Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Pretty self-explanatory
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Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by Man out of Time »

Elvis and The Imposters, with Charlie Sexton, play New York City on Thursday, 11 August. Rather than play the Beacon Theater (again) Elvis and the band will play the Rooftop at Pier 17. Perhaps this choice of rooftop venue was inspired by watching the Peter Jackson Beatles documentary "Get Back"?

Elvis last appearance in New York City was the ill-fated "The Homecoming Concert" in Central Park in August last year, when he never made it onto the stage. Hurricane Henri forced an abrupt end to the concert prior to his scheduled appearance. Hopefully there are no similar weather events forecast for tomorrow.

Elvis is appearing on TV tonight with Allan Mayes and we expect that Allan will also join him on stage at Pier 17 on Thursday. Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets are the opening act.

Who will be there to see if they can all fit on stage (weather permitting)?

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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by Newspaper Pane »

I wish it was at Beacon. I despise outdoor shows, especially in NYC in August. 90 degrees, humid, with a 60% chance of rain. No thanks!
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by popguynyc »

I'm optimistic, weather-wise.
And excited, as I have great seats (for the first time in a while for an EC show).
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by popguynyc »

Meant to post this in the recent Deep Dead Blue post, but Bill Frisell has been in NYC at Village Vanguard for a three week engagement - would be cool to see him onstage with EC.
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by JPadoo »

StubHub price for GA has come down to 90 bucks. Elvis and Nick are my two favorite artists of all time, but ticket price, gas, tolls, parking, etc, it’s easily more like $175. These days, sadly, just can’t afford that $$$. Living in NJ nowadays there’s also so few live venues for national acts to play that it gets skipped entirely on the tour schedule. Saw Nick in Jersey City a few years back and have seen Elvis about 25 times over the years, but can’t afford the luxuries of my youth.
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by bronxapostle »

I'm with the Jersey contingent bowing out. I am sure it is probably a nice venue and scenic in many ways. Just such a burden for some on differing levels. I am indeed remorseful whenever I miss a hometown show. It is not what I wish to do. Yet the workload involved outweighs the joy. But heck yeah....any Manhattanite within a 25 minute walk or train ride belongs there enjoying it for us too!!!
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by MOJO »

Bummer about missing the show. Download the Hotel Tonight App. You can find good deals on last minute hotel rooms. hotel + ticket + travel - $200 more or less
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by JerseyPride78 »

I grabbed a GA ticket on EC's presale for $65. Hopping on the train from Jersey shortly.
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by jmm »

We are here for show tonight!! Looking forward to it!!!

Miss u BA
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by bronxapostle »

jmm wrote:We are here for show tonight!! Looking forward to it!!!

Miss u BA
Love to you J and M Lily and Joseph too
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by jmm »

Real ticket stubs tonight ba! Got you one
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by bronxapostle »

jmm wrote:Real ticket stubs tonight ba! Got you one
Wheeeeeee
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by bronxapostle »

Nice to see all my very dear friends in attendance did get the triple header of guests with Nicole, Allan and Nick all getting a go. I am sure it was a fabulous night.
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by And No Coffee Table »

http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/inde ... 1_New_York

01. Accidents Will Happen
02. Green Shirt
03. Either Side Of The Same Town
04. Hetty O'Hara Confidential
05. Mystery Dance
06. Watching The Detectives - including Invisible Lady
07. You Belong To Me - with Nicole Atkins
08. My Most Beautiful Mistake - with Nicole Atkins
09. Still Too Soon To Know - with Nicole Atkins
10. Penelope Halfpenny
11. What If I Can't Give You Anything But Love?
12. I'm Ahead If I Can Quit While I'm Behind - with Allan Mayes
13. Surrender To The Rhythm - with Allan Mayes
14. Indoor Fireworks - with Nick Lowe
15. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? - with Nick Lowe
16. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea - including Happy Birthday To You for Charlie Sexton and All Right Now
17. Magnificent Hurt
18. Pump It Up
19. Alison
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.showbiz411.com/2022/08/12/r ... or-ny-show

Review: Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe Reunite Under a Full Moon for a Howling Outdoor NY Show

I first saw Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe perform together at Boston’s Orpheum Theater in 1978, Mink Deville was also on the bill. At time, Lowe was producing Elvis’s albums– he’d go on to do quite a few– and his own hit record, “Pure Pop for Now People” –titled “Jesus of Cool” everywhere but America.

