If your idea of going to a concert on New Year's Eve is the obligatory countdown to midnight, ending with balloons and confetti falling all around, singing "Auld Lang Syne," then you came to the wrong place if you attended the Elvis Costello & The Imposters concert Monday night at the House of Blues Atlantic City.
Costello, 53, was singing "And so confetti fills the air" from his song "The Sharpest Thorn" as the new year came in, without any grand celebration of the aforementioned, but Costello slipped in, "Happy New Year's everybody!" before going into "13 Steps Lead Down."
Bob Weiss, 49, of Galloway Township, who attended the concert with his wife, Debbie, said with disappointment, "He never counted down the New Year" but added with energy, "I saw him over 20 years ago, and he's just as good, if not better."
The group played and it happen to be New Year's Eve; it did not play because of New Year's Eve. Costello and company delivered 25 songs in the slightly echoey venue, choosing selections from 12 albums, including a four-in-a-row run from Get Happy!! starting with "Beaten to the Punch" and ending with "High Fidelity."
The band's matter-of-fact, straightforward approach in performing all of the songs with no guest musicians — made the quartet an unstoppable force ringing in 2008. Costello's bluesy guitar solo in the middle of "Clown Strike" was a crowd pleaser, as well as "Alison" performed after the only encore, where the audience participated in singing the chorus. With Costello still hitting those high notes, the solid unity with Pete Thomas on drums, Steve Nieve on keyboards and Davey Faragher on bass and vocals made Costello shine that much brighter.
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