Elvis plays Portland, Or April 8 '05

Pretty self-explanatory
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johnfoyle
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Elvis plays Portland, Or April 8 '05

Post by johnfoyle »

George writes to listserv -

Portland show tonight was fantastic, other than the drunken lout that
wanted to fight me: "you want to go?" He backed off, they moved away,
and the show became good again.... Before that they kept plowing into
my friends and I with their drunken dancing... I can't stand up indeed!
Didn't take notes, but I could give some of the playlist... Not
necessarily in order.... And I'm sure I missed a couple, there was one
song I didn't know whatsoever.... Sweet show....

Next Time Round
Uncomplicated
I can't stand up
High Fidelity
Radio Radio
Button My Lip
Bedlam
Needle Time
Sweet Dreams
In the Darkest Place
When I Was Cruel #2
The Delivery Man
Tonight the bottle let me down
Hurry Down Doomsday
Either Side of the same town
Poisoned Rose
Kinder Murder
Clubland
Monkey To Man
Country Darkness
Pump it Up
Heart of the City
(What's So Funny 'boutP)PLU
I want you
Scarlet Tide

George
Last edited by johnfoyle on Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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migdd
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Post by migdd »

POISONED ROSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

Although few accounts have surfaced of Elvis in Portland , his support act , Sondre Lerche , fans' have been commenting -

http://www.sondrelerche.com/forum/forum ... =1663&PN=1

krrplunk

Hey-
I was at the Portland show last night and just wanted to apologize to Sondre for the sh*tty crowd. The Roseland Theater is very cruel to singer/songwriters armed with only a guitar. People pay way too much money and then just stand around and talk. The Roseland management does nothing to promote courtesy to the musicians. I watched Ricki Lee Jones bitch the crowd out and almost walk off the stage. I also saw Damien Rice get pretty pissed as well, and he was the headliner. As you may know from the 2004 elections in the U.S. that half this country is full of a bunch of rude, self centered, sh*theads. The other half of us are nice though. Keep up the good work. Your voice was top notch.
Sean

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

amazedinsf33

You know, I flew in from San Francisco to see Sondre. I was up in front. I was right by those gentlemen who kept howling at him. I was annoyed because it was hard for me to enjoy the concert with 2 drunk men being so rude.

I told them to shut up, but that didn't work. I took my coke and spilled it on the guy's shoes who was being the loudest. I said, "Ooops, sorry."

I know it wasn't right. It drives me crazy when people are rude and there disturbing a large amount of people. To me it's similar to people talking loud during an entire movie.

We all paid $40-50 dollars to enjoy this concert. I felt these guys were infringing on my right to enjoy the concert.
I motioned to security about these guys. He went away for 1 minute, but nothing happened. Sondre made a joke about our area.
The hollering started again. Although I tried to ignore it..they kept on going.

After a while, I took my coke and splashed it on the 2nd guy. He yelled, "What's wrong with you?! I'm enjoying the concert!" He then splashed a beer on me, so my jeans and shirt were wet.

Security came and asked me who was involved and they took us out. Someone in front said, "She's ok.Don't take her away." Security said, "She has to come with us."
I knew I was going to get in trouble, but I also knew Sondre was about to finish his set.

They took us to the stairway and asked me what happened. I said, "I came here from SF. I paid $50 to see this concert. I and others are trying to enjoy Sondre play, but these two drunk men keep howling at him like they are in his fan club."

She said she understood, and told me I could go back to the concert. When I finally got back to the front, Sondre finished his set. :(

I saw the security manager later and she smiled at me and said, "Don't worry, I told them to stay in one area of the venue (away from the front) otherwise they would be kicked out.

Before Sondre came on, I made friends with all the people in front. They knew about my whole trip, and reason why I was at the concert. They all thought it was pretty cool.

When I came back to the front, people said they felt bad for me, but were happy I stood up to the situation. I didn't feel good about it. Other men around me said those two guys were being jerks and I did the right thing. I don't think spilling drinks on someone is the right thing.

I wished other annoyed adults would have addressed the situation as a group, and told those guys to move somewhere else. People did nothing and I pretty much lost out only to see Sondre endure the heckling. He still played great despite everything!