Last night the pair reunited under a magical full moon at Pier 17’s rooftop venue at the South Street Seaport. (May I say that I’ve never encountered as friendly a staff as the one at Pier 17? They seem to be on happy pills.)

I think the only other time I saw Elvis and Nick together was in 1989 at CW Post College on Long Island. So it’s been a while. (I was in grade school and had to get up early!)

These guys are not kids anymore. Lowe is 73 and sporting a full wavy head of gray hair. Costello turns 68 later this month. Costello’s band, the Imposters (formerly the Attractions) are his contemporaries. Additionally, Costello is promoting an EP of six songs with his teenage bandmate from 1972, Alan Mayes, who’s English but lives in Austin, Texas and plays the bar circuit there.

So it was a night of reunions, young men who have aged into fine musicians, showing off skills that are almost as lost as scriveners’ penmanship or competition kite flying.

Lowe and his group (oddly masked, not for COVID, don’t know why) Los Straitjackets turned in a relaxed but enthusiastic set that included some of his nicest songs. “Cruel to Be Kind,” a song I heard in 1978 faster and poppier, has taken on a kind of elegance. “You Inspire Me,” from a later period, remains a stunning ballad. Where Lowe was once “the Basher,” meaning he thrashed his guitar to make power pop, he’s now more comfortable almost as a crooner. (Oh, for his rockabiliy days with Dave Edmunds as Rockpile!)

Costello and his gang — Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher, plus their ringer, so to speak, Texas guitarist Charlie Sexton — are indefatigable. They handle punk, new wave, jazz, country and R&B without missing a beat. Newer songs like “Hetty O’Hara Confidential” continue to grow in richness. Somehow they also find nuances in “Watching the Detectives” that expose what we couldn’t get in 1977 when it was released, the underpinnings of all those genres. And the Raymond Chandler riff — “She’s filing her nails while they’re dragging the lake” — is still pungent.

Costello has added Nicole Atkins, a terrifically talented female vocalist to his latest album, “The Boy Named If.” Her voice recalls Carlene Carter combined with Bonnie Raitt. When they sang a duet called “Still Too Soon to Know,” the audience, not knowing that well — an obscure track from the 1994 album, “Brutal Youth” — and waiting for a greatest hit. was swooped up by the emotion.

The show was punctuated by Lowe returning for duets on “Indoor Fireworks” and his own “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding” the latter was much more deliberate and detailed than Costello’s usual pounding reverie. I missed the trademark drum thunder, but this version served Lowe well since he is the actual author.

Mayes also made an appearance as Costello is over the moon about their reunion. They sang two Nick Lowe songs from their EP, “Surrender to the Rhythm” (a catchy precursor to Lowe’s later standard, “So It Goes”) and a very Poco-esque number called “I’m Ahead If I Can Quit While I’m Behind“that kind of captures Lowe’s love of country music and the irony of clever lyrics.

There were no songs from Costello’s Grammy winning masterpiece, “Look Now,” or his all time great album, “Imperial Bedroom.” He such a big, deep catalog that if you want to hear songs like “All This Useless Beauty” or a favorite rocker like “Clubland,” you;ve got to find it for yourself. Luckily he’ll return next February for 10 shows at the Gramercy Theater, where he promises to play 200 different songs.

In the meantime, don’t miss this chapter in the long, brilliant Costello saga.
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by Harry Lime »

sweetest punch wrote:https://www.showbiz411.com/2022/08/12/r ... or-ny-show

Review: Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe Reunite Under a Full Moon for a Howling Outdoor NY Show

[snip]
Lowe and his group (oddly masked, not for COVID, don’t know why) Los Straitjackets
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by popguynyc »

Great show and Elvis was in great voice. Made a video - (let me know if it's not allowed and I'll remove link.)

