W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve Live at The Count Basie Theatre (2025-02-21)

The first time I saw Elvis Costello and The Attractions was in March of 1979 at New York City’s Palladium.  I drove down to the city from Ithaca in my friend Rich’s VW bug and as it would turn out, we smoked a little too much weed on the drive and almost ended up in Harrisburg, PA.  The 3 Mile Island nuclear accident had only occurred 2 days before this, so driving to Harrisburg certainly was not in our best interest.  We were able to right our course and managed to get to the show in plenty of time in order to see the opening act, one of the unheralded power pop bands of all time, The Rubinoos who were riding the crest of the wave called “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”.  But I digress.  Oh, as long as I’m digressing, this was also about a week or so after Costello got into a bar fight (and a multitude of other trouble in Cleveland, OH after he dissed both Ray Charles and James Brown while out drinking with Bonnie Bramlett).  He would actually apologize from the stage of The Palladium for his transgressions this night.  But lets get back on topic.

I would see Costello numerous times afterwards over the years and can honestly say that he pretty much never disappointed.  The announcement last November that he would be doing a tour with his longtime keyboard player, Steve Nieve left me with lttle doubt that I needed to catch this show.  The fact that Elvis and Steve are musical brothers in the same vein as Jerry and Bobby, Bruce and Clarence and Sinatra and Nelson Riddle, who very rarely take to the road as a duo was enough reason for me.  Coupling that with the fact that their 5 disc limited edition release titled Costello & Nieve from 1996 is, in my humble opinion, a masterpiece was just icing on the cake that this show could not be missed.

Upon arriving at the theatre, I became somewhat confused seeing microphones and guitars scattered all over the stage.  There was also a really sweet white and sea foam green Fender Rhodes (an instrument I wasn’t familiar with Nieve playing) set up on the left of the stage quite a distance from the Steinway Grand over on stage right.  The show was advertised as just the two of them, yet it sure looked like there was much more in store for us.  As it would turn out, everything was arranged this way just for the two musicians.  Elvis would make his way throughout the evening meandering all about the stage and no matter where he ended up he was fully equipped for what he had in mind.  (It wouldn’t be until the show was under way that it became noticeable that in addition to the instruments laid out all over, there were also small computer screens placed strategically across the stage for lyrical purposes…Costello songs tend to be rather wordy).

The show began with just EC stage right comfortably sitting on a bar stool with an acoustic guitar commencing the night’s music with a very tender and stripped down version of Goodbye Cruel World’s “Deportee”.  Next up would be a deep cut from Blood and Chocolate called “Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head”.  In classic Costello humor, while fiddling with his capo, he explained that he learned how to use it from Timothee Chalamet, who he thought did a great job portraying Dylan in “that” movie.  He would go on to say that he hoped that someday Timothee would get the opportunity to play him in a future Costello biopic.

Steve Nieve would make his entrance for the third song of the evening, “When I Was Cruel No. 2” which they played in a rocking tempo and even included a tease of the ABBA hit “Dancing Queen”.

This seems like as good a place as any to explain how throughout the evening the duo would manage to re-arrange, re-interpret and ultimately transfix what were extremely memorable tunes into things which were fresh, new and quite different.  When I say this, and I say this as a huge Dylan fanatic, these changes weren’t like the things that Bob does by morphing his classics into songs completely adrift from the original.  No, Costello and Nieve all evening long changed arrangements, tempos, genres and in some cases melodies but these alterations were never once unintelligible.  Sure it might take a couple of bars of a particular song to figure out what they were doing but once it clicked, that light bulb in your head would go off and the first thought would always be, “AHHH shit, that’s awesome!”.  Whether it was the flamenco version of “Almost Blue”, the scat-like rendition of “Less Than Zero”, or  “Clubland” as a bosa nova dance romp (complete with a tease of The Special’s “Ghost Town”), the changes to each and every tune was refreshing, spontaneous and pretty much perfect.  That being said, my favorite number of the evening had to have been the morphing of The Sam and Dave classic, “I Can’t Stand Up From Falling Down” from 1980’s Get Happy into a bible thumping call and response gospel tune.

All in all, the very fortunate sold out crowd was treated to 22 or 23 songs depending if you count the crowd’s sing along of “Happy Birthday” in honour of Steve’s birthday which was that night as an official song.  Costello would introduce “Isabelle In Tears” as the last song of the evening to the dismay of almost everyone in the room but then went on to play four more songs including a fantastic reworking of “Allison” with EC on that Fender Rhodes I mentioned earlier.  Oh, and as a cool spin on the song, he also threw in a verse of “Everyday I Write The Book” which was a really nice addition.  Not surprisingly, the night was closed out with a rousing rave-up of “What’s So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding” with the entire theatre standing, dancing and singing along with Elvis and Steve (who also sang one verse of the song).

The night turned out to be everything I could have wanted and then some.  Costello appears to be in the best shape I’ve seen him in, in years.  At this point in his career, no he can’t hit all the notes, but I commend him for trying.  That being said, the notes that he couldn’t hit were more than made up for with the ones he did make.  Numerous times throughout the evening, he would shift over into a high pitched falsetto which I was unfamiliar with and he totally nailed it.

Costello and Nieve have two more shows this week in the NY metro area, one at The Wellmont Theatre (Montclaire, NJ) and the other at The Capitol Theatre (Port Chester, NY) and a whole bunch of others throughout the country.  I do have to admit though, I’m still holding out hope that his summer “Soul Radio:  Early Songs” Tour with The Imposters adds a New York date.

SLIDESHOW:

SETLIST:

Deportee

Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head

When I Was Cruel No. 2
(with “Dancing Queen”)

Less Than Zero

Motel Matches
Harpies Bizarre
Shot With His Own Gun
Alibi
American Gangster Time
Shabby Doll
Brilliant Mistake
Dio, come ti amo / Almost Blue
Clubland
(With “Ghost Town”)
(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea
Happy Birthday to You
(For Steve Nieve)
The Long Honeymoon
I Still Have That Other Girl
She
Isabelle in Tears
Alison
Come the Meantimes
I Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down
(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding