How do you upstage a legend?

[alexv]

Step 1: Make sure the legend is in his 60s, weighs less than a hundred pounds soaking wet, lives on a bus, has no discernable connection to the real world, gets people to pay him to sing songs he is unable to sing, and ignores the paying audience, except for a perfunctory introduction of his band and a strangely accented "thank-you friends" exit line.

Step 2: Come on stage before the legend gets on stage.

Step 3: Show enthusiasm, engage in friendly, topical banter with the audience, making sure to throw in tidbits that let them know you are aware of the town you are playing in that evening. Throw in the twins. Kids and dogs are always sure-fire crowd pleasers.

Step 4: Bring plenty of guitars.

Step 5: Make sure you can sing the songs they have paid to have you sing. Remember, croaking, talking, mumbling, groaning, whispering, and whining should not be confused with singing.

Step 6: Mix your set so that some of the songs are recognizable.

Step 7: Sing, while furiously banging on whatever guitar is available at the time. The elders in the crowd will be impressed by the banging--they have forgotten the sound of a solo guitar. The kids in the crowd have probably never heard it. Both will be mightily impressed.

Step 8: Try to engage crowd in sing-along, preferably during the middle of your set. Select a Van Morrison or Beatle pop standard to blend in with your selection and let genius pop (theirs, not yours) do the rest.

Step 9: The legend's crowd should be made up of mostly middle aged well-to-do Baby boomers with a fondness for recreational countercultural stances, so feel free to indulge your own "Stick it to the Man" impulses. It is safe to focus on bush, cheney, arnold, and assorted other right wing authority figures, and bash them to your heart's content. The fact that large, multinational corporations (run by folks who take advantage of the economic policies set in place by the assorted right-wing authority figures) are responsible for your millionaire status should be set aside for the evening.

Step 10: Vibrato.

Step 11: At the end of each song, do that aggressive, step back from the mike while demanding continued applause thing . It's your Sally Fields thing, but they don't know it, and it works.

Step 12: Leave the stage, and let the Legend do the rest of the work for you.

Step 13: Repeat steps 1 through 12, and bask in the afterglow. Folks throghout the land, who have never visited the Elvis Costello Fan Forum will come away amazed at your comparative greatness.

[mood swung]

You are just scary, alexv.


It goes back to that purloined copy of Chronicles, I'm telling you. Gave him the blueprint for everything he's doing now.

[littletriggers]

Hey was you at the Any Trouble gig last night !!!!!

[Mike Boom]

haha! That was funny alex.

but...

Dylan could go on stage and fart along to his songs and people will still go to 1) be able to say I saw Dylan and/or 2) bask in the feeling that I am in the same room/hall/auditorium as Dylan. EC doesnt, and never will, mean what Dylan means. In fact he takes up the opening support slot to 1) be able to say I supported Dylan and/or 2) bask in the feeling that I am in the same room/hall/auditorium as Dylan.

[kilburn_bhoy]

Hey was you at the Any Trouble gig last night !!!!!

How was it? Did I miss out?

[BlueChair]

I agree with Mike. Elvis is a better showman, sure, but Dylan is Dylan. Iconic. There's really no comparison to be made. I think most people know what they're going to get with a live Dylan performance by now.

[alexv]

Mike and Blue, my tongue in cheek post was not meant to dis Dylan's past. I agree that there is no way that EC compares, on many levels. And i also agree that most of the folks who have been attending these concerts are there for Dylan, and that for a lot of them the legend's present sad condition is irrelevant: they are Dylan Kool Aid Drinkers who, to use Mike's idea, would bask in the afterglow of a Dylan fart and engage in endless discussions as to what the fart "really" means.

What i find fascinating is that two general types of comments continue to come up in the blogs and reviews of the concerts: (1) very positive reactions at the quality of EC's solo shows; and (2) disapointment with Dylan's performance. And it seems to me that the reaction to EC is directly related to the assessment of Dylan. From the tone of the comments, and this is what led to my post, Elvis' performance is winning them over, not because of its brilliance, but precisely because of its relatively workmanlike nature. He's not out there killing himself a la Springsteen or someone like that. It's a mini EC set, performed well, by a very talented performer, but is certainly nothing to write home about. Maybe for die hards like us, but certainly not for a lot of these folks, who admit to only a passing acquaintance with his work. What leads to the praise, it seems to me, is the contrast with the Dylan set. The reaction from non-die hard Dylan fans has been negative, and their disappointment with the work of the "legend" impacts their reaction to EC.

My post, while not dissing Dylan's past, which is really undissable, and rightly so, is however a dis at his present state. I've seen him three times in the last three years, and this last performance will be my last. There is only so much rationalizing and discounting one can do. He has a great band, and on beautiful summer night, in a tiny outdoor venue, as was the case a couple of years ago, watching him perform some of those great old songs, with a rocking band can be exhilarating. But shows like the Bridgeport show, with him croaking along to songs no one knows, all the while having his band bash away with an out-control sound system in a hockey arena, can only be appreciated by the Kool Aid crowd.

[scares me witless]

EC ran circles around Dylan...MUCH better showman, better energy, better songs.

That being said, there is no way that EC will ever eclipse Dylan from a "legend" standpoint.

I happily dropped $75 to see Elvis sing 10 songs or so and walked out on Dylan after about a half hr. Dylan is Dylan but he is NOT very exciting.