I apologize to everyone around me, esp the lady who got beer splashed in her hair. I just had so much invested in this trip. The fact is it's unclear whether Sondre is going to tour this year. I saw him at SLIMS in SF, December 04 and he made my jaw drop. I decided to see him open for Elvis Costello.

I will kiss the ground when I get back to San Francisco.
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment ... 526600.xml


One man, one set but a symphony of talents

Monday, April 11, 2005

MARTY HUGHLEY
The Oregonian

Elvis Costello performed Friday night at the Roseland Theater. Perhaps you've heard of him.

Elvis Costello, the bespectacled hero of the late 1970s New Wave movement whose tense, sharp-tongued songs such as "Radio Radio" and "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" meld the snide attitude and nervous energy of punk with smarts and musical skill.

Or perhaps, Elvis Costello, the sympathetic British interpreter of American country music, who evokes classic honky-tonk sentiments in a rollicking cover of "The Bottle Let Me Down" and adds his own page to tear-in-your-beer tradition with bittersweet ballads such as "Poisoned Rose."

Or Elvis the popular-song classicist, who croons subtly sophisticated tunes he's co-written with the legendary Burt Bacharach, such as "In the Darkest Place." Or Elvis the aficionado of 1950s and '60s rhythm & blues, who can conjure "Hullabaloo" flashbacks with the old Sam and Dave dance floor nugget "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down." Or Elvis the bluesman, who more than does justice to the authentic feel and emotion in the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac song "Love That Burns." Or. . .

Costello was all those things and more Friday, in a terrific encore-less set that lasted more than two hours and rarely, if ever, flagged in terms of energy or interest.

If there are those who still need convincing -- and probably none such were amid the packed house at the Roseland -- the show was another fine demonstration of Costello's staggering gifts as songwriter and performer. His versatility, breadth of musical knowledge, craft, passion, spontaneity and distinctiveness all were on display.

Granted, his set didn't start out quite so promising. For the first half-dozen songs or so, Costello's voice sounded grainy and a tad ragged. But he dug into his guitar playing with more gusto than usual, adding edge to "Party Girl" with thick, distorted chords, rocking hard in his solo on "Chelsea," and combining a big dirty tone and the melody from "I Feel Pretty" for the coda to the Cuban-tinged "Clubland."

At times, his playing sounded like a cross between his idiosyncratic former sideman Marc Ribot and Los Lobos' soulful David Hidalgo. And soon his singing was back to its normal passion and daring.

Meanwhile, his band the Imposters offered strong support, drummer Pete Thomas pumping like an atomic engine, bassist Davey Faragher adding bold harmony vocals, and the antic keyboardist Steve Nieve splashing colorful riffs and quotes everywhere, such as snatches of "(Theme From) A Summer Place" tucked into "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love and Understanding".

As usual, though, what mattered most were the songs, and Costello's catalog is one of the richest of any pop writer. From the Brecht-does-Merseybeat "Kinder Murder" to the noirish "When I Was Cruel No. 2" to "Monkey to Man," an addendum to Dave Bartholomew's '50s R&B classic "The Monkey Speaks His Mind" to crowd-pleasing hits such as "Pump It Up," devilish verbal wit and memorable melodies abound.

You might think it would take several artists to cover so many bases. But it takes just one Elvis Costello.

Marty Hughley: 503-221-8383; martyhughley@news.oregonian.com



©2005 The Oregonian
© 2005 OregonLive.com All Rights Reserved.
martinfoyle
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Post by martinfoyle »

