But for the unofficial grand reopening, the Fillmore crowd was handled to one thing a bit youthful than Gleason: Elvis Costello & the Imposters.
It was the primary time the 69-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer performed the venue in practically 20 years. Costello and his four-piece backing band took to the stage at 8:15 p.m. and performed a no-nonsense set that lasted practically three hours.
Well, there was somewhat little bit of nonsense because the bespectacled singer informed tall tales between tracks. “This is a tune I discovered in a pile of outdated data, and we discovered it this afternoon,” he mentioned because the band went into an unreleased rockabilly Elvis Costello unique, “My Baby Just Squeals (You Heal),” that, in line with the web, the band had discovered not less than two nights earlier than because it was carried out on the Tallahassee and Tampa reveals as nicely.
Costello appeared to benefit from the between-song banter a lot that you simply may higher describe his set as between-banter songs. From a stage cluttered with all types of devices, he informed the viewers, “We play two sorts of songs: songs with ladies’ names in them and songs about confectionary.”
Even if I knew what confectionary is, a more true classification describing his live performance’s two sorts of songs have been the songs he sat all the way down to carry out and the songs the place he stood up. The sit-down songs weren’t essentially extra mellow. He gave plenty of gusto whereas on the piano to play “Blood & Hot Sauce” and confirmed off his multilingualism with a rendition of the Italian language tune “Dio Come Ti Amo.”
But he was in an upright place for many of his early songs from the Nineteen Seventies. He modified the preparations for many of these requirements. “Watching the Detective” acquired spooky, freaky, and somewhat experimental because it was prolonged and drawn out well beyond its conventional under-four-minute operating time. The low-energy remodeling of “Pump It Up” was much less efficient.
Costello’s songs are typically too wordy for viewers sing-alongs, however he stored the tracks that allowed for crowd participation somewhat extra devoted to their recorded kind. For “Less than Zero,” followers may shout out, “Hey, re-e-ed,” and for “Alison,” he left sufficient house that the gang might be those who sing, “My intention is true.”
After a rendition of “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding,” Costello and his band stood heart stage to simply accept what gave the impression to be their last applause, however they determined to play one last quantity which mixed the sit-down and stand-up Costello earlier than morphing into one thing else sudden.
It was a model of “I Want You,” the 1986 tune that begins as a slower form of ballad, however after the primary couple of minutes, it rocks somewhat more durable. As the band jammed, Costello left the protection of the stage and microphone, grabbed a bull horn, walked among the many seats on the ground, and stored singing. He threw in some lyrics from John Lennon and Dionne Warwick and even performed round with the results of the megaphone with police sirens added to the combo, and identical to that, the Fillmore was again.
Setlist:
– “A Town Called Riddle”
– “Waiting for the End of the World”
– “Strict Time”
– “Hetty O’Hara Confidential”
– “Radio Radio”
– “I Hope You’re Happy Now”
– “My Baby Just Squeals (You Heal)”
– “I Don’t Want Your Lyndon Johnson”
– “Like Licorice on Your Tongue”
– “Mystery Dance”
– “Watching the Detectives”
– “Everyday I Write the Book”
– “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes”
– “Less Than Zero”
– “Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy”
– “Blood & Hot Sauce”
– “Dio Come Ti Amo”/”Almost Blue”
– “Clubland”
– “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea”
– “Magnificent Hurt”
– “Pump It Up”
– “Alison”
– “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding”
– “I Want You”