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... But Saturday night, almost 400 persons jammed Faces for some basic rock 'n' roll in the form of Elvis Costello.
I must admit I enjoyed Costello much more then I thought I would. Watching him up there on Faces' stage, I kept thinking to myself that if Buddy Holly were reincarnated in 1978, he would come back as Elvis Costello.
His band looks like your basic, textbook, English punk rock band. They all have the hair and the demeanor. But they play too well, Costello's music is too varied to be classified as punk. Costello and his band come across more like a combination of early Sir Douglas Quintet and late Bruce Springsteen than typical Ramones or Sex Pistols. Costello's lyrics are more intriguing than normal punk rock material. On a tune called "Less Than Zero," Costello sings about a character named Mr. Oswald, another named Jack and a woman with a ruby on her finger.
Costello made only one glaring error in his show. For his first encore, he brought onstage with him Martin Belmont, who plays guitar with Graham Parker and the Rumour, and Nick Lowe, who sang three of his songs, including a fine piece called "Shake and Pop," which turned out to be the finest song on the program. Lowe literally blew Costello away.
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