Finally! A show that I remember.
Somehow, after wearing out My Aim Is True on cassette and listening to Armed Forces until everyone in my dorm hated me, I never managed to see Elvis Costello before this date and I was so incredibly excited to finally get the chance. This may be the most I had paid for a show up to this date (I've paid much more after. Ahem, Morrissey) and it was worth every single penny.
We had excellent seats and would have been in the second row if it wasn't for that darned orchestra pit. How do people get those orchestra pit seats? I've been buying concert tickets for a long time and I have never gotten one. Not in presale. Not in regular sale. Not when winning tickets. Not when other people get the tickets. Are these people just the luckiest people on earth? Are they friends with someone important? I just don't get it.
Anyway, "second row" was pretty spectacular. The sound was amazing and we could see Elvis and Steve Nieve perfectly. I danced to the hits, which annoyed some people who preferred to sit like old logs. He played some new songs that none of us knew. They would end up on When I was Cruel a couple years later, an album which, in my opinion, was just mediocre and turned out to be the last one of his that I ever purchased. I've always thought that Elvis Costello had an editing problem. All of his albums were half good, with a lot of songs that could have just been cut. The enormous setlist could be a reflection of this or the magnitude of his career. Regardless, he played all the songs I wanted to hear and I left a very happy girl.
For the last song, which was Couldn't Call It Unexpected #4, he stepped away from the mic and stood at the edge of the stage and just sang out to the audience. Being in the pseudo second row we could hear it clearly and beautifully and I was glad that I wasn't stuck in the cheap seats. It was such a perfect way to end the show and still gives me chills when I think about it.
The show lasted so much longer than we expected (who could have guessed that there would have been five encores?!!?) that I was really late getting home to meet my friend and her boyfriend, who had driven in from Detroit to hang out. They completely understood.
The gigantic setlist (we got our money's worth):
Somehow, after wearing out My Aim Is True on cassette and listening to Armed Forces until everyone in my dorm hated me, I never managed to see Elvis Costello before this date and I was so incredibly excited to finally get the chance. This may be the most I had paid for a show up to this date (I've paid much more after. Ahem, Morrissey) and it was worth every single penny.
We had excellent seats and would have been in the second row if it wasn't for that darned orchestra pit. How do people get those orchestra pit seats? I've been buying concert tickets for a long time and I have never gotten one. Not in presale. Not in regular sale. Not when winning tickets. Not when other people get the tickets. Are these people just the luckiest people on earth? Are they friends with someone important? I just don't get it.
Anyway, "second row" was pretty spectacular. The sound was amazing and we could see Elvis and Steve Nieve perfectly. I danced to the hits, which annoyed some people who preferred to sit like old logs. He played some new songs that none of us knew. They would end up on When I was Cruel a couple years later, an album which, in my opinion, was just mediocre and turned out to be the last one of his that I ever purchased. I've always thought that Elvis Costello had an editing problem. All of his albums were half good, with a lot of songs that could have just been cut. The enormous setlist could be a reflection of this or the magnitude of his career. Regardless, he played all the songs I wanted to hear and I left a very happy girl.
For the last song, which was Couldn't Call It Unexpected #4, he stepped away from the mic and stood at the edge of the stage and just sang out to the audience. Being in the pseudo second row we could hear it clearly and beautifully and I was glad that I wasn't stuck in the cheap seats. It was such a perfect way to end the show and still gives me chills when I think about it.
The show lasted so much longer than we expected (who could have guessed that there would have been five encores?!!?) that I was really late getting home to meet my friend and her boyfriend, who had driven in from Detroit to hang out. They completely understood.
The gigantic setlist (we got our money's worth):
- The Loved Ones
- King Horse
- Blue Chair
- Rocking Horse Road
- Party Girl
- New Lace Sleeves
- This House Is Empty Now
- Lesson In Cruelty
- Shabby Doll
- Girls Talk
- Baby Plays Around
- Couldn't You Keep It To Yourself
- The Long Honeymoon
- 45
- Toledo
- New Amsterdam/You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
- When I Was Cruel
- Radio Sweetheart/Jackie Wilson Said
- Mystery Dance
- Alison
- In The Darkest Place
- Alibi Factory
- Green Shirt
- Watching The Detectives
- Inch By Inch/Fever
- Suit Of Lights
- Brilliant Mistake
- Shipbuilding
- Accidents Will Happen
- I Want You
- Everyday I Write The Book
- God's Comic
- Red Shoes
- Radio Radio
- O Mistress Mine
- Couldn't Call It Unexpected #4
Encore 1:
Encore 2:
Encore 3:
Encore 4:
Encore 5:
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