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On Saturday we stopped in at a packed United Palace Theater to catch a sold out show from Elvis Costello and the Imposters. A continuation of the Revolver Tour (which we had seen at the same venue back in April 2010), we had a pretty good idea of what to expect from the show. Nonetheless, with a boatload of covers, a longer set, and a totally different setlist, there were still some surprises in store.
The evening's massive 30+ song setlist traversed Costello's career, but held a strong focus on his early and middle career, effectively something of a "classics" set. However, those classics were not necessarily "hits" per se. Many of the tracks delivered were non-singles, and the number of covers (seven at our count) further diversified the set.
In addition to an extremely solid night of music, the set was also characterized by Costello's decision to bring back the "Spinning Setlist". Not only did this further increase the setlist diversity, but it also meant there were audience members on stage at (almost) all times. This even included actress Mary-Louise Parker, who spinned the wheel before "Monkey To Man," and then danced in the go-go booth for the remainder of the song.
The highlight of the evening came when Costello invited the crowd to leave the venues seating chart behind and rush the stage. Only at that point did it truly come together and feel like a rock show. Surrounded by an adoring fanbase, the band delivered the last 30 minutes of the show in true style, with Costello prowling the perimeter of the stage, and delivering a "quiet" set with Steve Nieve before delving into the band's full encore, which seemed close to endless. At the end of the night, we were damned tired, so it's hard to imagine how Costello was feeling. Suffice it to say: the Imposters are on point to deliver a killer show, and they're doing it on a nightly basis.
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