Jill just posted this excellent review on the eclistserv
Heya, I'm pasting here by permission a review that my neighbor at the
gig wrote up. I think he may post it to John E. eventually, but hey,
it's another viewpoint of the show!:
Elvis Costello and the Imposters
Roseland Theatre
Portland, OR
April 8, 2005
-by Jason Maniccia
The first thing I noticed as I took my place in line on 6th Avenue:
all of these people look way too old to be seeing a rock concert. I
had to imagine this crowd presented the highest average age of any
show ever seen at the Roseland. Which tells me two things:
one, that Elvis' fans are fiercely loyal and two, that he,
inexplicably, hasn't picked up many new ones. However, the latter may
be based on specious logic; the relatively diminutive confines of the
Roseland doubtlessly prevented the appearance of all but the most
devoted and attentive of fans who bought what few tickets there were
on the day they were released. Lucky me: one of the very few mailing
lists this bright young fellow subscribes to is Lost Highway Records,
who sent out Elvis' otherwise seemingly unpublicized tour dates in an
e-mail.
We arrived at the theatre around 6:30. Not knowing the space, the
floor configuration, or what kind of crowd to expect, I randomly chose
this as the perfect time to arrive to not only get a good spot, but to
avoid standing around outside for hours on end. However, as far as
that goes, the weather was kind to us and we were treated to a bright,
dry, brisk evening as we waited. We were perhaps three-quarters of the
way down the block, and I guessed that we would get a good spot, but
certainly be lost in the crowd. I did not take into account the age of
those around me, and their penchant for comfort and convenience.
When the doors opened promptly at 7:00 (and I must say here: props to
the Roseland for keeping a tight schedule all night) we made our way
into the club behind at least two hundred other people – and when we
got to the floor found, to our astonishment, that they had
disappeared. I could see half a dozen people loitering on the floor,
and another dozen had copped a sit in front of the stage with their
backs against the barrier. I was so taken aback by this development
that I actually had to say what would have been obvious to most
people, and I told my wife, "I think we can just sit there like those
people are doing, and be in the very front all night." Duh. Up we went
and took a seat in front of the stage, perhaps five feet stage-left of center. It was then we saw the twilight zone into which our aged companions had vanished: the balcony, evidently able to seat about 200, complete with theatre seats and waitresses. I would envy them only the waitresses. In the next hour we sat and had drinks and watched the club fill with more of the most unlikely of concert-goers: 40s-50s, middle-class, working folks, mostly couples. The occasional younger type would show up here or there, but I would not be surprised if I, at 34, was the second- or third-youngest person in the entire audience, which must have
numbered about 1500. At 8:00 sharp, the house darkened and an adorable little boy named Sondre Lerche took the stage. He slung an adult-sized Gretsch over his shoulder and proceeded to play a type of jazz pop in a vocal style reminiscent of Rufus Wainwright, Nick Drake and Donovan.

While the back of the house and the balcony chatted away through most
of his 45-minute solo set, the child managed to charm the faithful on
the floor with his lilting voice, his laid-back manner, and his
courage in deftly working through his set whilst doubtlessly being
nearly crushed beneath the weight of that magnificent Gretsch.
Slinging ageinspired jibes at the obviously much older audience and
holding at bay a single, rather lackadaisical, heckler, the diminutive
Lerche played songs he assured us were from one or the other of his
apparently two CD's, with only an occasional check of the oversized
man's watch dangling from his wrist – evidently to assure himself he
was not running over his time, and doubtlessly as he knew his shoulder
would only support the leviathan Gretsch for so long. At the end of
the night I would, inexplicably, buy his CD. He was at the stand
hawking them himself, and when I complimented him on a good set, the
little fucker called me "sir".

At precisely 9:00PM, the house lights dimmed and Elvis Costello
entered from stage right. Dressed in a black suit, a blue-and-red tie
fronted by a small gold fleur-de-lis medallion hung on a string, and a
pair of mirror silver loafers, the man was the very image of himself.
Without any fanfare, he and the Imposters (keyboardist Steve Nieve,
bassist Davey Faragher, and drummer Pete Thomas) launched into the
classic "Next Time Round" – opening what would be a virtually non-stop
two-and-a-half hour rock-and-roll meltdown featuring most of his
newest album The Delivery Man, a handful of well-known singles, and a
smorgasbord of more obscure album tracks from across his entire
library.

Sitting up close, it was easy to tell what material still moved
Costello, and what he was playing as a working musician entertaining
his fans. It was clear that, while he doesn't seem to have any
animosity for the old hits, he doesn't have any real inspiration for
them, either. Thus big crowd-pleasers like "Radio Radio", "What's So
Funny 'bout Peace Love and Understanding" and "Watching the
Detectives" tended to fall flat compared with much of the rest of the
show. There were a number of noteworthy exceptions, mostly among the
lesser-known tracks like "Kinder Murder", "Hurry Down Doomsday (The
Bugs are Taking Over)", and what can only be described as an
unimaginable, blisteringly pained, driving rendition of "I Want You"
that practically made this listener's head explode; one of the high
points of the night.

But the real show was in the new material, as well as a number of
country standards that Costello visited some years ago on his Almost
Blue LP, and that have obviously resurfaced in his consciousness.
Playing all but three songs off the new album, Costello lit up the
stage with his own brand of country-influenced pop, transcending both
genres while demonstrating the skill of a seasoned musician along with
the perspective of a man of 50. And make no mistake: this dude can
rock. The album, in all its brilliance, does not come close to the
unfettered passion and fury behind the live performance of such
numbers as "Needle Time", "Button My Lip" and "Bedlam", all of which
threatened to set the club on fire. The languid "Country Darkness" and
"Either Side of the Same Town" benefited from a similar boost, with Costello's vocal prowessdriving the lilting lyrics directly into the listener's chest and out their shoes.

Costello and the Imposters played a fairly straight-forward
workingman's rock and roll show: there were no special effects, not
big movement routines aside from Costello occasionally walking to one
side or the other of the stage to play a solo, and not a lot of
chatter. At one point, after being handed his blonde Fender Telecaster
by a stagehand, strumming a few notes and finding a broken string, he
quipped, "All I have to do is look at the strings and they break."
Plus, there was one bit of choreography when the Imposters stood in
unison as Costello delivered a quick sermon supporting the name of the
tour, "The Monkey Speaks His Mind", and inciting the crowd with an
introduction to the album's most pop-oriented track, "Monkey to Man".
Throw in the requisite mention of the name of the town and a reference
to "the vast marijuana fields of Oregon", and you've pretty much got
all the spoken words of the show. Of course the show wasn't without
its little surprises and altered lyrics. During "When I Was Cruel No.
2", he sang (seemingly by mistake), "I was a spoilt child then with a
record to plug", then seemed to catch himself and finish "You were a
shaven-headed seaside thug / things haven't really changed that much /
but one of us is still getting paid way way way too much". And we were
also treated to the more biting side of Elvis during "Country
Darkness" when he sang "She daydreams of inviting sins / there must be
something more / the prison she sleeps in / the one with the open door."
Throughout the night, Costello would find times to move away from the
microphone and sing a note or two entirely off-mic. I think if I had
been situated farther back I may not have understood it; with the band
playing full volume I don't know if he was audible during those times.
It may have looked like he was stepping away and having to remember to
get back to the mic to sing. However, standing up close, every note he
sang was clearly audible, plus his intention seemed clearer. It was as
though he was looking for an opportunity to escape the confines of the
microphone. He seemed to call to it, enticing it to listen to him, to
come to him to get his voice. He seemed to move away at the very
climactic moments of the song, almost teasing the mic with a note or
two as he approached and stepped away. Hearing the sound of his own
voice coming from the stage as the sound faded from the speaker was
incredibly powerful – it thoroughly rehumanized this electronic rock star who blared away the rest of the night. One got the feeling that Costello himself felt that there was something much more powerful at hand in these songs and in this room full of devoted fans, something that transcended the banality and intrusion of amplification
and electronics. And being lucky enough to have been only five feet
away from him I can tell you: he's right, as the final moments of the
show would definitively reveal.

The crown jewel of the show came at the very end. I'd read in reviews
of other shows (and seen on setlists) that every show closed with the
beautiful ballad "The Scarlet Tide" from The Delivery Man. I'd also
read that at times Costello sings at least part of this song off-mic.
I'd seen him do something similar on the TV show "Austin City Limits"
and I couldn't wait. Seeing him drift from the mic as much as he did
throughout the show, I was certain it was coming. However, when he
began the two-verse "The Scarlet Tide" he was in front of the mic. For
the second verse, the band joined him and I was afraid my unamplified
version would not happen. But after the second verse and chorus were
complete, the Imposters dropped out completely and the stage lights
dimmed as Elvis took a few steps stage left into a warm orange spot
and, with tattered Gibson in hand, mirror-shod feet planted firmly
beneath his shoulders and his head held high, repeated the first verse
and chorus of "The Scarlet Tide" off-microphone to a stunned and
entirely silent crowd. Both the sound and the silence filled the hall.
It was as though The Great Imposter himself had come out from behind
his mask and spoken plainly to us all in his own true voice. The
effect was incredible and this listener, for one, was moved to tears.

