Elvis Costello at the Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville, Wash., June 9, 2023 (Photo by Brad Auerbach, used with permission)
With the thickest, deepest, most eclectic songbook of any artist that first recorded in the 1970s, Elvis Costello rolled into Chateau Ste Michelle outside of Seattle for a return engagement on June 9, 2023. What a lovely setting for a show: very casual, intimate and comfortable.
Despite a seemingly endless choice of songs, the former computer programmer from Britain pulled heavily from his debut and sophomore albums. With Costello deftly remixing various arrangements, those who were with him from day one were rewarded with a blissful evening.
Earlier in the year, Costello commanded an epic 10 nights at New York’s Gramercy Theatre, barely repeating a song. Despite a few rusty joints, he and his crack quartet the Imposters shifted gears smoothly through the evening.
Over the decades and across 30-plus albums, Costello, born August 25, 1954, has explored myriad styles (country, string quartets, Americana, to name a few) and collaborated with master tunesmiths like Paul McCartney and Burt Bacharach. He has adroitly recorded with key members of the other Elvis’ band. But at this show, Costello eschewed all that and reached into the early chapters of his songbook. Although those songs were written when he was slathered with the ‘angry young man’ label, the songs have withstood the test of time, and were delivered with a solid punch. Original members Davey Faragher (bass), Steve Nieve (keyboards) and Pete Thomas (drums) were joined by Charlie Sexton, the fierce guitarist who turbocharged Bob Dylan’s band for years.
Watch Costello and Lowe together at a show from 2022
Costello opened with an explosive “Mystery Dance” and moved to his second album with “This Year’s Girl.” A relatively new song, 2013’s “Come the Meantimes,” slithered into a ska-inflected beat and then morphed full bore into “Rudie Can’t Fail” (pulled from the Clash’s landmark 1979 London Calling album).
Costello delivered an excellent intro about the risk of picking the “wrong” album at a record store but delicately selecting Bruce Springsteen’s first album (“a Dutch singer, right?”), then blasted into a torrid “Radio Radio.”
Costello then went back to his first album, serving up the disc-closing “Waiting For the End of the World.” He also assayed the album’s opener, “Welcome to the Working Week,” in countrified fashion. As if transporting us back to the late ’70s, he also delivered welcome versions of “Watching the Detectives,” “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea” and a blazing “Pump It Up.”
“(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace Love and Understanding” was the perfect way to complete the circle of the evening. Written by Lowe, made famous by Costello on an album produced by Lowe, the song inadvertently made Lowe very wealthy when Curtis Stigers’ version landed on The Bodyguard soundtrack.
The evening’s closing number seemed foretold, and indeed Costello delivered a tender version of “Alison.”
As only the second date on his summer tour, odds are the Costello setlist will evolve by the time it hits your town.
Nick Lowe at Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville, Wash., June 9, 2023 (Photo by Brad Auerbach, used with permission)
Opening act Lowe will likely stick to his polished set. As the ace producer behind Costello’s first five albums, Lowe is well attuned to songcraft. His evolution from scrappy new waver (“Cruel to be Kind” and “So It Goes”) to well-aged observer (“Lately I’ve Let Things Slide”) puts Lowe in rarefied territory. His enigmatic band Los Straitjackets come equipped with lucha libre masks, matching sparkly guitars and superb stage polish.
Costello has more dates. Tickets are available here and here.
Related: Links for 100s of classic rock tours
Watch them perform together in 2022
7 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationThat was the worst show I’ve ever witnessed in my entire lifetime. Worse than bad karaoke.
Elvis’s voice wasn’t great, sound mix was woeful, and Nick Lowe didn’t come back for Peace, Love and Understandin’. Greek Theater.
I stuck it out to the end of EC’s show because I knew that Nick Lowe would come back and duet on “What’s So Funny”…. then he didn’t come out. But I couldn’t blame him, because Elvis did a woeful bass-heavy version that totally downplayed the killer chord progression on guitar that MAKES the freaking song! I didn’t get EC at all this show. Here’s some advice for Elvis…..just honor the original arrangement.
Saw him in Vegas last night. The reviewer for this article must have been on crack. I’m a big Costello fan and last night I was embarrassed for him. The arrangements for his ‘classics’ were pure garbage. His solos with just piano were like cats howling. After an hour in, the aisles were steady with people leaving. We joined them. Don’t waste your money.
I would say…. When the imposters were just riffing, it was a cool vibe. But as soon as Costello joined in, the vibe was gone.
Just saw the show last night in Michigan. The 4th time I’ve seen him (three prior times were amazing) and had to leave after an hour. The Worst. Arrangements-WTF? Mix-painful and shrill with over bearing drums (and totally different mix from Nick Lowe’s whose sound was clean and crisp so EC must have had his guy working the board for him.) Performance shockingly bad (timing was off, not even in the same key at times, piano solo ended with awkward silence and then hit a single key-I think EC missed the transition). Horrific singing. And most disturbing, EC had trouble handing off the guitar to a roadie and stood there in a stupor blankly staring into the crowd motionless for what seemed an eternity and then almost fell over when handed a guitar. He is ill or was very drunk.
Elvis Costello is an artist that I’ve wanted to see for years. I attended his concert in Phoenix and was hugely disappointed. I was hesitant to see him when I looked at the setlists of some of his previous shows on this tour, and I should have followed my instincts. He could have played so many great, familiar songs like “Veronica”, “Everyday I Write the Book”, etc but the setlist left a lot to be desired. He sang a slow, dirge-like version of “Accidents Will Happen” accompanied by only a piano that was truly horrible. Vocally he sounds like he has really slipped since his heyday. Having been a fan of his for decades, seeing him in person was a big letdown.
The concert was extremely poor. Almost laughable in parts.