Elvis and The Imposters, Bristol , July 17 2016

[verbal gymnastics]

It was a great show. I've sent John some photos which he will upload.

SPOILER ALERT!

The opening was interesting. The band came on and played the intro to Pump it up and then Elvis came on. I was already standing and he got everybody up . This was a good start as it kept the tempo up for quite a few songs. Elvis's voice was in great shape.

A few comments:

- Elvis did a bit more talking, making reference to the cowboy show. The country tinged set was good but there was surprisingly no Good year for the Roses. Sweet Dreams was great.

- She was introduced as a song "the band f-ing hate, I f-ing hate but you all love". He referred to it as from his Flamenco album and played it solo in a Flamenco style.

- Elvis tagged a line from another song on the end of one of his but I can't remember which both were. I guess if somebody recorded it then we'll know...

- No Action was played, I think, to get people back up on their feet after a few quieter songs.

- Excellent crowd who were up for it, as was Elvis. It was great to see 4 young ladies 2 rows behind me who were up dancing and singing along to almost every song

There were two interesting bits (to me, anyway). Firstly the polite security guards said they had been told by the band not to let people have setlists.

Secondly, Elvis left without a meet and greet. We were also told that the Impostors had left straight after the show. The interesting thing for me is this has been a constant feature of this tour. Offshoreham saw Elvis, had a picture and something signed before the show when he bumped into him but this has been are real rarity. Indeed I don't think there any aftershow signings.

Also, the setlists after the Liverpool show were screwed up and thrown away. I initially put this down to local crews but I'm wondering if this is something more national and the reasoning behind this. I should've asked Chris when I spoke to him after but it didn't occur to me at the time.

Anyway, it was a great show and a good turnout. Great to meet sinatra57. I hope your social secretary lets you come on Saturday to the meet up. It'll be great to have somebody else from Southend to keep an eye on Mr (and Mrs!) sheeptotheslaughter.

It was also good to meet offshoreram (resident celeb spotter ) as well as Tony (the non-forum poster but regular lurker) as well as MOOT and sulky lad. Thanks also to little fool who couldn't make it but let me know the his Row D seat numbers which allowed my friends to upgrade their seats.

[johnfoyle]

Verbal's photos

[Offshoreram]

It was a great show. I've sent John some photos which he will upload.

SPOILER ALERT!

The opening was interesting. The band came on and played the intro to Pump it up and then Elvis came on. I was already standing and he got everybody up . This was a good start as it kept the tempo up for quite a few songs. Elvis's voice was in great shape.

A few comments:

- Elvis did a bit more talking, making reference to the cowboy show. The country tinged set was good but there was surprisingly no Good year for the Roses. Sweet Dreams was great.

- She was introduced as a song "the band f-ing hate, I f-ing hate but you all love". He referred to it as from his Flamenco album and played it solo in a Flamenco style.

- Elvis tagged a line from another song on the end of one of his but I can't remember which both were. I guess if somebody recorded it then we'll know...

- No Action was played, I think, to get people back up on their feet after a few quieter songs.

- Excellent crowd who were up for it, as was Elvis. It was great to see 4 young ladies 2 rows behind me who were up dancing and singing along to almost every song

There were two interesting bits (to me, anyway). Firstly the polite security guards said they had been told by the band not to let people have setlists.

Secondly, Elvis left without a meet and greet. We were also told that the Impostors had left straight after the show. The interesting thing for me is this has been a constant feature of this tour. Offshoreham saw Elvis, had a picture and something signed before the show when he bumped into him but this has been are real rarity. Indeed I don't think there any aftershow signings.

Also, the setlists after the Liverpool show were screwed up and thrown away. I initially put this down to local crews but I'm wondering if this is something more national and the reasoning behind this. I should've asked Chris when I spoke to him after but it didn't occur to me at the time.

Anyway, it was a great show and a good turnout. Great to meet sinatra57. I hope your social secretary lets you come on Saturday to the meet up. It'll be great to have somebody else from Southend to keep an eye on Mr (and Mrs!) sheeptotheslaughter.

It was also good to meet offshoreram (resident celeb spotter ) as well as Tony (the non-forum poster but regular lurker) as well as MOOT and sulky lad. Thanks also to little fool who couldn't make it but let me know the his Row D seat numbers which allowed my friends to upgrade their seats.