Great intro with a fun tease!
https://youtu.be/kgn1BaTkxGI
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by And No Coffee Table »

https://twitter.com/NickLoweBio/status/ ... 3080665090

"Nick and EC reconvene in NYC with Gregg Geller the man who signed both artists to Columbia Records (via Riviera Global Record Productions) 45 years ago. #nicklowe #elviscostello Photo Hope Geller"

Image
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by belfast »

popguynyc wrote:Great show and Elvis was in great voice. Made a video - (let me know if it's not allowed and I'll remove link.)

Great intro with a fun tease!
https://youtu.be/kgn1BaTkxGI
Thanks for this! I was standing next to a few drunks who ruined half this number with their non-stop blather. They finally left when one of them got so sick she nearly threw up on the floor. I think security told them they had to leave (they tried to muscle into the seated sections) and thankfully they did and never came back.

Otherwise I thought the show was pretty great! Charlie Sexton's presence was subtle, but to me there were moments where it paid off beautifully. (It was also his birthday and he got a huge kick out of Elvis and Steve Nieve performing "happy birthday" to him during the band introductions.) Sexton played a few beautiful solos, "Alison" was a closing highlight thanks to him (as Elvis mentioned, he can play everything John McFee can whereas Elvis himself couldn't), and I think I can see why Elvis has kept him on. He traded solos with Steve Nieve in a few spots, and whenever I heard Nieve play something ghostly followed by an elegant guitar solo from Sexton, I thought "WOW, this is kind of like the Band!" The point seemed driven home when Nicole Atkins stepped in for a few numbers and sang some Band-like harmonies with Elvis (together, but not really together). To be clear, you're not going to mistake these songs for the Band's, but there were those moments where it felt like Elvis was taking ideas for the live arrangements from their music.

That brings me to the first real highlight of the show in "Hetty O'Hara Confidential." I actually don't like that song, I think it's one of the failed experiments on Hey Clockface. But they tweak the arrangement here and it makes a world of a difference, switching out the awkward attempt at a beatbox with jazz elements, including extended solos by Sexton and Nieve, and it worked beautifully - I really wish THIS was the version they recorded for the album.

And Nick Lowe was indeed wonderful. I hope he comes back soon, I've been trying to catch his shows for years and I'm so happy I got to do that this time.
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by And No Coffee Table »

Pete with Free/Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke:

Image

EC's caption: "Alright Now. Two of the greatest English drummers still standing. Pete Thomas and Simon Kirke at Pier 17 ⁦@ElvisCostello"

That explains the "All Right Now" snippet during "Chelsea."

Pete named Simon Kirke as an influence in this 1978 interview.
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by popguynyc »

And No Coffee Table wrote:Pete with Free/Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke:

Image

EC's caption: "Alright Now. Two of the greatest English drummers still standing. Pete Thomas and Simon Kirke at Pier 17 ⁦@ElvisCostello"

That explains the "All Right Now" snippet during "Chelsea."

Pete named Simon Kirke as an influence in this 1978 interview.
Yes! That explains the snippet.
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by Man out of Time »

The knowledgeable Allison Rapp, writing in Ultimate Classic Rock on August 12, 2022 reviews this show:
New York, August 11, 2022 - Keeyathay Lewis
New York, August 11, 2022 - Keeyathay Lewis
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Elvis Costello Reconvenes With Old Friends at NYC Concert: Review

Elvis Costello has been looking backward lately. "How have you been?" he asked the audience Thursday night at Pier 17, an outdoor rooftop venue in downtown Manhattan. "Maybe I should say: Where have you been?"

The singer-songwriter returned to live playing almost a year ago, but his current tour showcases songs from The Boy Named If, an album of punchy rock 'n' roll recorded with the Imposters and released earlier this year.

Nostalgia isn't an accurate description of what Costello is doing now. He isn't pining for the good old days; instead, he's revisiting the people, places and events that brought him to where he is today.

