Grabbing a microphone and cane while donning a black top hat, the evening’s ringleader, Napoleon Dynamite, announces to the audience: “We’ll perform songs about love! Songs about sex! Songs about death and songs about dancing! But not necessarily in that order.”
Moments earlier, this Master of Ceremonies was none other than pop icon Elvis Costello, who was busy leading his band, The Imposters, through a hard-charging five-song mini-set, which included ’70s hits like “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes” and “Radio, Radio” along with show opener “I Hope You’re Happy Now”, off of 1986’s Blood & Chocolate. That year is important: it was 25 years ago that Costello staged the first iteration of his Spectacular Spinning Songbook Tour, whose latest stop was last night at Wolf Trap‘s Filene Center.
The show’s centerpiece, at least visually, was a giant roulette wheel bearing the names of many Costello songs as well as more open references, like “Time,” “Girl” and “Joker.” Whenever Mr. Dynamite would take the microphone, his lovely assistant (de rigeur for a circusmaster) would fetch an audience member to give the wheel a spin and said contestant would be invited on stage to groove with the on-set go-go dancer — some more clearly comfortable to do so than others — or sit at the pre-fab bar with a cocktail. A kitschy game show theme pervaded the color palette of the entire stage including the technicolor painting of a giant television that served as a backdrop to the band.
But try as he might, even despite the gold lamet jacket he sported at the end of the night, Costello can only delve so far into gaudy tastelessness — the songs are just too good to go there. The wheel brought up “King’s Ransom”, which led to the country soul of “Indoor Fireworks” and the dry wit of “Brilliant Mistake” from his King of America album. “I Want You” was requested after another spin, and the result was haunting. “Pump It Up” was transformed from a New Wave rocker to a sweaty, bluesy 6/8 grind. Well-executed covers were peppered throughout the show, including “And Your Bird Can Sing” and “Girl” from The Beatles, “Roxanne” (sung for a fortuitously named audience member) and even snippets of Prince’s “Purple Rain” during the encore.
Costello’s long-time bandmates were in fine form, with Steve Nieve adding swaths of color from his station at the keyboard and drummer Pete Thomas laying down the fat backbeat that has served as the songwriter’s foundation for over 30 years. Bassist Davey Faragher, who at ten years in is the band’s “new guy,” was equally solid and provided all of the backing vocals. As for his singing, Costello has always had a gift when it comes to phrasing, stretching lines much like a jazz singer would. While his 57-year old voice did crack at times, Costello is still able to hit plenty of big notes and was particularly impressive during the first encore, in which he delivered solo acoustic renditions of “Slow Drag with Josephine” and “Jimmie Standing in the Rain”. The only noticeable technical issues during the performance involved the main vocal mic, which sounded muddy at times, and one instance where Costello was shredding on his guitar, but the instrument was not coming through the P.A.
As expected, Costello’s best loved songs served as the concert’s high points. “Alison” was just as tender as ever, while “Beyond Belief” received a more rocking treatment. “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea” was funkified with both Nieve and Costello playing syncopated lines to propel the song forward. At one point, Napoleon Dynamite exclaimed to the audience that his cane was topped with a compass that was “set for a true course for a thrill ride to ecstasy!” The last song of the night, “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding” didn’t quite bring us to ecstasy, but it did cap a damn fine show.
