EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Pretty self-explanatory
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by And No Coffee Table »

A few seconds of "Wise Up Ghost" posted by La Marisoul: http://instagram.com/p/loaWfwi0OH/
SoulForHire
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by SoulForHire »

Night 2 was the exact same setlist as night 1. Black Thought and La Merisoul contributed to the same songs. Cpt. Kirk's setlist had Refused to be Saved on it, but it was not played.

It's late, so I will post more later. But both nights were EXCELLENT. Hard for me determine which night was better. They all were certainly notably happy night two and possibly more relaxed.
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by johnfoyle »

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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by SoulForHire »

docinwestchester wrote:
And No Coffee Table wrote:A few seconds of "Watching The Detectives" from night 2: http://instagram.com/p/loRABBBnkG/
Looks like he got the old Jazzmaster back. It was conspicuously missing in Port Chester.
He played a variety of guitars including a Danelectro and an Epiphone in addition to the legendary Jazzmaster.
bronxapostle
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by bronxapostle »

yes...in Port Chester it was just three guitars as well: a RED Jazzmaster, a black Dan Electro and i thought it was an Epiphone too (red) for the last few songs!

p.s. i have anointed brotherapostle the task of trying to compile a photo with EVERY different guitar from his photographs the last 30 + years he has taken pictures of EC! bet there must be 50 guitars easily 8) 8) 8)
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by SoulForHire »

Some other brief comments:

Pump It Up on both nights including Yeh Yeh. I love that.

EC attempted to use the megaphone on Wise Up Ghost on night one, but it was not working right. On night 2, he had the megaphone on stage, but did not even attempt to use it during Wise Up Ghost. Instead, he only used it for the siren function during Watching the Detectives.

At the end of night 2, EC started a Walk Us Up Town call and response. But ?uestlove said playfully that he had a day job, had a plane to catch, and had to be with some green felt named Kermit the next day. However, I'm pretty sure ?uestlove spent the night in Vegas. He posted an Instagram indicating he was woken up in his Vegas hotel this morning by water dripping from the room above him.

Night 2, the band was all smiles for the most part. In particular, ?uestlove was grinning ear to ear during Black and White world. Mark Kelly (that's the bass player, right?) was particularly having a blast during Wise Up Ghost and I Found Out. LaMarisoul was absolutely having a blast, and watched the rest of the show from the VIP area stage left.

Cpt. Kirk absolutely KILLED it during I Want You both nights, ending his guitar solo on his back on the amp both nights. After night 1, Mark Kelley was absolutely slack jawed after the solo. At the end of the Wise Up Ghost on night 1, there was what appeared to be an improved extended keyboard part at the end that everyone, including Elvis, seemed to be particularly entertained by.

I was in the front row both nights. Night 1, I was right in front of ?uestlove and Night 2 I was DFC (dead fucking center). Night 2, I know someone who tried to record it. However, this was his first attempt at recording, and it was terribly distorted. Also, it would have been likely ruined by the jack ass right next to me. He was a talker and making all sort of stupid comments all night, particularly, "Yeah, bitch!" or other phrases ending with "bitch" as punctuation. He kept yelling for "Pump It Up," even after EC started a song that obviously was not Pump It Up. He was unfamiliar with I Want You. He was whirling around like a Tazmanian devil all night, and his antics clearly caught the attention of Elvis. Also, it would have helped if this guy showered in the last month.

At the end of the show, ?uestlove tried to toss a stick at me (I was only five feet away), but the Tazmanian devil's friend lunged over and intercepted it. Luckily, ?uestlove saw this and then toss me another stick, which I did get.

I have seen EC in many incarnations over the years (with the Rude 5, solo, with Steve Nieve, with the Atttractions, with the Imposters) and many times have been in the front row. However, I've gotta say that these two shows were really really damn special and I doubt that I've ever seen him play better. The Roots just gave him an energy from which he fed.
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by SoulForHire »

Also, night 2 there was a domed video camera in the space between the stage and the front row night in front of ?uestlove that was not there night 1. There were professional video cameras night 1 too, as the show is projected into the bowling alley. However, it is unknown what this domed video camera on night 2 was for. I can only hope the footage from that is released.
Last edited by SoulForHire on Tue Mar 18, 2014 9:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by johnfoyle »

