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Elvis Costello, the British rock 'n' roller who's made recent forays into country music, has become more accessible to his fans. He accepted a bouquet Tuesday night from fans and came back for an extended encore — but his show at the Los Angeles Sports Arena was also marked by an overlong trip down the country lane, and new songs played too loud for the lyrics to come through.
Driving the audience into fits of screaming approval with his rocking, energetic tunes, Costello also spent a good portion of the 2½-hour show lulling the crowd at the arena into fitful impatience, as he insisted on performing a number of country songs, many of them from his Almost Blue album.
The mercurial Costello, perhaps best-known for biting songs that satirize radio and other topics, and for his crooning, emotionally stirring ballads like "Alison" (which Linda Ronstadt turned into a pop hit), twisted out his music Tuesday, speeding up the pace of songs until they were all but unrecognizable.
Costello was backed by The Attractions, the three-piece band comprised of Steve Nieve on keyboards, Pete Thomas on drums and Bruce Thomas on bass. The backing Tuesday was tight and precise, stretching a web of perfect sound to catch Costello's eloquence in ballads, and revving up to match his hard, rocker songs.
Any objections to the quality of the show must come in Costello's insistence on playing more than an hour's worth of country music during his first set, and the uneven pacing of the concert. A hard, rocking song would follow a slower ballad, a diffused list of songs which broke audience concentration.
Still, the concert showed off both ends of the spectrum of Costello's music, beginning with "Lipstick Vogue," a chop at gossip magazines, and ending with encore tunes from his first album, My Aim Is True.
"Alison" had people singing along in fervent appreciation.
Every raucous rock song had the audience up and sweeping into the aisles.
It may be some time before Costello aficionados are able to accept the range for which the musician is trying. It was always difficult — or impossible — to pigeonhole the singer-songwriter, who started his career with an apparent punk look and sound, an appearance belied by the complexity of the romantic lyrics.
Costello turns his voice into an instrument capable of handling tender tunes, or hard rocks, letting the emotions escape through his angular, rooted vocal cords. He didn't go into any of his famed, twisting movements.
He divided the evening into two parts, switching to a white shirt and bow tie for the second half. Had he paced the show differently, or even cut down the length, he could have had the audience rooted to every song.
Country is going to be a tough row for him to hoe, but he did put on a show that was almost great.
Also on the bill were the Moonlighters, an accomplished but forgettable group, and a solo performance by Phil Alvin, of Alvin and the Blasters.
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