On Wednesday evening we went to the Mondavi Center in nearby Davis, CA to see legendary singer-songwriter-musician Elvis Costello. I’ve seen him at least 7 or 8 times over the years, maybe more, and he has never disappointed. And now he has so much poise and stage presence that he can perform with any version of his numerous bands, or even solo. And that’s what he did here. It was just him and his guitar. Well, he had about 8 or so different guitars, for different sounds on different songs, but you get the idea. He stood and/or moved around for most songs, but sat for a few.

He chatted between songs and was his usual witty self. He noted he hadn’t been back to Davis since the late 70s in the Coffeehouse, when people threw drink cups at him. This time he received a much warmer reception. The crowd wanted a second encore but the lights were turned on and it was not to be. But he did play songs from throughout his long career, including three new unreleased songs, also a couple others I didn’t know, and string of classics, including the following (not in order and not necessarily a complete list):

Alison – a quite, sparse version that was ethereal and beautiful
Watching The Detectives – very noisy, feedback and distorted guitar, accompanied by self-recorded-on-stage parts
The Angels Want To Wear My Red Shoes
Man Out Of Time – a pretty, haunting version
God’s Comic – great, w/ audience backup singing
Brilliant Mistake (aka King of America)
Down Among The Wines And Spirits – from his latest album
From Sulfur To Sugarcane – a fun, recent song and he was enjoying it
Either Side Of The Same Town – scaled down version
45 – he opened with this acoustic version of the rock track
Everyday I Write The Book (Punch The Clock) – “a song I hate” he said laughing, it was a great acoustic version
Radio Sweetheart/Jackie Wilson Said – two songs in one, the latter a Van Morrison song

With hundreds and hundreds of songs to chose from, those were a pretty good selection. It covered his first album up to his latest, but of course I wanted more! I have to say, since it was my first visit to this venue, that the Mondavi Center is a great theater to see a show, with fine acoustics and a modern airy feel. I would love to see more artists like Elvis play there.

The local paper also reviewed the show here.

Do you have an opinion? If so let me know, leave a comment…

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