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Who the hell let him onstage? Elvis Costello – a twitching, pallid, unshaven beatnik scruff – duets with Ricky Skaggs in a stomping, rock-out romp of an encore, ‘Don’t Get Above Your Raising’.
Skaggs, in contrast to Costello, is burly, down-home friendly , Mr Immaculate in dry-clean showbiz threads and the sort of blo-wave you see in yellowing photos on the walls of less avant-garde suburban barbershops.
Brought together by mutual artistic regard, the pair confer credibility on each other. It’s a fair bet that many Skagg-fans here tonight, solid country-loving citizens that they are, don’t know this interloper from any other punk rocker; while Costello commands a hip young following that could, one day, assist Skaggs’ elevation from his present rather specialised audience, towards across-the-board acclaim. You should investigate: the rewards will be yours as much as his.
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