In Other Musical Notes
November 2002

ELVIS COSTELLO 10/28/02 New Jersey Performing Arts Center Newark, NJ

Like several other shows that I saw on the last leg of his seemingly never-ending tour for his 2002 album When I Was Cruel and the recently-released odds and ends(i.e. remixes and live stuff) compilation Cruel Smile, this one started out a bit slowly, with good but tentative versions of such songs as "I Hope You're Happy Now" (from the great and vastly underrated 1986 masterpiece Blood and Chocolate), "Party Girl" (it was nice seeing this one with a band after the version I saw him do in '96 with just Steve Nieve accompanying him on piano) and his last single "Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution)", but once EC and his wonderful back-up band The Imposters (just the Attractions with Davey Farragher subbing on bass from the departed Bruce Thomas) tore into his 1978 hit "(I Don't Wanna Go to) Chelsea", that's when the concert really started rolling.

They proceeded to play for 2 hours and approximately 20 minutes of mostly raucous rock but other times sensitive, beautiful balladry. About an hour of this time was devoted to 2 exceedingly long encores. While such crowd-pleasers as "Radio Radio", the aforementioned "Chelsea" and Blood and Chocolate's "Uncomplicated" were performed very well and got the mostly 30 and 40 something audience's adrenaline pumping, it was the ballads that truly shined on this evening. For me, the real highlights were the first public performance that I know of since 1984 of "I Wanna Be Loved" (a cover of an obscure early '70's Hi Records release by a never-heard-from-again r'n'b group called Teachers Edition) since it became a moderate UK hit for Elvis in 1984 as well as a stunning rendition of "Still Too Soon to Know" an overlooked ballad from the great and equally overlooked Brutal Youth (Elvis' finest '90's album) that was performed completely off mic without any amplification whatsoever. On his previous tour (1999's "Lonely World Tour" with just Steve Nieve accompanying him on piano), he often closed the 3+ hour marathon shows with a similar, off mic rendition of "Couldn't Call It Unexpected #4", a gem on the maddeningly inconsistent (and thus sometimes great) album Mighty Like A Rose, but for my money, the version of "Still Too Soon to Know" blew that one away.

Perhaps Elvis wanted to take advantage of the "you can hear a pin drop" pitch-perfect sound of the gorgeous and pristine NJPAC, but whatever the reason, I was quite thankful. Other highlights of this wondrous concert included a great, electric version of King of America's "Brilliant Mistake" (I guess this is the type of version they were going for when EC attempted to record this one with the Attractions in the ill-fated sessions for that album; I only say "ill-fated" in reference to the fate of the Attractions on that particular album because EC and the Attractions only ended up finishing one song that ended up on that album, the masterful "Suit of Lights", while the rest of the songs featured EC being backed up by many different American session musicians), the soulful "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" that was bookended by a great version of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "You Really Got A Hold on Me", "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" and the first time on this tour (out of 6 shows) that I've heard him perform "Dissolve", a menacing song from When I Was Cruel. If I have any complaints, it's only that the version of "Dust" that he played was full of a bit too much guitar wankery for my taste and that he didn't play a few songs that I've been wanting to hear from Imperial Bedroom (perhaps my favorite of all of Costello's albums) such as "Shabby Doll" and "Human Hands" that he played at some other tour stops. Otherwise, his voice was in great form, as were the Imposters and the song selection seemed design to please both the hardcore and casual fans alike.

Overall, it was a great concert and well worth the exorbitant $65 price tag (but then again, at least we had great seats).

GLENN TILBROOK @ BB King's New York, NY 11/12/02

First of all, I have to say a few things about the venue. While the sound was OK and the view wasn't bad, even from the seats that we had which were all the way towards the side, it felt more like a museum than a rock club at times. Why? Well, in addition to the overpriced food and beverages (luckily, we had dinner beforehand since my friend had been there before and told me that the food was pricey) and the $10 per set drink minimum, as soon as you walk in, on the right-hand side there's a gift shop! Well, I guess that's the new, cleaned-up 42nd Street for you. Also, it was pretty ridiculous that there was no smoking allowed where we were sitting (although smoking was plentiful in the crowded bar area).

The opener, whose name I've already forgotten, David something or other, at first sounded like a very good Jeff Buckley imitator in the vein of say, Chris Martin from Coldplay or the singer from Starsailor, but gradually revealed himself to be more in the John Mayer/Jack Johnson singer/songwriter mold (i.e. Dave Matthews sound-a-likes popular with the hacky-sack set), though he did insert covers of songs by Prince ("When Doves Cry") and Madonna ("Dress You Up") into his set for fun. He was definitely talented, but quite derivative and definitely not my thing. Still, a pretty decent opener.

As for Tilbrook, he opened strongly with a totally unexpected and great cover of Fountains of Wayne's "Red Dragon Tattoo". It was a usual Tilbrook solo set, with Squeeze hits such as "Take Me I'm Yours", "Up the Junction", "Hourglass" and of course "Black Coffee in Bed" and "Tempted" mixed in with lesser-known (but just as great and riveting, if not more so) numbers such as the stone-cold classics "Piccadilly", "Vanity Fair" and "In Quintessence" from the great East Side Story Lp (at times I felt like it was 1981 and I was witnessing the East Side Story tour; if only I had the chance), "The Truth" from the underrated masterpiece Play, "Tough Love", "Electric Trains" (one of the evening's highlights) and several songs from his recent solo album The Incomplete Glenn Tilbrook. Not to be content with his own compositions as well as numerous Squeeze tunes, he also inserted covers of Graham Nash's "King Midas in Reverse", Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" and Todd Rundgren's "I Saw the Light" into the set.

Overall, the show was very good, but Tilbrook seemed a bit weary and a bit in a hurry to finish the performance, at least from what I could discern. Perhaps he's worn out from more than a year's worth of touring for his solo album. If so, it's completely understandable. Nevertheless, I still had a great time and I highly recommend catching Glen play solo, especially if you're a Squeeze fan.