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Thursday night's concert by Elvis Costello and the Attractions at the Prince George's Equestrian Center had all the makings of a disaster: an outdoor stadium, a sweltering day, late-afternoon thunderstorms and a constant stream of jets to and from nearby Andrews Air Force Base. If Costello and his crew couldn't entirely transform the dusty venue into the sort of cozy night spot celebrated in their 1981 song "Clubland," it wasn't from lack of energy. The exemplars of new wave music ripped through 29 songs in a two-hour set, touching the critical high points of Costello's career, with heavy emphasis on his first three releases and his latest album, Brutal Youth.
Costello has always loved experimentation — sometimes to the detriment of his music — but in concert he revels in the plasticity of his songs, adding, subtracting, rejiggering the arrangements in a way that is always interesting. Vamping at the end of his acerbic ballad "Alison," he skipped through the Smokey Robinson songbook before alighting on his own "Clowntime Is Over." Snippets of such standards as "Fly Me to the Moon" and "On Broadway" showed up alongside the Costello compositions "Clown Strike" and "Clubland."
Showcasing his simple but effective guitar-playing more often than in the past, Costello added updated guitar figures to "Beyond Belief" and "Party Girl," and even stepped into the spotlight to enjoy that modern rock cliche: the guitar solo.
Costello's between-song patter suggested that his first tour with the Attractions in eight years might also be his last, which leaves only one question: How can he stay so cool in a three-piece suit?
Canada's Crash Test Dummies opened the show and in their 45-minute set did a good job of re-creating the pleasant, undemanding music of their "God Shuffled His Feet" album, including the inscrutable, palindromic hit "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm."
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