Agree with all of this and it was great to meet Verbal, sulky lad (thanks for the disk) Tony and others I can't recall the names (sorry)

I was at the front of the balcony and spotted Verbal dancing downstairs, despite him saying he didn't dance

I didn't realise there were no signing afterwards. Is there a change in management or something? I've always found Elvis very obliging and sometimes very chatty when I've met him. Yesterday I had a print of a painting of Almost Blue that my wife had bought me for my birthday and a couple of Simpson's Elvis figures that I brought along for signing. Usually I'd wait until afterwards but I'd flown in from Portugal that morning to Birmingham so decided to drive straight to Bristol and catch them at the soundcheck. I had hoped to get Steve and Pete to sign my print but the were either already inside or arrived by the only entrance I couldn't cover from my position outside the hall.
When Elvis got out of his blacked out windowed, chauffeured driven Merc the security lady from Colston Hall asked me to stand back until she checks if Elvis was willing to sign anything. He came over smiling and she asked if he minded signing things, by which time he had already looked at my print, and he said jokingly, 'well I am working tonight but I'll see what I can do'.
He was impressed by the print and confirmed he had met the guy who does them artwork. I mentioned the artist had said Elvis said he was a lovely and talented guy and that he had bought the original artwork for "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais", and Elvis said he'd bought "London Calling" too as it was 'so iconic'.
When I took out my Simpson figures he just laughed. I told him the one still in the packaging was a family heirloom and the assembled one was for the bedside table. His female assistant said that was too much info and Elvis said 'it could be worse'. He signed both and then held up the figure and said his wife has one and when she is playing she has it on the piano. He said it was funny watching her in some grand venue and when the cameras zoom in there he is sitting over her shoulder.
There only was 4 of us there and he signed and chatted and had photos

As for the show, it was almost a relief getting back to the band after seeing so many Detour shows, although I loved them so much.

Sunday's Best was a treat. Big Tears, Little Triggers, Green Shirt, No Action, Moods for Moderns etc - all wonderful

I'm wracking my brains trying to think of the line tagged on. I'm thinking a Bacharach song but not sure. It will be out there somewhere.

Roll on next year, but will it be solo or a band tour?

[sheeptotheslaughter]

[quote="verbal gymnastics"]It was a great show. I've sent John some photos which he will upload.


-

Anyway, it was a great show and a good turnout. Great to meet sinatra57. I hope your social secretary lets you come on Saturday to the meet up. It'll be great to have somebody else from Southend to keep an eye on Mr (and Mrs!) sheeptotheslaughter.


I wouldn't wish that job on anyone

[johnfoyle]

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/review-elv ... story.html


Review: Elvis Costello and The Imposters at the Colston Hall

By The Bristol Post

July 18, 2016

By Mark Taylor

After stand-out performances from the likes of US-born country legends Lucinda Williams and Mary Chapin Carpenter, it was left to London-born Elvis Costello to wrap up the hugely successful three-day Bristol Americana Weekend.

During a career spanning five decades, Costello has regularly returned to the American-influenced country music that first inspired him, most notably with his 1981 Nashville-recorded Almost Blue, an album that came with a tongue-in-cheek label warning for his new wave fans that "This album contains country & western music and may cause offence to narrow minded listeners".

In the first quarter of this 135-minute performance, Costello cherry-picked from Almost Blue, with a foot-stomping, thigh-slapping version of Merle Haggard's Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down and a romping version of Don Gibson's Sweet Dreams, with ace keyboard player Steve Nieve (like veteran drummer Pete Thomas, a member of Costello's original band The Attractions) playing some breakneck barrelhouse piano that temporarily transformed the Colston Hall into a 1930s Texas whorehouse.

Costello has lived in America for the past three decades and his Liverpool accent has all but dissolved into an American drawl, which suited the more recent material like Alibi and Stations of The Cross.

He may have emigrated to the United States when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister but his edgy political pop shows no sign of softening with age. At 61, he's the eternal angry young man of pop.

After quips about Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, he showcased two new songs, A Face In The Crowd and American Mirror, which are from a forthcoming stage musical based on the Budd Schulberg story, Your Arkansas Traveller.

The story may date from the 1950s but many of the themes and messages are as relevant as they are today, which can also be said for other early Costello songs dusted off tonight.

Written in 1978, his dig at facism and racism, Sunday's Best, may sound like a gentle waltz with Nieve's brilliant piano playing, but the biting lyrics could be referring to the news of the past few weeks ('Times are tough for English babies, send the army and the navy, Beat up strangers who talk funny, Take their greasy foreign money').

And then there was a slow, freestyle jazz version of his Falkands war song Shipbuilding, written in 1982 but chillingly relevant with this week's Trident debate.

Not that it was all downbeat or political. There were plenty of lighter moments for those fans simply wanting to hear the classic 70s and 80s hits, even Costello's take on Charles Aznavour's She (a song he admitted the band now hate and only play because the audience likes it).

With chat kept to a minimum, the hits kept on coming with relentless ferocity, the band barely stopping for breath between songs, among them Pump It Up, Watching The Detectives, Radio Radio, Green Shirt, Oliver's Army and (I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea.

Sweat-drenched but still pumped up, Costello launched into the Nick Lowe-penned (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding before finally taking their final bow after two and a quarter hours of pure class and musicianship that brought the Bristol Americana Weekend to a rousing, foot-tapping finale.

5/5

[Offshoreram]

Some photos from last night...

[verbal gymnastics]

Wow - they are terrific!