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Elvis Costello chuckles as he recalls a 1989 concert in Cleveland.
"I remember distinctly playing 'Miss Macbeth' and these two guys standing up and storming out," says the British singer-songwriter, checking in by phone recently from London. He performs tonight at Nautica Stage.
"It really made me laugh," he says. "People always say Cleveland, that's really a rock 'n' roll city. I was playing this kind of strange folk-terrorism music that night. These guys had obviously come to rock and I wasn't rocking.
"I love when that happens. Obviously, if everybody storms out, it's not good. But if you get extreme reactions, either people getting really angry and going red in the face or people throwing roses, I like either."
Costello steers clear of rock altogether on his latest release, a collaboration with Burt Bacharach titled Painted From Memory. Nonetheless, reaction to the joint effort's sophisticated, lushly orchestrated pop has been extremely positive. In addition to glowing reviews, the duo garnered a Grammy Award in the best pop collaboration with vocals category for the track "I Still Have That Other Girl."
Airplay has been harder to come by, but Costello couldn't care less. "The fact that it's incomprehensible to the boneheads who program most radio stations is a sort of aside to the reality of the music. It's a mere inconvenience," he says.
On the surface, these gifted tunesmiths from different generations make an unlikely pair. Costello, 44, and his band, the Attractions, rode the New Wave movement to prominence in the '70s, making rock 'n' roll that was too literate and well-crafted to be mistaken for punk. Bacharach, 71, had his heyday in the '60s, teaming up with Hal David to dash off impeccably tailored pop hits for Dionne Warwick, Tom Jones and others.
Costello and Bacharach first hooked up four years ago, when they wrote and recorded "God Give Me Strength" for the "Grace of My Heart" soundtrack. They were so pleased with the end result that they decided to do an entire album together.
"Burt is one of the major songwriters of the 20th century," Costello says. "I learned and gained a lot from listening to his advice."
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