He stepped back to the mic to do one more time through the chorus with
the Imposters, bowed, said thank you, and he was gone. Instantly the
hall was filled with the requisite shouting and foot-stomping that
precedes the requisite encore, but as soon as it had begun the house
lights came up full and everyone knew it was over. After 27 years,
Costello obviously knows how to put together an incredible show and
doesn't need to fuck around with any of that nonsense. There was
little complaint. There was clearly no doubt in anyone's mind they had
just been treated to something far beyond what they could possibly
have imagined before walking in the door: the master work of a
virtuoso deeply immersed in his element
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.elviscostello.info/articles/ ... 050505.php

Review of concert from 2005-04-08: Portland, OR, Roseland Ballroom - with the Imposters
Rolling Stone, 2005-05-05
Michaelangelo Matos

The Delivery Man delivers rootsy versions of his Eighties classics

"I am the magnificent!" boomed the introduction to Dave and Ansel Collins' reggae classic "Double Barrel" as Elvis Costello took the stage at the Roseland Theater, in Portland, Oregon, on a warm Friday night. Dressed in a black suit and blue-and-purple tie, the impeccable Costello never broke a sweat in the course of his two-hour, no-encore set. Neither did the imposters - keyboardist Steve Nieve and drummer Pete Thomas from the Attractions, and efficient backup singer/bassist Davey Farragher - despite the sheer amount of effort each man was putting out. Not only did the band nail the sudden upshift from "When I Was Cruel No. 2" into "Watching the Detectives," it remodeled both. Nieve avoided the organ for most of the latter, relying on an echoed piano until the coda, and the group transformed "Cruel" from the sample-hooked downtempo of the record into a dread-laden slow rocker that could have been on Blood and Chocolate.

That 1986 album had the second-largest presence (four songs) in Costello's thirty-one-song set, after the disc he's touring behind, last fall's well-received The Delivery Man (nine). On his latest, Costelio dirtied up earlier roots moves like 1981's country-covers album, Almost Blue, and 1986's King of America. Both were present this night: "Sweet Dreams" and "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down," from Blue; "Poisoned Rose," from America. And both fit, because what the singer went for, and achieved, was the dancing-roadhouse vibe of The Delivery Man, with his full catalog as ammo. Given the movement on Roseland's standing-room downstairs (the balcony is seated), Costello got as good as he gave.

Even considering how great the songs and the playing were, Costello's singing was the most impressive thing about the evening. He reached the high notes at the end of "Party Girl," from 1979's Armed Forces, with a throaty swagger; "Poisoned Rose" was as resplendent as James Brown's cape and as booze-stained as Roseland's sticky floor. These days, Costello prefers to sneak up on "Clubland," from 1981's Trust, rather than pounce on it, and he essayed "Needle Time," from The Delivery Man, like the blues singers he's long admired. Amazingly, he has lost almost nothing from his voice; like his physical presence and his catalog, it has thickened and settled nicely with age.

MICHAELANGELO MATOS

Fans' Notes

Mia Nicholson, 39, Portland, OR
"It was fun hearing songs I used to dance to when I was twenty-one."

Paul Buchanan, 40, Portland
"Excellent. I've seen him eight times. He was in his rockin' mode."

Tracy
Anderson, 28, Portland
"He was very infectious. 'Monkey to Man' cracked me up."

Pamela Fedderson, 57, Portland
"It was as good as the best concerts of the 1960s."

Elvis in the Building
See more exclusive live photos at rollingstone.com/elviscostello
johnfoyle
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Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:37 pm
Location: Dublin , Ireland

Re: Portland

Post by johnfoyle »

Another poster on ebay -

Image
Illustrator: Gary Houston
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