His opening act at Thursday's show was Nick Lowe, who produced Costello's first five albums, from 1977's My Aim Is True through 1981’s Trust. He also wrote "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding," which Costello recorded in 1979 but Lowe first performed in 1974 with the band Brinsley Schwarz. Lowe and Costello also performed "Indoor Fireworks" and "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding," marking the first time the duo has performed together on the road since 1989. "We really looked up to Nick Lowe, but he is a lot taller than me," Costello joked onstage.

Also in attendance was Allan Mayes, who played with Costello in their first, teenage band, Rusty. Their recently released debut album, The Resurrection of Rust, has put Mayes, who now lives in Texas, in the spotlight after a relatively low profile over the past several decades. They performed on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon earlier this week.

Costello was backed by his band the Imposters, which includes former Attractions Steve Nieve on keyboards and Pete Thomas on drums, along with bassist Davey Faragher. Charlie Sexton on guitar, a regular member of Bob Dylan's band, also joined Costello onstage.

He also brought Nicole Atkins, who sings on The Boy Named If, to help out on a few songs Thursday night. Costello didn't stray far from original arrangements of songs like "Accidents Will Happen" and "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea," but with Lowe, Mayes and Atkins assisting, there was a freshness to the set. (You can see the set list from the show below.)

Still, there is some unpredictability to his concerts. Earlier this week in Buffalo, he slipped into "Alison" a snippet of the Motown song "This Old Heart of Mine," which was co-written by Lamont Dozier, who died the day before. On Thursday, he combined "Watching the Detectives" with Charles Mingus' "Invisible Lady." (Costello wrote words to Mingus' music for the 2002 album Tonight at Noon: Three of Four Shades of Love.)

Costello intends to keep the surprises coming in 2023. On his Tonight Show appearance, he announced a 10-date run at New York City's Gramercy Theatre scheduled for February that will include different songs at each performance: "200 songs over 10 nights," he said.

He may be revisiting the past on his current tour, but, as always, he's looking to the future.

Elvis Costello, 8/11/22, the Rooftop at Pier 17, New York City
1. "Accidents Will Happen"
2. "Green Shirt"
3. "Either Side of the Same Town"
4. "Hetty O'Hara Confidential"
5. "Mystery Dance"
6. "Watching the Detectives" / "Invisible Lady"
7. "You Belong to Me" (with Nicole Atkins)
8. "My Most Beautiful Mistake" (with Nicole Atkins)
9. "Still Too Soon to Know" (with Nicole Atkins)
10. "Penelope Halfpenny"
11. "What if I Can't Give You Anything but Love?"
12. "I'm Ahead If I Can Quit While I'm Behind" (With Allan Mayes - RUSTY)
13. "Surrender to the Rhythm" (With Allan Mayes - Rusty)
14. "Indoor Fireworks"
15. "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" (with Nick Lowe)
16. "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea"
17. "Magnificent Hurt"
18. "Pump It Up"
19. "Alison"

MOOT
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by Man out of Time »

Review by Iman Lababedi published at Rock NYC on August 12, 2022.

Elvis Costello And The Imposters and Nick Lowe And Los Straightjackets At The Rooftop At Pier 17, Thursday, August 11th, 2022

2022-08-11  New York
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For one of the busiest Thursday night’s in many a Thursday night, the choices were the return of Rage Against The Machine At Madison Square Garden, Lady Gaga at MetLife on her Chromatica tour, and Elvis Costello still selling The Boy Named If…, a very good album but not that very good. The reason to choose Costello uber alles is single subject matter: Nick Lowe opening. For those of us of a certain age the albums Nick produced for Costello at the front of his career are golden age rock and roll:

My Aim Is True – A+

This Year’s Model – A+

Armed Forces – A-

Get Happy!! – A+

Trust – A-

Just the thought of them performing together again, last time was 1989 but I go back as far as Live Stiffs in 1977, and one of the great sets was in 1979 at the New York Palladium with Rockpile opening for Elvis on the This Year’s Model tour. This one… the hope was Elvis would tailor the evening to Nick, that he would delve into their songs in the lab. Elvis didn’t do that, he played a variant on the tour he has been playing all summer and while it certainly wasn’t bad, and the variations are certainly worth acknowledging, it didn’t take advantage of the situation. But first…

NICK LOWE!

