There's an entertainer in a checkered suit, a jaunty hat and a flower in his lapel. There are go-go girls (in a cage!), an onstage bar and a bloody big chocolate wheel. No, it's not Wednesday raffle night at the local RSL. This is Elvis Costello, embracing the showbiz, his back catalogue and even a number of members of the audience.
It's the comfortable Costello show, with The Imposters an impossibly sharp band, two-thirds of them from when he was just a precocious musical talent sweeping in on the coattails of punk; even if drummer Pete Thomas now looks a little too like Jeremy Clarkson, down to the loud floral shirt. A short sharp shove of songs kick-started the evening: I Hope You're Happy Now, Nick Lowe's propulsive Heart Of The City and Mystery Dance and Radio Radio. How's that for starters?
But the night's conceit is audience participation: singles and couples plucked from the crowd to spin the musical wheel of 30-odd songs, then encouraged to dance along, have a gaudily coloured cocktail and/or propose to one another. Again, two out of three. The concept sputtered occasionally, whether on the random song that came up didn't quite flow with what had gone before, or the personalities (or lack thereof) of the chosen public. So let's just fall back on those tunes. The hits – Pump It Up, Alison, Oliver's Army – offset with lesser knowns: the emotionally textured Indoor Fireworks or Long Honeymoon's layered noir.
The wheel is eventually rigged – or ignored altogether – and masterpieces of various styles are extant. There's an urgent take on High Fidelity. Elvis and Steve Nieve do the delicate She as just voice and piano – the once Declan McManus channelling his dad's big-band crooning days. And if there's a more definitive closing song than (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love & Understanding?, answers on the back of an envelope thanks.
It's a concept where Costello grab-bags his own work, seemingly finally happy to love it all, when sometimes in the past he very obviously wasn't. And most of us out front are happy to play whatever part he wants us to. Splendid entertainment.
