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As if to make up for a shamefully short set two years ago, Elvis Costello played nearly two dozen songs and was on stage for 90 minutes last night as he opened his American tour at Paramount Northwest.
It was a triumphant show. Costello not only redeemed himself, he went further, giving the audience a generous helping of new songs as well as a surprising number of old favorites.
It was a strong, fully realized performance. Like a fine actor, Costello took the capacity audience on a rollercoaster ride of emotions with a minimum of movement, stage business or special effects.
The three shows he has done here have been successively more theatrical. Last night's was the most professional, with more lights, a better (read "louder") sound system and a tighter, more carefully planned song list.
But despite familiar trappings, it was the antithesis of the typical rock show.
Costello was a different style of rock showman. Not only was he decidedly unglamorous, he didn't stroke the audience all the time, trying to make them feel good or comfortable. He didn't try to make people dance or clap or sing along. Words were emphasized over beat. The important thing was to listen.
Some songs were meant to make you feel uncomfortable. Songs such as "Possession," about owning things and having them own you, or "You'll Never Be a Man," a devastating new song about male self-image and role-playing, were outside the usual pop-music territory.
Costello's generally pessimistic view also was expressed in "Lovers Walk," a new song which said in essence that love never delivers what it promises.
The show opened on a down note, with "Just a Memory," a song about an unlamented lost love which Elvis sang accompanied by the lyrical piano work of Steve Naive.
The first half of the show concentrated on the more thoughtful Costello songs, culminating in the showpiece of the set, a reworked "Secondary Modern" during which Costello made most of his few moves away from the microphone, and sang in his best voice of the night.
The final tunes were bouncy, fast-beat songs designed to send the audience home in a happy mood. The five encore songs included a new one and four of Costello's most popular and accessible tunes: "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down," "Alison," "Watching the Detectives" and the energetic "Pump It Up," an explosive finale.
One of the finest moments of the show came during "Watching the Detectives," when a short musical passage from Stevie Wonder's "Master Blaster (Jammin')" was worked into the melody. The audience cheered Costello's nod to American black music, to which he owes a large debt.
The tour that opened last night is the first in this country since the infamous incident in Columbus, Ohio, during the 1979 tour, when Costello reportedly made racist remarks about Ray Charles and James Brown.
That soured Costello's image in the United States and put a halt to what had been a skyrocketing career. Now he is testing the American waters again and, if the toe he put in last night is any indication, he's going to resume his meteoric rise where he left off. When the rest of the country sees this new show, and hears the new songs, I suspect all will be forgiven.
Not only was Costello (real name: Declan Patrick MacManus, 25, of London) better than ever, so were the Attractions, his band. Naive played tasteful, thoughtful organ and piano, and displayed a higher degree of musicianship than before. Bruce Thomas on bass and Pete Thomas (no relation) on drums provided solid rhythm backing.
The show was opened by Squeeze, a talented British quintet which writes highly original pop songs. The Costello tour is a big break for the band. It seemed nervous at first, but finished strongly, earning an encore.
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