For a guy who can share a stage with the Charles Mingus Orchestra as easily as with Burt Bacharach or the Swedish Radio Symphony, Elvis Costello fronts a rock band with the best of them. In recent years he’s moved through musical spaces ranging from the delicate to the downright cerebral, but if we know anything about Costello, we know that he’ll always have a jones for the taught, driving sound that happens when he hooks up with The Attractions. And with The Imposters, his current band featuring two-thirds of that outfit originally assembled for 1978’s This Year’s Model, that’s a big part of what he’s delivering this time around.
Billed as his “first all-standing show in 20 years,” Costello’s show at UCLA’s Ackerman Ballroom was destined for greatness. First of all, his new album, When I Was Cruel, is full of top-notch material. Likely to be called a “return to form” for its amped-up arrangements, it finds Costello once again pushing the production envelope and exploring new ways to speak his fertile mind. It’s got angry guitars, loops, moody textures, and, naturally, plenty of wit. And with such goods knocking around in his bag of tricks along with a killer band and 25 years of classic tracks, Costello has assembled the makings of one serious tour.
Joined by three Imposters -- Steve Nieve on keyboards, Pete Thomas on drums, and Davey Faragher on bass -- he started things off at UCLA with “45,” the up-tempo, guitar-bashing opening track from When I Was Cruel. Then came a couple from way back, “Waiting For The End Of The World” and “Watching The Detectives.” The sound wasn’t great; this boxy hall echoed like an airplane hangar and washed out the finer points of guitar and bass. However, Costello nailed notes with a voice that sounded like a million bucks. He introduced another new one, “Spooky Girlfriend,” telling its tale of a showbiz weasel and his protégé, a woman with porn-star hair and a fondness for guys with color-coordinated credit cards and shoes. I don’t know how he rattles this stuff off so effortlessly, but I wish he’d do more of it.
Tearing through frantic classics like “(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea,” “High Fidelity,” “Beyond Belief,” “Uncomplicated,” “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” “No Action,” “Pump It Up,” and “Radio, Radio,” Costello and his Imposters largely paid tribute to the signature Attractions sound. Other tunes came up for air: “Sulky Girl,” “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror,” and “Tart,” during which Costello wrung a sing-along from a reserved (read L.A.) crowd. Capping three encores, he wrenched a few final hearts with “I Want You,” crooning desperately and extracting dissonant screeches from his guitar.
It was clear that Elvis Costello doesn’t need a large cast of conspirators to put across his incredible versatility. While you could hand the guy a kazoo and a bullhorn, and he’d move a room to tears, seeing him with the little band that defined much of his work was a special treat. It was kinda like ’77... or ’86... or 2002.
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