Anyone here going to this one?Following boffo business at the box office, popular demand and press acclaim, Elvis Costello and the Imposters have announced that they will be bringing the Spectacular Spinning Songbook to Toronto.
First unveiled on a 1986 tour, the Spectacular Spinning Songbook is a legendary chapter in Elvis Costello’s multi-faceted touring history, and Toronto fans now get to experience this extravaganza live and in-person. The June 23 concert at Sony Centre for the Performing Arts will now feature all the elements from Elvis’ recent “Revolver Tour” that crossed the USA in May, concluding with a sold out three-night stand at New York’s Beacon Theatre.
The show “revolves” around a giant spinning wheel used to randomly select the evening’s 2+ hour set list from a collection of hits, rarities and covers.... but it is SO much more than that.
As Rolling Stone reported, the evening combines the "...kitsch of a game show and lounge act: a bar, a go-go cage with dancer and an Austin Powers-style hostess-dollybird; his own eye-popping selection of fedoras and sport jackets. When he wasn't singing or slamming at his guitars, Costello worked the stage like a burlesque-club emcee, cracking wise at a mile a minute and spinning a dandy's walking stick...”
Despite the carnival elements of the show, The New York Times opined: "There is, in the end, no way to keep Mr. Costello's songs in any shallow entertainment mode...It didn't feel like show business at all. Maybe that was the real proof of Mr. Costello's showmanship."
The Los Angeles Times called the show “a uniquely invigorating experience that warrants a buzzword all its own: inspiring.”
MOOT