Andy Gray: Get pumped up to see Elvis Costello
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"Oh, I just don't know where to begin ..." -- "Accidents will Happen," Elvis Costello
Costello, one of my all-time favorite artists, is playing Packard Music Hall on Tuesday. There are only a couple of other musicians I was a fan of at age 15 that I've listened to as much in the last 49 years.
He was my third concert (March 17, 1979, at Victory Theatre in Dayton), and the first concert I ever got into as "working media," writing for the teen section of my hometown newspaper. The image accompanying this column was taken at that show by a good friend, David Heberling, who was my "photographer" that night. The digital photograph of a print may be a bit fuzzy; the memory of the concert still is crystal clear -- raucous, energetic, propulsive and a more intimate experience compared to the couple of arena shows I'd seen before it.
I named a daughter after one of his songs. I saw him live the night before my father died, and his music has been an ever-present soundtrack to my life.
But I wrote about all that last year after seeing him at Akron Civic Theatre, accompanied by my wife and that daughter named Alison.
This time I want to write about why everyone should join me there on Tuesday.
Many times I've heard a variation of, "Why don't we get any shows here besides tribute acts or bands that had a couple hits in the '70s and only the drummer is an original member?" More than once I was the one saying it.
Tuesday's show features the real deal, the guy who wrote and sang those songs, who is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, who appeared on "Frazier," "30 Rock," "Treme," "The Larry Sanders Show," "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" and "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."
While his band now is called The Imposters, two of the four musicians joining him Tuesday -- Steve Nieve, keyboards, and Pete Thomas, drums -- were members of his original band The Attractions and are in that 1979 photo. The rest of the current band is bass player Davey Farragher, an original member of Cracker, and guitarist Charlie Sexton, who toured with Dylan and recorded as a solo artist and a member of the Arc Angels.
There's also a good chance Costello will play many of his best known songs. The brief run of shows that starts tonight in Lancaster, Pa., is a tune up for Costello's appearance at Riot Fest next weekend in Chicago, but it's also an extension of last year's "Radio Soul" tour, which focused primarily on his first decade of recordings on Columbia Records.
The setlist in Akron included "Watching the Detectives," "Less Than Zero," "Accidents Will Happen," "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes," "Everyday I Write the Book," "Radio Radio," "Pump It Up" and "Alison" as well as some deep cuts from that era. It's not a greatest hits show, but it should appeal to the casual fan.
That said, Costello treats his songs as living, ever-evolving creations. There's no one way any song must be played. That should be obvious to anyone who's bought the Rhino or Rykodisc CD reissues of the original albums, which are filled with alternate versions of old favorites. Some feature minor changes; others are unrecognizable compared to the original. Costello treats his songs the way Monet painted haystacks, constantly looking for different colors and new inspirations in a familiar subject. It doesn't always work -- there were a few rough moments in that Akron show -- but when it does, it's special.
The New York Times generated plenty of debate among music fans earlier this year with its list of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters. As a Brit, Costello was ineligible. But if I'm making a list of the greatest living songwriters, he's in the top five.
Costello is renowned for the acerbic bite of his lyrics -- "She said that she was working for the ABC news/It was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use" from "Brilliant Mistake" is a perfect example. But that same album, "King of America" contains one of his most romantic songs, "I'll Wear It Proudly," where he sings:
"Well I finally found someone to turn me upside down
And nail my feet up where my head should be
If they had a King of Fools then I could wear that crown
And you can all die laughing because I'll wear it proudly"
Writers tend to focus on the lyrics when talking about songwriters, but Costello's melodies are just as engaging. Perhaps the greatest testament to Costello's talent is the artists who've collaborated with him over the years.
Paul McCartney, someone Costello grew up listening to, sought him out as a songwriting partner. A planned joint album never happened, but McCartney ("My Brave Face") and Costello ("Veronica") both had hits with songs they penned together, and each of them released several other tracks in the late '80s and '90s from those sessions.
There's a great bootleg called "The McCartney/MacManus Collaboration" that includes some of the demos along with live and alternate versions from the pairing (some can be found on YouTube).
A one-off partnership with Burt Bacharach on a song for a movie soundtrack -- the majestic "God Give Me Strength" -- led to a full album together, 1998's "Painted from Memory," as well as additional songs released as bonus tracks for its 2023 vinyl release.
He's written a musical ("A Face in the Crowd") and worked with New Orleans R&B great Allen Toussaint, Philly hip hop/soul band The Roots, the classical ensemble Brodsky Quartet and mezzo-soprano Anne Sophie von Otter.
He's no A Taste of Honey, the disco band he lost the Grammy Award for best new artist to in 1979, but it would be difficult to name someone with a more expansive musical career.
And he's playing right here. Sure, it's a Tuesday, but the possibility of a sluggish Wednesday morning isn't nearly as bad as the regret that will come from not going.
Andy Gray is the entertainment editor of Ticket. Write to him at agray@tribtoday.com.