Looking like the picture of rock cool in its 70s, at 73 years of age Lowe is less timeless and more timed, backed by the Ventures meets Raybeats instrumental, surf and turf Los Straightjackets (Danny Amis used to be lead guitarist), they were excellent backup musicians and their mini set in the middle of a shortened 40 minutes, was not bad at all. Lowe himself was the man about town pop savant, after years of leaning on Americana this set moved through it to rockabilly, and while everything from “Roller Show” to “The Rose Of England” and not a damn thing off his other masterpiece (Party Of One) (the first was Pure Pop For Now People of course) was performed, yet everything stuck well, “Trombone” stuck out and “Cruel To Be Kind” was a balm for us aging rockers. A nicely turned set.

Unlike Elvis Costello which, despite the inclusion of one of the great Texan guitarist Charlie Sexton, the set was a little all over the place and not classis Imposters. Essentially it was the usual unusual plus, three songs with Nicole Atkins, two with Alan Myles (half of Elvis’s first band, Rusty, in 1972) and two with Lowe. All seven were great, and on the occasions when Charlie took a solo it got even better.

There were huge potholes in the set, just look at it this way, the average song lasted five minutes and every single extension defined a waste from a terrible coda to “Green Shirt” to an excruciating “Watching The Detectives” segued with his version (he also wrote the words for Charlie Mingus in 2010) “Invisible Lady” and it was a bad mix that really made a mess of the song and went on for what feels like hours. Just as bad was the deportees from the Broadway Musical of A Face In The Crowd (we are still eagerly awaiting it) but “Hetty O’Hara Confidential” was not the one to keep off the dreaded Hey, Clockface and The Delivery Man‘s 2004 “Either Side Of The Same Town” didn’t deserve the resurrection.

The featured artists saved the evening. Nicole Atkins is the 43 year old Americana singer who dueted with Costello on the exquisite “My Most Beautiful Mistake”, from the new album, and then surpassed it with the best version of Brutal Youth’s “Still Too Soon To Know” you have ever heard. Alan Myles, for the first time he had hit the bigtime after Costello went solo and only returned to Rusty after suggesting Elvis and he release a cassette. Instead we got the The Resurrection of Rusty seven song, debut EP dropped earlier this year and Alan was on Fallon on Wednesday: “I thought being on television was thrilling… but this?” Alan said as they launched into two songs off the EP, the Jim Ford Classic “I’m Ahead If I Can Quit While I’m Behind”, Brinsley Schwartz also covered it and Nick wrote “Surrender To The Rhythm” the other song, and Costello was completely right, it should have been a hit.

And now for the primary reason we are all here! Nick Lowe joining Elvis for two songs, the first, King Of America‘s glorious melodrama “Indoor Fireworks” with a lovely solo from Steve Nieve on keyboards and Nick and Elvis doing harmonies with a surprise ending where Costello deeps down further in a rumbling baritone. Then, you knew it was gonna send us there, “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding” with the entire audience -the 3400 capacity club was sold out- roaring the hook.

It was a more exciting moment for us kids of the 70s than Rage and Gaga combined, just breathtaking to see them hugging each other in what amounted to a secret Lowe loveletter, with a recording of “Surrender To The Rhythm” at the start of El’s and the bringing together of Rusty’s hugely Brinsley Schwartz influenced set performed for the man himself, and somewhere in all that Lowe ignores the sentimentality of the evening (though he smiles constantly), and instead embraces the moment with cheerfulness. No, it wasn’t the reunion we wanted, it was still the reunion we got…

Grade: B+"

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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by jmm »

Late thoughts from me on this show but here goes…

Venue was great (especially when I think back to awful summer stage comparison)

Full bill with nick & los jackets, guesting in main of Nicole, Alan and Nick made it special (bit more would have been even better), seeing the great time Alan was having seemed to lift everyone. Charlie is definitely in with the group now and adds another layer that really works.Nicole mini set was killer. Nick & Elvis together took me back to that cool show in SF a few years back

My only request would have been for more newer songs!! I gladly would have swapped out WTD, for instance, although I understand why not and it was a good version.

