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Everyone at the Mann Center on Wednesday night was well aware that Daryl Hall would be performing without longtime partner John Oates. The Philadelphia-bred duo, famed for their harmonies, have made headlines recently for the sour notes that their relationship has struck, embroiling them in a lawsuit and apparently bringing Hall & Oates to an acrimonious end after more than 50 years. (Oates will bring his own solo act to town next month, at Cape May Convention Hall and the Philadelphia Folk Festival.)
What came as a surprise was when co-headliner Elvis Costello showed up sans two members of his backing band, the Imposters. Bassist Davey Faragher and guitarist Charlie Sexton were waylaid not by animosity but by illness — they had "fallen afoul of a bad piece of fish" if the wry Englishman is to be believed.
Costello forged on without them, performing half of his 80-minute set as a duo with keyboardist Steve Nieve before being joined by drummer Pete Thomas during "Come the Meantimes," from Costello's 2013 collaboration with the Roots. Both Nieve and Thomas were members of the singer's previous band, making this, as Costello pointed out, "as close to the Attractions as you're ever gonna get," Costello's feelings toward former bassist Bruce Thomas remaining about as warm as Hall's toward Oates.
Sporting a trucker cap and a black short-sleeved shirt, Costello launched into "Pump It Up" with Nieve shifting from piano to organ, then set his guitar aside for several songs, promising to "get back to the rock 'n' roll" a bit later. The pair transformed "Talking in the Dark" from 1979's Armed Forces from a new wave rave-up into a Kurt Weill-esque theater piece, Costello's voice cracking a bit during the rapid-fire delivery. "Shot with His Own Gun" was a logical choice, originally recorded as a voice-piano duo on 1981's Trust.
Though he's often drawn inspiration from Tin Pan Alley songwriters, perhaps Costello is taking more of a turn toward the theatrical due to the seven years he's spent adapting the 1957 Andy Griffith satire A Face in the Crowd into a musical, the title song from which he performed at the piano. While the set ended with a raucous parade of hits, merging "Alison" and "Everyday I Write the Book" and inevitably culminating in "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," his turns as crooner proved the most affecting. A dramatic "Accidents Will Happen" was followed by a dub-noir reimagining of "Watching the Detectives," and the aforementioned "Come the Meantimes" soared.
Elvis Costello's set was unique, but this was Daryl Hall's crowd. The Temple grad's set stuck to the hits, sneaking just one new song into the encore. "If you like what I do, you'll enjoy this," he implored, waving a copy of his new album, D. "Can't Say No to You" proved a pale echo of Hall's Philly soul-imbued classics and met with a polite reception, but the crowd was back on its feet as "You Make My Dreams" closed out the night.
The show began with Hall on guitar for "Maneater" and a pair of songs from his solo output, but he spent most of his time sitting stage right at the grand piano. At 77, Hall has lost much of his upper register; the few times he attempted to match the falsetto highs of his glory years veered into tire-squeal territory. He compensated by leaving the harmonies to the members of his six-piece backing band and limiting himself to his grittier but still soulful mid-range. That shined a spotlight on the ballads, including "Everytime You Go Away" (a hit for singer Paul Young in 1985) and especially "Sara Smile," which still possessed the emotional intimacy of the original.
It was the up-tempo hits that got the fans up and dancing, though. The pairing of "Kiss on My List" and "Private Eyes" propelled people into the aisles on this hot, humid July night. That included an offseason Santa Claus near the front of the stage, whose presence prompted a joke about his sleigh from Hall and a few bars of "Jingle Bells" during Charles DeChant's sax solo on "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)."
"I'm in a Philly Mood," from 1983's Soul Alone, has been a staple on this tour, but Hall acknowledged that it took on a special meaning in his hometown. "Once you come from here, you don't leave here," he professed to howls of approval. "I don't give a fuck if you live in Berlin. Be proud of that."
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