Elvis Is King

It's amazing what one guy can do with a great voice, a guitar and a magnificent back catalogue of songs for all occasions. To be strictly accurate there were five guitars on stage for Mr Costello's concert last night, ranging from an electric which responded to a number of tastefully deployed foot pedals to a nylon stringed number that he played sitting down, but the name of the game was simplicity and it worked wonderfully for the approximately two hour gig.

It helped enormously that we were part of an audience that reacted enthusiastically between numbers but knew when to shut up and listen. Elvis exploited the soft bits as much as he did the rock n' rollers, such that the switches in volume became part of the intended drama of the show. The degree of intimacy he conjured in what was obviously a foreign setting - he made at least two slightly rueful comments about the grandeur of the concert hall - was remarkable, assisted in no small part by the way he flung himself, sometimes literally, into his material.

And what of the material? He started with Accidents Will Happen and finished with Pump It Up which is a fair pointer to a sensible decision to base the performance around the fairly obvious hits, a policy which extended to the covers he performed, such as Good Year For The Roses (beautifully done) and She. Mind you, a cracking version of Jacky Wilson Says was unexpected and some of his own songs were slightly surprising choices - re Toledo from Painted From Memory. But all in all, it really didn't matter because the guy showed sheer class on everything. And I loved his hat.