We are really privileged to have these shows at this high level to enjoy after all these years!!

And more to look forward to as this tour continues and back in NYC in Feb too!!
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Re: Elvis and The Imposters, New York, NY, Rooftop at Pier 17, August 11, 2022

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.undertheradarmag.com/review ... 11th_augus

Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets
Elvis Costello & The Imposters @ The Rooftop at Pier 17, New York, USA, 11th August, 2022,

Far from a “regular” Elvis Costello & The Imposters gig, you can call this one Elvis Costello and his Cabinet of Curiosities, sort of similar in style and concept to the Cabinet of Curiosities shows that Wesley Stace (aka John Wesley Harding in his younger days) put on in Brooklyn and Philadelphia featuring himself, other musicians, and even comedians all entertaining the audience for an evening of variety.

First up, Nick Lowe and his longtime backing band Los Straitjackets took the stage as openers. With a formidable catalogue that goes back even further than Elvis’, it’s hard to feel fully satisfied with a short set full of crowd-pleasing hits if you are a big fan, but any opportunity to see Nick is one that should be taken advantage of. That said, utter classics like show opener “So It Goes,” the U.S. hit “Cruel to Be Kind” and set closer “When I Write the Book” sounded great in the beautiful outdoor setting overlooking an incredible view of the Manhattan bridge and the New York skyline, as did instrumental tracks like Los Straitjackets’ surfy-twang take on “My Heart Will Go On” (aka the theme from Titanic) and lesser known but just as essential Lowe deeper cuts like “Raging Eyes, “Half a Boy and Half a Man” and more recent compositions like “Tokyo Bay” and “Trombone.” If there is any criticism at all, it did feel a bit rushed as it was just an opening set with strict time parameters on an evening where everything had to end before 10 PM, so understandably, they had to give Elvis his time as the headliner.

After a short break, Elvis and the Imposters (with guest and birthday boy Charlie Sexton on guitar) came on and as usual, preceded to just take the stage by storm, opening with two cuts from 1979’s Armed Forces (“Accidents Will Happen” and “Green Shirt”) and running through an intriguing mix of ‘77-’79 era classics like “Watching the Detectives” (featuring a long vamp section explaining the song’s origins that I had never heard before in all my years of seeing him live), “You Belong to Me” (featuring guest and previous tour opener Nicole Atkins on backing vocals) and of course, set closer “Pump It Up” alongside deeper cuts like “Still Too Soon to Know” (featuring Atkins on lead vocals for one of the verses) from 1994’s excellent but somewhat overlooked Brutal Youth and “Either Side of the Same Town” from 2004’s also overlooked The Delivery Man. Of course, the evening also featured several cuts from the recently released The Boy Named If, the first rock and roll album that Elvis has made with The Imposters since 2008’s also overlooked (sense a pattern here?) but excellent Momofuku or perhaps if one is being more generous, 2018’s Look Now. Of those new songs, “Penelope Halfpenny” (which was also accompanied by a story explaining its origins in Elvis’ childhood), the beautiful ballad “What if I Can’t Give you Anything but Love?” and “My Most Beautiful Mistake” (again with Atkins on backing vocals) were the highlights.

All of this blended seamlessly with yet another surprise. The night before, Costello appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon with his old friend Allan Mayes, with whom he played with in the now reunited early ‘70s duo Rusty. They even released an EP earlier this year that includes an early version of future Elvis B-side “Ghost Train” entitled “Maureen and Sam.”

One of the songs they was performed regularly in 1972 was Nick Lowe’s “Surrender to the Rhythm’’ (written and recorded when Lowe was in the band Brinsley Schwarz) and on this evening, Elvis and the Imposters not only came out to it initially, but performed it later on with Mayes in tow, 50 years later! To drive the point home further, they also performed several other Rusty-era tunes, namely “I’m Ahead If I Can Quit While I’m Behind’’ and of course, Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding,” a perennial favorite that Elvis seemingly performs at every show, but enhanced on this evening by Lowe’s presence on guitar. What an epic evening and a great night to be a fan!
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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