Elvis and the Imposters Las Vegas May 13, 2011

[FAVEHOUR]

While buying tickets on the presale page, I note a reference to a new show added to the Revolver tour, May 13th at the Pearl in Las Vegas.

Dave

[Top balcony]

Will it be the roulette wheel at this venue?

Colin TB

[sulky lad]

Top Balcony wrote

Will it be the roulette wheel at this venue?

[johnfoyle]

Anyone here going?

[johnfoyle]

http://www.lvrj.com/neon/elvis-costello ... ml?ref=414



Elvis Costello discusses live performances, Vegas memories

Doug Elfman

May 13, 2011

Elvis Costello answers six questions I've always wanted to ask.

1. Does he think the Escape Club's 1988 pop hit "Wild, Wild West" was an echo of his 1978 rock classic, "Pump It Up"?

"I've never heard that song," he said.

And he's never heard of the Escape Club, a band name that, he joked, "sounds like something you could get air miles on."

The Escape Club Wild Wild West
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uCAWUXYKUM

Without hearing "Wild, Wild West," he defended it.

"Somebody told me U2 did a song that kind of sounded like (Pump It Up)," he said. "I sort of heard what they were talking about. But it only sounded as much like 'Pump it Up' as 'Pump It Up' sounds like (Bob Dylan's) 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' -- and as much as 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' sounds like 'Too Much Monkey Business' by Chuck Berry."

(That's a great point.)

"It's just a rock 'n' roll song. Once you start to string a lot of words together in a rhythm, you're gonna hear some similarities to something you've heard before."

2. At least once a month, I see a gaggle of pretty people in Vegas and my mind cynically conjures the title of Costello's song, "All This Useless Beauty." Does Costello himself have any prescient thoughts about the connection between "Useless Beauty" and life's beautiful tourists?

"Well," Costello comically dismissed my notion with a chuckle, "we won't go there."

3. Does he have any go-to songs by other artists that he listens to when he wants to cry, or to find his happy place?

No.

"I don't get back to songs looking for anything," he said.

But he does listen to old songs and rediscovers something in them that's exhilarating.

"You'll hear a record you haven't heard in a while, and it'll just strike you how thrilling it is. I heard 'Rip It Up' recently by Little Richard, and it's shocking how hip it sounds.

Little Richard-Rip It Up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XX0D_y5Ujo

"You can say, 'Well, that's a long time ago.' But to me, it sounds groovier than anything."

4. When Costello performs live, how does he decide to slightly alter the arrangements of songs?

"Although we try to do them right, we invariably leave those (recorded) versions behind the minute we get onstage. We don't try to replicate them."

Even so, there's not a profound difference between the recorded songs and his live sets, he said.

"Sometimes, we've just found a more effective way to play the rhythm."

Other times, he simply doesn't have enough people onstage to re-create all the sounds found on an album. Or as he says in musician speak: "The instrumentation is slightly different in perhaps some of the augmenting parts you can achieve on the record.

"So we find another way to make the thing hold together. The changes are fairly subtle."

5. It seems apparent to me and fans that Costello aspires to be a crowd-pleaser, rather than an artist going through motions. Does he see himself as a crowd-pleaser?

Yes, he said, and there's an obvious distinction between musicians who change songs onstage "because they're bored" and musicians who are "looking for something different" in them.

Often onstage, he'll notice a deeper meaning in a musical line or lyric that he "buried" when he wrote it. That's exciting, he said.

"I suppose that's the point of singing at all," he said.

"Nobody could pretend that every performance of a song is as vivid as the next. But it will be surprising when a very old song becomes alive as you're singing it, and something in the moment makes it very vivid to you."

There is another element to consider, he said. The complexion of songs in concert depends on which outfit he's performing with, be it an orchestra, the Brodsky Quartet or the acoustic Sugarcanes.

Tonight at the Palms, he's back to performing with the Imposters. That likely means it will be more of a rock 'n' roll presentation. But then again, the Imposters have the stellar music-chops and "balance" to play "any character I'm feeling," he said.

"In one evening, you also want to make some sort of cohesive story, or an interesting story, out of the choices you make."

6. Does he have any fun Vegas memories?

Yes. His favorite was seeing Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings back to back on the same night in 1980 -- at different hotels at different times of the night. If memory serves, he said, Nelson was at Caesars Palace and Jennings was at the Sands or the Frontier.

"Three or four of us came to see them play," he said.

And as usual, he didn't indulge in gambling or much else.

"I was just interested in the music. It may be heresy to say that."

Doug Elfman's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Contact him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.

[CraigatCoF]

No wheel tonight?

rocktoclingto Spencer Patterson
A dozen songs into Elvis Costello's #Vegas show, no song wheel. Doubting we're gonna get it tonight. #lame

[And No Coffee Table]

I think this may never have been advertised as a Spinning Songbook show, and we just assumed it would be based on the timing!

It looks like some elements of those shows crept in anyway, since there are comments on Twitter about him playing "Purple Rain" and a blurry photo which appears to show fans onstage.

[MOJO]

A friend of mine went to this show and posted a photo on Facebook. There was no wheel and go-go stage! Elvis used an iPad. How cool is that. He really must have been fined in the state of NV for something with the wheel and the whole stage set-up. Awesome.

[bronxapostle]

wha'ppen???

[sweetest punch]

Maybe it was a show at a Casino that has to clock in at 90 minutes?

