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Elvis is alive.
And on Friday the real Elvis stepped forward to deliver a 2½-hour show of rarely performed classics and newer material before a sold-out audience at the Greek Theatre.
This Elvis Costello is not the mature, milquetoast he has been portrayed as recently. The crowd was treated instead to the feisty, angry young man (now 34 years old).
The foul-mouthed Declan MacManus was there — the same bloke who brawled in pubs, arm-wrestled with every lyric, and mocked the King of Rock 'n' Roll by taking his name.
At the Greek, Costello was ready to spar from the start. His version of "God's Comic" from his latest album, Spike, may have been the key to the concert. It showed an intimate, brilliant, charming and yet painfully acerbic Costello.
He poked fun at former President Ronald "Mr T." Reagan ("Are they trying to convince us he only needed brain-surgery a week ago?"), drug-dealing CIA agents, divorce lawyers and just about every other institution he could get his hands on.
He didn't always meet the standards Friday night that he has achieved so often since his debut 13 years ago as one of the most mesmerizing stage performers and songwriters of this generation.
At times his voice was dreadfully off, the result of a grinding tour that concluded Saturday at the Concord Pavilion.
Although he opened with "Accidents Will Happen," Costello was slow to get rolling, and his band, the Rude 5 (there were actually six), muddled Costello's presence with an inconsistent sound.
The band's volume was kept purposely low so as to not combat his thoughtful lyrics. And when the Rude 5 left the stage, Elvis reinforced his cult-hero status.
In his solo acoustic set he roared through rarely played favorites like "Radio Sweetheart" and "Mystery Dance."
The crowd came to sing. They needed no prompting to chime in harmonies on "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes," during his acoustic set, and "Let Him Dangle," played' with the Rude 5.
Costello even dragged his old friend and producer Nick Lowe on stage for a version of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," a song Lowe wrote, but Costello transformed into a concert staple for more than a few socially conscious bands.
Lowe was off-key, and the rest of the band performed beneath its talent level. Costello assembled top session players like bassist Jerry Scheff, who once upon a time played with another guy named Elvis; keyboardist Larry Knechtel, a former member of Bread; drummer Pete Thomas from Costello's old band, The Attractions; and guitarist Marc Ribot and percussionist Michael Blair, both members of Tom Waits' band who performed on Spike. Shortly before touring, Costello added a sixth Rude, Steven Soles, to sing harmonies, play guitar and chip in on trombone.
But Elvis can carry a show, and he finished with a flurry, highlighting the last half-hour with his only Top Twenty hit in America, "Veronica," and classics like "Alison," "Watching the Detectives" and finally "Pump It Up."
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