Elvis Costello - 1980-04-16 Maastricht

Elvis Costello And The Attractions
Staargebouw
Maastricht, Netherlands
16 April 1980


01. New Amsterdam - Elvis solo
02. Accidents Will Happen - with Pete and Bruce
03. King Horse - with Pete and Bruce
04. Green Shirt - with Pete and Bruce
05. Oliver's Army - with Pete and Bruce
06. Alison - with Pete and Bruce
07. High Fidelity - with Pete and Bruce
08. Girls Talk
09. One More Heartache
10. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
11. I Stand Accused
12. Lipstick Vogue
13. Waiting For The End Of The World
14. Don't Look Back
15. Watching The Detectives
16. You Belong To Me
17. Pump It Up
18. Mystery Dance
19. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down - cuts at end

Tracks 2 - 7 Elvis, Bruce and Pete
Tracks 8 - 19 with Martin Belmont


Elvis Costello - vocals, guitar
Bruce Thomas - bass guitar
Pete Thomas - drums

Martin Belmont - lead guitar - tracks 8-19 only


Recorder: Unknown
Lineage: Unknown


Comments by area51GM:

40 years on .........................................
This must have been a really trying time for Elvis and the Attractions in a period of almost exactly 13 months from the incident at Columbus, Ohio and the subsequent uproar, there was a frenetic time finishing the U.S. tour and then Elvis being tied up with his production duties for The Specials and quite possibly The Attractions starting recording their own album "Mad About The Rwong Boy" and then making demos for "Get Happy!!" before re-imagining the whole project to give it the soul feel and then recording and touring. Elvis has disclosed that he wanted to quit after the U.K. tour due to the audience response which apparently only took off when he played "the hit(s)" though that's been hard to ascertain from the recordings previously posted here, Anyway, [piecing the details together as best can be ascertained, it appears the last show in England was on Canvey Island on 2nd April 1980 and between then and the 16th, the band dispersed and, according to legend and various other sources, Steve went to the United States and must have been almost immediately involved in a very serious car crash and was unable to return to the band for a considerable period of time. I've no doubt the European tour, of which this is the first concert, was already arranged but there must have been a frenzied attempt to solve the issues raised by Steve' absence and apparently the two dates played on the Channel Islands were played as a threesome with Elvis doubling on keyboard duties and with a stack of effects to try and replicate some of Steve's contributions. Having seen Elvis even in the last 10 years struggle sometimes with his pedals, it would seem doomed to fail especially back in the eighties when the technology would have been less reliable and more primitive. The solution to Steve's departure was not therefore to recruit another keyboard player but instead to bring in The Rumour's Martin Belmont sacrificing some subtlety and polish with the power and occasional bombast of Belmont's lead guitar.
The show kicks off with Elvis performing "New Amsterdam" solo and sets a nice standard with his gentle strumming and measured vocals. He then offers an explanation of sorts of Steve's misplacement, before introducing Pete and Bruce who play 6 songs with varying degrees of authenticity of which "Green Shirt" is the most surprising in it's heavy drum pattern and Bruce's fluid runs - it woks surprisingly well. Martin Belmont appears for "Girls Talk" and adds some flowing lead guitar work especially on the covers "One More Heartache" and "I Stand Accused". For a first time appearance as an ensemble, the playing shows some tentativeness but you can sometimes see where this will crescendo into a tour de force at the Hope And Anchor as Factory Act in May 1980.
I can't recall where I got this audience recording but it's a fairly low generation recording that needed my work on it to boost volumes and bring to correct pitch.

Lineage : TDK C90 cassette > Nakamichi DR3 cassette player > NAD 660 CD Recorder > CD-R > EAC > Nero 8 for volume adjustment and pitch verification > TLH > FLAC