[sweetest punch]

Pump It Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIsmi6Q5I_o

[bronxapostle]

from the official site...

Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Las Vegas - "No Revolver Show"
May 13th 2011


I Hope You're Happy Now
Heart Of The City
Mystery Dance
Uncomplicated
Radio Radio
Everyday I Write The Book
Brilliant Mistake
Clownstrike
The Spell That You Cast

The Request Light

So Like Candy/Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
Watching The Detectives
Chelsea
Beyond Belief
Oliver’s Army

Interlude

A Slow Drag With Josephine
God’s Comic

The Spectacular “Stonehenge” Songbook iPad Application

“I Can Sing A Rainbow” – SPIN 1 – with dancing girls

Greenshirt
Red Shoes
Purple Rain

Alison – IMPROMPTU

Pump It Up – SPIN 2
Peace Love And Understanding – SPIN 3

[MOJO]

Ha, Stonehenge/Spinal Tap reference - love it. I wonder if the iPad was dropped down on the stage with wires?

[docinwestchester]

Ha, Stonehenge/Spinal Tap reference - love it. I wonder if the iPad was dropped down on the stage with wires?

Was it in danger of being trampled by a dwarf???

[sweetest punch]

Available on Dime: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-deta ... ?id=357164

[johnfoyle]

The legendary Kenadian permits me to share this from listserv-

If there wasn't supposed to be a wheel in Vegas, most people in the audience were not aware of it. I asked Milo and he said "It didn't make it". A woman who overheard said 'that's gonna suck', to which I retorted "you get to see Elvis Costello and the Imposters how does that suck?'

Elvis quipped something like 'The state of Nevada has strict laws and told us to take the wheel to Utah to a chorus of boos. He said they couldn't stand the competition.'

The setlist was a 'hits' variation for sure but a lot of fun (list the official site?). Plus he played So Like Candy running into Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood!!!

The request light did make it and he turned it on to solicit songs from the audience.

Towards the end of the show he brought his variation of the spinning songbook stating that 'there is an application for this'. Four woman were brought on stage to 'spin' and EC played the part of cameraman. A few others joined in until there were maybe 10 on stage. All I can say is thank god Ms. Valentine can dance.

At one point while the 'dancers' were ummm... dancing, EC was looking right at me while hacking away on the guitar. I smiled and shook my head to which he laughed and went back to singing. Katya did a good job of keeping the ladies from Elvis since several of them thought it was good time to ask Elvis questions while he was singing. One woman did go up to the mic and sing along which I thought was rather cute.

At the end, EC motioned for the ladies to follow him backstage and when they attempted to, they were stopped by security. I like to think that that was EC 'having a go at them'.

All in all, an enjoyable show made even better by scoring 2-2nd row seats for half price.

Cheers,
Ken(adian)

[johnfoyle]

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2011 ... -costello/

[spazaru]

Not sure why Elvis' official setlist missed it, but Clubland was definitely played although I'm not sure exactly when. Near the end of the first set I believe.

[SoulForHire]

Clubland was indeed played (I was third row center). It was played right after Beyond Belief and before Oliver's Army.

[SoulForHire]

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2011 ... -costello/

Wow. I could not disagree more with that review. I have seen Costello play several times (with the Attractions, Rude 5, solo, Steve Nieve, and the Imposters) and this was one of the best shows I have ever seen him do.

[johnfoyle]

http://gothic-addiction.blogspot.com/20 ... -live.html

[sweetest punch]

Pump It Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycq3B1iNSrk

[SoulForHire]

Sorry. Having trouble embedding the pic. You'll have to click a link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28826933@N ... otostream/

[SoulForHire]

I just realized I never wrote my review of this show. I will tell you, there was a lot to this show that the recording on Dime cannot convey. I will not try to give a comprehensive description but just these brief comments for now.

Without the actual wheel slowing down the show with pauses for spins, Elvis really tore through the set. However, near the end, Elvis figured out how to rig his iPad to be a wheel. I wish I had pics of this. Though I was really close, the iPad was so small that it was hard to get a shot. Anyhow, once he got the iPad rolling, it seemed like he wanted to make up for all the "missed spinners" all at once by bringing up about five or six ladies in one shot, though I am not sure any of them actually spun the wheel. All of them stayed on the stage to dance, though some actually did not see too enthused.

The behavior of the ladies started as being quite benign. However, things started to spiral out of control in short order. Women started to just come up to the stage until eventually it was a quite a crowd. And some of these women seemed on intent on confirming why some people HATE Vegas shows. While Elvis was playing, they were coming up to him so friends could take their picture with his WHILE THE SONG WAS STILL GOING ON!!! Elvis seemed to be a VERY good sport, though and was probably more polite I would have expected. I thought it was odd that security did not intervene at all. It was really quite chaotic at the end.

Still, the show was EXCELLENT. One of best shows of his that I've ever seen, if not the best.

I have a few short clips (about a minute each) that I will try to upload later maybe. This would include clips from Clubland, So Like Candy, and Beyond Belief. The problem with the Beyond Belief clip is that the video is sideways and I can't figure out how to rotate it. The first clip I will try to upload is Green Shirt, which is before things started to get out of hand. I also have a few decent pictures that I may try to post. Strangely, my phone took better pictures than my actual camera for some reason.

[SoulForHire]

Short bit of Green Shirt:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28826933@N04/6058345782/

Forgot to mention, not only was there no Wheel but also no Go Go cage (unlike some shows later where they had the cage even without the wheel)