Elvis Costello / Roots Live in Las Vegas March 15, 2014 Brooklyn Bowl [Audio Only] - all 1hr 53 minutes of the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EO3OpxO5_k#t=17
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by SoulForHire »

johnfoyle wrote:Elvis Costello / Roots Live in Las Vegas March 15, 2014 Brooklyn Bowl [Audio Only] - all 1hr 53 minutes of the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EO3OpxO5_k#t=17
This is the same link as posted before, which is missing the last few songs. However, it is still quite enjoyable. It is nice to see one of the Roots commenting on the video and giving his thumbs up.
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by johnfoyle »

Sorry - missed that earlier post - thanks!
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by SoulForHire »

Where are the comments from Mojo and Veronica Costello? I am dying to hear others' take on the show. I may have been too emotionally taken by the event to be objective about the show.
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by MOJO »

The show was great. Black & White World, Shabby Doll, Ghost Town, I Found Out - good ones.
Las Vegas is a strange town. It's like walking on another planet. My friend thought The Cosmopolitan was loaded with hookers. I started to look around and noticed the same. I did have some edibles so maybe I was seeing things differently. Oh yeah, there were about 6-8 people near the front of the stage tripping out or something. They were dancing around, hanging all over one another. Funny. Sort of wild as I haven't seem that an Elvis show before. I guess people really follow through with "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." Sorry SFH, I won't be going to Vegas - ever - if I can avoid it. Good show. Lame town.
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by SoulForHire »

Vegas is certainly a terrible town for concerts (for a number of reasons), and I've noticed Costello shows being particularly bad (crowd wise). And it was a nightmare night two up front. I wished I had a syringe of animal tranquilizer like Dexter uses.

As to the hookers, I will tell you that hookers were much more rampant 10-15 years ago. But now, its just women dressed like tramps because its Vegas but very few are actually hookers. Or at least a lot less than there used to be.
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by SoulForHire »

Review from Las Vegas's main newspaper:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/columns-bl ... -bowl-boil

QUOTE

Elvis Costello, The Roots bring Brooklyn Bowl to a boil
By JASON BRACELIN
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

The only thing nonchalant about the man wielding his guitar like a scythe, slashing forth as if he was reaping songs from thin air, was the way he chomped his gum between tunes.

Elvis Costello is wound tight, and as such, his tunes can come spiriting out of him like air from a punctured tire, suddenly freed from confinement.

His voice is like a balloon in a windstorm, flying every which way, untethered from any mooring.

It behooves him then, to collaborate with a band as firmly embedded in the pocket as Philly hip-hop-soul troupe The Roots, who are skilled at summoning grooves as thick and steadfast as quick-setting concrete and capable of anchoring pretty much anything.

On Sunday, Elvis Costello and The Roots took the stage together for the second performance of a two-night engagement at the Brooklyn Bowl, a new venue with an old look via exposed duct work and brick walls.

If the Brooklyn Bowl decor has something of a throwback feel to it, so did this performance, which touched upon Costello’s proto-punk past as well as the roots of The Roots: powerhouse ’70s R&B.

“You ready?” Costello asked four tunes into the two-hour, 18-song set.

It wasn’t a question so much as a warning, posed twice within the span of three songs.

“Are you ready?” he repeated himself not long thereafter, right before the band leaned into “Come the Meantimes,” one of eight songs culled from “Wise Up Ghost,” the 2013 record that Costello and The Roots cut together.

Like many of the songs the band performed, it began on a low simmer, with tendrils of guitar and roiling percussion slowly bringing everything to a boil.

By tune’s end, Costello was leading the crowd in a loud, lusty call and response.

This was the preferred trajectory of the evening.

On “Stick Out Your Tongue,” Costello scrunched up his face into the pained mask of a man attempting to pass a kidney stone, his voice an emotive counterpoint to a hypnotic, repetitive guitar figure; on “Watching The Detectives” he brandished a bullhorn, turning on its siren to further heighten the bedlam on the already squawking jam.

Countering the rancor was singer Marisol “La Marisoul” Hernandez of Mexican-American band La Santa Cecilia, who joined the group for a handful of numbers, the most arresting of which was “Cincos Minutos con Vos,” the only song of the show to feature Roots MC Black Thought.

With Hernandez providing the song’s bewitching initial vocal hook, Black Thought countered with harrowing rhymes that knifed through the buttery grooves with a palpable sense of purpose.

