February 06, 2005
Mr Costello
Ok, so the last two weeks hasn't been ALL work, viruses and suffering. Monday evening (nearly two weeks ago)we broke all our Old Year's resolutions and dared the icey, snowy weather to attempt the drive down to Utrecht and see the fabulous Mr Elvis Costello. It just shows how much you can achieve when setting out with the worst expectations. Despite the weather, the traffic jams and our history of never meeting Steve and Fintan on time we managed to all meet up in Utrecht, eat a relaxed meal and still be in good time for the concert.
Mr Costello himself wasn't so lucky, turning up with a virus that left him croaking by the end of the night. After the crowd rejecetd the opportunity to come back another night he threw himself into the rest of the performance with an exhuberance that was awe-inspiring. Even if he wasn't fifty. This apparently was enabled purely by liberal doses of honey-flavoured tea. Despite the audience having to sing the high parts ("Aaaaaaaaaalison.....) Elvis being completely voiceless at moments towards the end of the evening, he performed an hour long encore and whats more in such a manner that you were left thoroughly blown-away by it all. And here was I worrying about seeing another old-fart! He performed lots of stuff from his new album obviously and I have to admit, for me at least, there is nothing that beats the old stuff. God, how sad!
And it wasn't Tom Waits. But there's nothing he can do about that!
The only unsettling thing for me was this. I've seen Elvis Costello perform a few times in more recent years, the Juliet Letters, a couple of Jazz performances and more recently in Den Haag with the Netherlands Jazz Orchestra, but the last time I saw him perform these songs was 20 years ago in Melbourne at the Concert Hall. 20 years ago! How is that possible?
Posted by Faith | TrackBack