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Sometimes, Florida's reputation of having notoriously pathetic winters isn't the worst thing, because Thursday night, 69-year-old Elvis Costello came out to his first Tampa Bay concert in nearly half a decade rocking a plaid kilt with a matching tam hat, white knee-high socks, and a black button-down.
"As you can see, I'm in the mood tonight," he winked after getting through a sing-along of "Waiting for the End of the World," the penultimate track on his debut album My Aim Is True. "I am the sixth Jackson!"
Costello hasn't been in the area since a 2019 gig at St. Pete's Mahaffey Theater on his "Just Trust" tour, and though his setlist options remain incredibly versatile, he had a new secret weapon in tow this time around: Charlie Sexton, a longtime — and fairly recent — guitarist for Bob Dylan, has been acquainted with Costello and the Imposters since at least 2021, and considering the pairing of the ideally minimalistic stage setup and often new compositions of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee's tracks, I have to wonder how much say Sexton has in the execution of the show.
"Green Shirt" was still played in its original key, but was slightly slowed down, while later in the set, the normally upbeat "Clubland" was played completely acoustic, minus Sexton's very quiet black electric Gibson. A pretty good chunk of Costello's two-hour set was filled with unreleased material too, some of which were songs inspired by his favorite "long-forgotten people" ("My Baby Just Squeals (You Heel)," "I Don't Want Your Lyndon Johnson").
His two piano-only numbers — with minimal help from Imposters keyboard whiz Steve Nieve — were also unreleased tracks. While propped behind a Steinway & Sons grand, Costello explained the folklore behind "A Face In The Crowd" — the title track to the production hell-trapped stage musical that Costello contributed about 20 songs to — and "Blood & Hot Sauce." While the title song focused on a "no-good, alcoholic womanizer," Costello described the latter tune as the perfect campaign song for someone running for dog catcher or Miss Universe (both of which he assured the crowd he'd abstain from running for anytime soon).
Super deep cuts aside, Costello did deliver to those who weren't necessarily there to pick at one of many crevasses of his vault. He detailed the original version of "Radio, Radio" as a direct salute to Bruce Springsteen's intriguing Jersey sound — and the many aspects of Asbury Park that once confused the hell out of Costello — and though there were no soulful backing singers on site, he cracked out a slightly offbeat rendition of "Everyday I Write the Book," still in its original key.
But following a cover of Mose Allison's "Everybody's Cryin' Mercy" with a heavy-hearted Costello on acoustic guitar (he was thinking about how the world is going to shit), he was handed a banjo (a big change from the standard Fender Jazzmasters used throughout the show) and began to talk about "Red Cotton."
"I wrote this for an opera I started about Hans Christian Andersen and P.T. Barnum," he explained, later jabbing at how the 2017 release of "The Greatest Showman" caused him to ixnay The Secret Songs — which he was commissioned by the Royal Danish Opera to write — altogether.
Kilts, banjos, and a scrapped opera in the same scene. Yep, just another night in the life of Elvis Costello. May we witness many more in the years ahead.
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