I walked into Elvis Costello and the Imposters’ first show in the Tampa Bay Area in four years last night not knowing what exactly to expect. Not only because I’m still a newbie to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer’s extensive catalog. This tour is called Just Trust, which means that in terms of the setlist, anything is possible. Hits? Deep cuts? Only those gracing the stage knew. It’s almost like a Springsteen tour, except no requests or anything.
The Everyday I Write The Book rocker came onstage almost a half hour late, but started energetically no less, by speeding right into 1981’s Strict Time. Two of the three original members of Elvis Costello’s Attractions are still spending their time backing Costello up, as members of The Imposters. Yeah, it’s basically The Attractions, minus original bassist Bruce Thomas.
“We never get to play palaces like this!” Costello remarked before telling a story of his early days touring. “All of this luxury and attention, I have to confess, went to my head” The luxury stopped for awhile, though, because he, later on, found himself falling in love with his cab driver, and later argued with her about the radio. That anecdote lead him to get a hit, Accidents Will Happen, out of the way early on.
Immediately following was super-deep cut Charm School, which has not been played on tour since its release in 1983. The slightly-less recently dusted off Tears Before Bedtime took us back to a harder time in Costello’s career. “I was trying to rid the world of alcohol…by drinking all of it.” he recalled. A song or two later, some roadies lightened the mood by running onstage, to prop up a different mike for Costello to belt into, which would make the same sort of distorted 1950s sound, like he was doing rockabilly, which he was basically about to. Mystery Dance, off of his 1977 debut album My Aim Is True, was the banger he selected to dust off, in that vocal rockabilly style.
After a rousing rendition of Watching The Detectives, Costello, with backup singers Kitten Kuroi and Briana Lee right beside him for the rest of the show, sat down at Steve Nieve’s piano. He’d plink out The Greatest Love, which was dedicated to his dear friend Allen Toussaint, who passed away four years ago to show-date. Next came an ever-so-slightly more upbeat Blood & Hot Sauce, from his upcoming musical, A Face In The Crowd (of which the title track would be played next.) “It’s a good campaign song, for if you need to run…from anything.” he expressed.
Costello got back up, and the rest of the band finished the set in overdrive, starting off a (mostly) early Attractions-era set with This Year’s Girl. A few other smashers were included: An all-hands-in Beyond Belief, the setlist regular High-Fidelity, and obvious crowd-pleasers Pump It Up, and What’s So Funny ‘Bout (Peace, Love, and Understanding).
The Imposters closed out the show with Alison, along with Costello introducing the band for the third time, and part of The Supremes’ I’m Gonna Make You Love Me. So yes, there were a number of hits that were notably missed. But would I loan my trust to Elvis Costello in this way again? Most likely. There were some moments during the show that a decades long die-hard fan of his would kill to be a part of. And there are certainly moments that many of those die-hards have seen that I’d kill to be in his presence for.
But look: After Costello’s very brief cancer scare last year, it’s a blessing that he still performs, even more so with two of the people who were there to watch him revolutionize his genre.
Josh Bradley Live 
One reply on “CONCERT REVIEW: Elvis Costello and the Imposters borrow trust of fans at the Mahaffey Theater”
Love your blog on this .made me feel i was there .thank you.keep up the great write ups
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