Speaking of which, a similarly business-minded approach was embraced by everyone on curt, clipped early Costello numbers “Black and White World,” “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea” and a raucous, show-closing “Pump It Up.”

Elsewhere, the band took its time teasing the funk out of songs such as “Shabby Doll,” “Spooky Girlfriend,” where Costello’s voice was akin to an elevator shuttling between floors, and “I Want You,” where Roots guitarist “Captain” Kirk Douglas worked himself into such a fever, soloing on his back atop a stage monitor at one point, that he could be seen wiping the sweat from his eyes at song’s end.

These contrasting styles converged during a cover of the socially aware ska of The Specials’ “Ghost Town.”

The song belonged to neither The Roots nor Costello (though Costello produced the album on which it was originally released).

But, as was the case with all parties involved on this evening, they found a way to make it their own.

END QUOTE
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by SoulForHire »

Side note: at night one, Wallace Langham, who plays lab tech David Hodges on CSI, was right behind me with his girlfriend (or maybe wife). He seemed pleasant, but I am not sure anyone else recognized him. He must be a big fan because he was on the floor around an hour and a half to two hours before the show. Not sure if CSI was filming in town (which is not infrequent, as the show is set here) or if he just came to town for the show.
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by Man out of Time »

Two video clips from the end of the show on the second night (16 March):

Pump It Up /Yeh Yeh / Subterranean Homesick Blues 4:09 - incomplete;
Pump It Up /Yeh Yeh / Subterranean Homesick Blues 5:35 - full song.

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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by MOJO »

Good clips, but it does remind me of the lighting situation. Too many lights - a lot of them beaming into the crowd. I couldn't see the stage at times. Overkill, if you ask me, although maybe I am too sensitive to it. I did have to leave the floor because the disco ball light was sort of making me sick / dizzy. Sad, but true.
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by SoulForHire »

That disco ball was mesmerizing.
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by SoulForHire »

I do not know how to edit Gigography sections or who is generally in charge of this, but could some change the description regarding Come the Meantimes for March 15 and 16? Currently, it says that he played the Karriem Riggins Remix version. While he did do a version that is substantially different (and in my opinion, much better) than the album version, it was certainly not the Karriem Riggins Remix version (which they did play in Port Chester). I think it should either be simply left with no modification or described as Come the Meantimes bossa nova version.
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by bronxapostle »

SoulForHire wrote:I do not know how to edit Gigography sections or who is generally in charge of this, but could some change the description regarding Come the Meantimes for March 15 and 16? Currently, it says that he played the Karriem Riggins Remix version. While he did do a version that is substantially different (and in my opinion, much better) than the album version, it was certainly not the Karriem Riggins Remix version (which they did play in Port Chester). I think it should either be simply left with no modification or described as Come the Meantimes bossa nova version.
i LOVE this kind of OCD dedication. i, too, believe the original "LP" version has NEVER been played thusly. the solo tour and subsequent Imposters performances of the song, apparently have all been the "bossa nova" take. and now that SOUL has informed me/us that the VEGAS performances were closer to these takes than the one played in Port Chester...i will definitely go back to my bookkeeping and deem 11-27-13 and 3-8-14 played at MY shows, as the bossa nova version AND 3-12 as K.R. remix. the LP take features NO real similar feel at all to either. just as WALK US UPTOWN (Imposters) is entirely too punky to be considered the original take.
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by Man out of Time »

SoulForHire wrote:I do not know how to edit Gigography sections or who is generally in charge of this, but could some change the description regarding Come the Meantimes for March 15 and 16?
Change now made. Generally I tend to resist the idea that any one person is "in charge" of the Gigography section. I would encourage a collaborative approach to editing and posting material on the wiki. Editing can be as simple as cutting and pasting and there is always an option to "undo".

Whilst on the topic of different versions of "Come The Meantimes", how would anyone classify the version (link below) played with the Imposters on 2/25?

Vine

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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by SoulForHire »

That is what I consider the Bossa Nova version, similar to what was played in Japan.
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Re: EC and the Roots Las Vegas March 15-16 2014

Post by bronxapostle »

SoulForHire wrote:That is what I consider the Bossa Nova version, similar to what was played in Japan.

ELVIS introduced it as such in Atlantic City! soon, everyone will hear i hope! :wink:
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