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VERONA, N.Y. — The crowd cheered as Elvis Costello & The Imposters took the stage inside the Event Center at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino. The spotlight shifted from each backing band member as the applause grew more intense until reaching its apex as the light shined down on Costello himself.
The crowd, which filled the floor seats and most of the stadium seating, was happy to see him, and Costello, who was forced to cut short his European tour this summer to recover from the removal of a malignant tumor, seemed happy to be there too.
That is, with the exception of two people.
Seated a few rows behind me in the stadium seats toward the rear of the theater, the two middle-aged women bantered back and forth.
"If there's an intermission, we can leave then," one said to the other after the second or third song of the night.
"This is the worst show I've ever seen," the other said.
They reminded me of Statler and Waldorf, the cantankerous, opinionated critics from the Muppets.
They didn't wait until the intermission (There wasn't one, save for the minute or two between the main set and the encore.). After the sixth song, the energetic synth-heavy "Green Shirt," they, along with a third person, who I didn't hear heckling but was guilty by association, left.
Which is a shame, because the show only got better as it went along.
Costello released Look Now in October, his first new album with the Imposters in a decade, and he wasn't afraid to showcase it, performing at least six songs from the record. Among those, "Under Lime," the sequel to "Jimmie Standing in the Rain" that follows the character of failed Vaudeville performer Jimmie from where we last saw him — left alone in the rain at a train station — to trying to revive his career and face humiliation by appearing on a TV game show, was the star.
"Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter" was written by Costello and Carole King, easily two of the best songwriters of all time. And with that kind of firepower, it's no surprise that this R&B tune, which juxtaposes the driving, horn-laden sound with somber lyrics of a woman moving on with her life with her children after a split with her husband, is another standout.
Costello is 64, and the crowd tended to be around that age too, though there was a strong contingency of folks in their 20s and 30s as well. For the majority of the show, the crowd was seated, save for a few swaths of swaying fans.
Like a pot of water on low heat, this simmering concert reached a boil, and it aptly happened during "Pump It Up," the new-wave anthem dripping with double entendre that closed the main set. Concert-goers stood up and recorded the show on cellphones, while others danced in the wide aisle between the floor seats and bleachers.
After the requisite minute or two wait, Costello and the rest of the band took the stage for the encore, except this time, the two backup singers, Briana Lee and Kitten Kuroi, moved from the rear of the stage to the front, flanking Costello.
It's not that Costello wasn't energetic, but Lee and Kuroi's vocal prowess and intense energy hyped up the crowd to a fever pitch that had not been reached until then. At that point, just about everyone in the floor seats was standing up, flooding the aisles, waving their arms, singing along, playing air guitar, the whole nine yards. Their energy was infectious.
Costello can't pump them out one after another like he used to, and his first slow ballad of the night, "Don't Look Now," was pitchy and strained, but he, and as a result, the show as a whole, found its stride as the night went on.
I can only hope those three ladies hit it big in the casino, because they missed what turned out to be a great show.
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