Like Woody Allen, another famous bespectacled celebrity, since the 1970s Elvis Costello has gone from being a critical darling, beloved by quite a sizable fanbase, to being someone most people don’t give a shit about. He’s a venerable veteran we’re all supposed to care about, but does anybody? Really? I have my doubts.
In any case, although, frankly, I’d turn the channel today should he walk onstage when I’m watching, say, Letterman, I used to be a very big Elvis Costello fan. I can still recall being absolutely riveted by seeing Elvis Costello and The Attractions on Saturday Night Live back in 1977 (even if everyone was expecting to see the Sex Pistols, Costello was so damned good that everyone forgot about them by the end of the song). I was lucky enough to get to see Elvis Costello and the Attractions on their 1982 Imperial Bedroom tour at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh and if memory serves, they must’ve done (seriously) twenty encores that night. I mean to tell you that they were on fire and they just tore that joint the fuck up. I saw The Clash on the Combat Rock tour the very next night in the same venue and they came off very poorly by comparison. I also got to see the final Attractions tour in 1996 at the Universal Amphitheater here in Los Angeles and it was a solid greatest hits show, even if there were virtually zero women in the entire place.
I think the ladies had the right idea. Like Woody Allen, Elvis Costello hasn’t put out anything memorable in quite a while. He’s coasted on his reputation for years.
Nevertheless, what we have here is actually a smokin’ hot example of what Elvis Costello used to be capable of back in the day, taped for Germany’s Rockpalast TV show in 1978 when he and The Attractions (Steve Naive, keyboards; Bruce Thomas, bass; and Pete Thomas, drums) were touring in support of This Year’s Model.
The Mystery Dance
Waiting for the End of the World
Lip Service
Two Little Hitlers
The Beat
Night Rally
This Year’s Girl
No Action
(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea
Lipstick Vogue
Watching the Detectives
Pump It Up
You Belong to Me