Elvis Costello fulfills his musical promise in vital Arlington solo show

 At Elvis Costello's solo show at the Arlington Theatre on Tuesday night, his first visit in 16 years, Mr. Costello showed why he is still a vital artist. Out of the 24 songs played in his 90-minute concert, only four were from his classic early years, the rest coming from his last couple of albums and albums yet-to-come. DAVIDBAZEMORE.COM PHOTO

At Elvis Costello’s solo show at the Arlington Theatre on Tuesday night, his first visit in 16 years, Mr. Costello showed why he is still a vital artist. Out of the 24 songs played in his 90-minute concert, only four were from his classic early years, the rest coming from his last couple of albums and albums yet-to-come.
DAVIDBAZEMORE.COM PHOTO

“My father, who was the real singer in the family, told me never to sing up to a note. Sing down to it.” This was Elvis Costello on Tuesday night at the Arlington Theatre, and he paused after this quote to gather in bemused giggles. “No, I don’t know what it means either.”

Mr. Costello has spent his 33 years in rock neither up nor down in relationship to notes, but instead fearless in the face of them.

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The Costello Show – Though he’s never stopped working, Elvis Costello returns to S.B. after 16 years

Elvis Costello at 55: his face still framed by black plastic specs, this season he has turned to a late-period-Dylan moustache and a series of wide-brimmed hats. In his albums, concerts and Sundance Channel chat-and-music show “Spectacle,” he continues to indulge, celebrate and expand his encyclopedic knowledge of music. He’s the Englishman who knows more about America’s musical culture than we do. In interview, he seizes the question and tussles with it for minutes, though at the end, he admits to being distracted. Costello had just got off the phone, having heard that John Ciambotti, the bass player from Clover — who backed Costello on his 1977 debut LP — had passed away. The interview went ahead, with Costello covering everything from his show and resurrecting old tunes to his thoughts on the latest “Alvin and the Chipmunks” movie.

There have now been two seasons of “Spectacle.” Did being the interviewee for so many years help in becoming an interviewer?

No, I think it helped to be truthful, to be in the same location as the subjects. I really think that the success or otherwise of the conversations hinged largely on the fact that the people had a degree of trust simply because they knew that I knew what they do, even if our methodologies turned out to be different. The other (thing about the show is) they are not set up to really promote a new product the way a chat show is. Because the host in this case is not a comedian but somebody who … I mean, I can appreciate the humor in certain situations as much as the next person; but it doesn’t matter to me if the conversation becomes serious or reflective or emotional. And we get to also speak for a fairly long period of time and then try and edit the best bits into something like an hour. And all of those things put us, I would say, at some advantage to most of the discourse on television. So I don’t put too much thought into my own technique.

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