Manchester Evening News, October 11, 2003

Bibliography   72 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UK & Ireland weeklies UK & Ireland magazines UK & Ireland newspapers US newspapers US rock magazines US music magazines US magazines US alternative weeklies European magazines European newspapers Canada  •  Mexico  •  Asia Australia  •  New Zealand South America  •  Africa Blogs  •  Fanzines  •  Books Online publications Manchester Evening News   1980 March 14 1981 March 9 1987 January 31 1989 May 13 1996 October 29 1999 November 16 2002 September 12 2003 October 11 2005 February 21 2009 April 28 2014 April 2 2014 July 11 2014 July 14 2015 June 11 2020 March 16 2022 June 5 Newspapers   The Australian Belgium Soir Berliner Zeitung Cleveland Scene Columbus Dispatch Connecticut Post Correio da Manhã Corriere della Sera Le Figaro Financial Times Gazeta Wyborcza Hamburger Abendblatt Irish Examiner Irish Independent Irish Press Irish Times Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger Liverpool Echo London Daily Mail London Evening Standard London Guardian London Independent London Observer London Telegraph London Times Los Angeles Herald-Examiner Louisville Courier-Journal Mail & Guardian Marin Independent Journal Mail Tribune Melbourne Age El Mundo Neue Zürcher Zeitung New Zealand Herald Otago Daily Times El Pais Philadelphia Inquirer Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pittsburgh Tribune-Review La Presse Providence Journal Radikal Reading Eagle la Repubblica Satakunnan Kansa South China Morning Post Der Spiegel La Stampa Der Standard St. Petersburg Independent St. Petersburg Times Süddeutschen Zeitung Svenska Dagbladet Trondheim Adresseavisen Trouw De Volkskrant La Voz de Galicia Wanganui Herald Wiener Zeitung Die Zeit — Elvis Costello at Bridgewater Hall Mike Barnett There has been some less than complimentary comment of late concerning Elvis Costello, or more accurately, his personal life, the vicissitudes of which he has committed to record on his latest album, North. A suite of songs chronicling the breakdown of his 16-year marriage to Cait O'Riordan, once of The Pogues, and him taking up with glossy jazz chanteuse Diana Krall, My Aim Is True, his debut album from 1977, it most certainly is not. And that's precisely the point, for in the intervening 26 years, Costello has rarely done what anybody expected, not least, though he might not care to admit it, himself, and North is a perfect example of his unpredictability. Accompanied only by long-term musical lieutenant Steve Nieve, a pianist of depth and expression, he displayed just what a peerlessly timeless and versatile songwriter he is. The emotion of the new material was laid out for all to hear; listening to it was a cross between being a fly on the wall at confession and hearing the final admissions of a condemned man. Someone Took The Words Away was stark and bare, as was When Did I Stop Dreaming?, a song which betrays the clear influence of Burt Bacharach, Costello's collaborator on Painted From Memory in 1998. When Green Eyes Turn Blue was beautiful and romantic. From his extensive back catalogue, God's Comic was full of cheeky vaudeville charm, his anti-war song Shipbuilding was delivered with a scabrous and unapologetic knowingness, while he milked the applause which followed A Good Year For The Roses with a look on his face which seemed to say "that's some song, isn't it?" In truth, it was an expression he could have worn at any time during the two-and-a-half hour gig. Manchester Evening News, October 11, 2003 Mike Barnett reviews Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve, Friday, October 10, 2003, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, England.

External links

• Manchester Evening News
• Wikipedia: Manchester Evening News
• elviscostello.info