ choir, added a lovely operatic bit of singing.

As with Costello, Folds has stretched his musicality to write directly for classical performance, playing a movement from a piano concerto he’d written a year or so ago during his set. The piece again offered the dramatic dynamics of some of the song arrangements, finding Folds at one point playing the strings inside the open grand piano or holding them down with one hand while playing the keys with the other.

“Landed,” which featured Folds’ falsetto on the chorus, was a standout, while the set-closing “One Angry Dwarf” was proof that sometimes it’s hard to blend the wildness and spontaneity of rock with the more formal strictures of classical, coming off a bit of a runaway train, though enjoyable for that same reason, too.

[sweetest punch]

http://entertainmenttoday.net/theater/t ... wood-bowl/

Elvis Costello and The Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl

On his second night at the esteemed venue, Costello again cleverly opened his set with the lyrics “Oh I just don’t know where to begin.” Although he was a bit wobbly with that song (“Accidents Will Happen”) and the follow up, he soon hit his stride. He introduced the second song (“Veronica”) as being co-written by a chap who played the same venue in 1964. The received wisdom was that Costello played acerbic Lennon to McCartney’s sweetness during their period of collaboration, but “Veronica” strikes the right melancholia about Costello’s grandmother losing her memory.

Costello was dapperly attired in a black suit, with a vibrant red fedora. Undoubtedly, the angels wanted to wear not the shoes but the chapeau.

As one of the original angry young men leaping out of the late 1970s punk / new wave explosion, Costello broadened his bailiwick over the ensuing decades to cover a wide range of styles. Often dismissed as a mere dilettante, he nonetheless forged ahead with album releases across a range of labels and genres. Although the former computer programmer is best known and most accomplished within the classic guitar / bass / keyboard / drum rock quartet, he has shown marked renown in the classical, jazz and country milieus. Based on his Hollywood Bowl performances, Costello probably wishes he could attain broad appeal as a big band crooner.

That is not likely, despite his prodigious acumen writing arrangements. Costello’s voice while evocative carries none of the necessary mellifluousness prevalent from purveyors ranging from Tony Bennett to Michael Bublé.

After the evening’s third song, Costello acknowledged his bassist and drummer (borrowed from the band led by his wife Diana Krall) after assaying her song “The Girl in the Other Room.” He re-introduced the rhythm section several other times during the evening, perhaps more out of nervous energy.

“Wise Up Ghost” (the title track from his album with the Roots released almost exactly a year ago) was the evening’s highlight. The original collaboration with Questlove was intriguing and seemed to stoke the both their fancy.

The orchestral arrangements Costello built for the LA Philharmonic were ambitious and largely attractive when presented at the Bowl. “Watching the Detectives” was returned to its source material, with a lush and edgy film noir tone. Presented right at home in Hollywood, the song was the evening’s second highlight.

In rounding the club house turn toward the end of the evening, Costello mentioned all the venues he had played in Los Angeles, the closest and smallest of which was just down the street, Hollywood High School. He achieved the honorable in the 70s when he released a limited edition single to accompany the first release of Armed Forces, with tracks recorded at the school.

The penultimate song of the evening was “God Give Me Strength,” which Costello noted was being performed simultaneously across town by its co-writer Burt Bacharach.

With the Orchestra sitting idly, Costello’s encore was a solo acoustic version of “Alison.” When the song was covered by Linda Ronstadt in the late 1970s, Costello was initially dismissive of her version. (Indeed, he sent his royalties therefrom to the African National Congress after she played Sun City).

At the Hollywood Bowl, however, Costello was heartfelt in dedicating the song to her. Without the royalties her version generated, Costello admitted he would not have been able to keep his Attractions on the road during those lean years.

I would have loved to hear a rendition of “Radio Radio” at the Bowl. I took up the suggestion of my buddy Don to use a lyric from the song for the name of my weekly college radio show back in the day: Voice of Reason.

Whether you consider Costello a genius for exploring myriad musical genres or a carpetbagger trawling across the landscape, taking liberties from town to town, there is no question he tries hard. Based on his effort with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, I would come down on the side of (here it comes, wait for it…) his aim is true.

[supplydavid]

Anyone got an idea of how I get an MP3 of the 5th show to add to my "I was there" cd collection?

[docinwestchester]

Anyone got an idea of how I get an MP3 of the 5th show to add to my "I was there" cd collection?

Check your PM's.