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Elvis Costello has rarely struggled in his endeavours to sell a song during his 37 years a performer. We've seen him in a variety of guises too, whether with his first band the Attractions, or solo, or crooning it up big time with Burt Bacharach or — as was the case here — indulging his rock 'n' roll chops with the Imposters.
This energetic and largely rewarding performance was as much a spruik as an outright sell. The spectacular spinning songbook is a giant wheel that takes up a third of the stage, adorned with song titles from the Costello catalogue. The idea is that instead of performing from a rigid set list, Costello, looking every bit the salesman in his hat and crumpled suit, beckons punters from the audience to the stage to spin the wheel.
Add a makeshift cage where said punters are encouraged to go-go dance to a great selection of songs and a first-rate band and you have a recipe for a fun night — and so it proved.
Costello's voice isn't quite as powerful and emotive as it once was, particularly on ballads such as "She" and "All This Useless Beauty," but he still knows his way around a rock song. He came out firing with four that left you gasping for breath, opening with "I Hope You're Happy Now" and launching without announcement into Nick Lowe's "Heart of the City," then his own early rocker "Mystery Dance" followed by the single "Radio, Radio."
The Imposters — former Attractions Pete Thomas on drums and Steve Nieve on keyboards, alongside bassist Davey Faragher — are as tight and loose as a great rock 'n' roll band should be.
Whether on Costello classics such as "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea," "Watching the Detectives" and "Oliver's Army" or on the sprightly covers of the Rolling Stones' "Out of Time," Johnny Cash's "Cry, Cry, Cry" and another Lowe gem that closed the show, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," the Imposters rocked the joint like it was their last gig, with their illustrious frontman indulging his Chuck Berry fantasies on guitar when he wasn't wandering the aisles looking for potential wheel of fortune contestants.
It was a show that could only have been bettered if they had kept the wheel spinning until every song on it had been sung.
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