live:
Elvis Costello @ Melbourne Concert Hall 16/7/02
posted by david
on Tue 23 Jul 2002 @ 09:10 PM
The last time I saw Elvis Costello live was at the magnificent Royal Albert Hall in London doing his two-man show with keyboardist Steve Nieve. I came away from it thinking that bits were good but I'd rather see what he was like with a band. Seeing him with a band at one of his recent Melbourne shows, I found myself thinking the same thing: bits were good. His new album isn't doing a lot for me, perhaps because it feels like he's going through the motions and not really challenging himself. Hearing many of the new songs live didn't change my opinion of them much, as songs like "Alibi" still rely more on repetition than any genuinely worthwhile hook to be memorable. Having said that, he did give some of his back catalogue a thorough workout (eg. "Alison", "Watching The Detectives", a powerful "I Want You"), his new "soul" song did sound great and he played for a very healthy two and half hours. This was my first show at the Melbourne Concert Hall and while I had what seemed to be a good seat (5th row back from the stage) I was a little horrified by the sound mix, which seemed to reverberate around the hall so that I could hear every nuance of Steve Nieve's annoyingly persistent organ playing but I sometimes had trouble making out the riffing of Elvis' guitar, even when he was soloing.
The last time I saw Elvis Costello live was at the magnificent Royal Albert Hall in London doing his two-man show with keyboardist Steve Nieve. I came away from it thinking that bits were good but I'd rather see what he was like with a band. Seeing him with a band at one of his recent Melbourne shows, I found myself thinking the same thing: bits were good. His new album isn't doing a lot for me, perhaps because it feels like he's going through the motions and not really challenging himself. Hearing many of the new songs live didn't change my opinion of them much, as songs like "Alibi" still rely more on repetition than any genuinely worthwhile hook to be memorable. Having said that, he did give some of his back catalogue a thorough workout (eg. "Alison", "Watching The Detectives", a powerful "I Want You"), his new "soul" song did sound great and he played for a very healthy two and half hours. This was my first show at the Melbourne Concert Hall and while I had what seemed to be a good seat (5th row back from the stage) I was a little horrified by the sound mix, which seemed to reverberate around the hall so that I could hear every nuance of Steve Nieve's annoyingly persistent organ playing but I sometimes had trouble making out the riffing of Elvis' guitar, even when he was soloing.
