Thursday night: Looking in a long mirror on stage at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY placed next to his high stool, the great iconoclastic singer songwriter Elvis Costello caught his own reflection — one that included a natty Trilby, the same kind kind Chalamet sports in “A Complete Unknown.”
He said, “Timothee Chalamet gave me this hat!”
Costello — a new wave musical descendant of Bob Dylan — took a beat, admiring himself, and observed: “I’d like Timothee Chalamet to play ME in a movie!” The set up was perfect if for nothing else Costello crossed generations. He’s no “Man out of Time” (included later in the set list).
With that, Costello’s two man show with ace pianist and keyboardist Steve Nieve began in what turned out to be an unexpected gem mixing lively comic patter with insanely nuanced musicianship.
Costello and Nieve are usually part of the four or five members of The Imposters, but on Thursday — and this tour — they were on their own. That may suggest a stark presentation. But not so in this case. The duo made such a large sound that several times I looked around on stage to find the other band members, surprised to find they weren’t there.
Costello has so many songs over 48 years that most of this set — which itself is tweaked daily — contains a nice mixture of hits, recognizable tunes, and deep tracks. For hard core fans, this set list took deep dives (“Wednesday Week”), glorious mashups (“Alison” with “Everyday I Write the Book”), and soul tributes (Sam Dave’s “I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down”). Deep tracks you vaguely remember — like “Come the Meantimes” or “Shot with His Own Gun” — now have the audience — which included Jimmy Fallon and master musical director to the stars Rob Mathes — singing along.
Costello’s songs are so strong that their deconstruction into guitar and piano makes for stunning surprises. A lot of this has to do with Nieve, who can his instrument inside out to find thrilling new takes.
This was especially true on 1977’s tongue twisty “I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea,” which the pair reinvented with stuttering syncopation. The stage seemed to levitate during the shredding. Even the retiring Nieve agreed with me afterwards when I mentioned this startling moment to him that it was “something special.”
Quite a night — and one not be missed as Costello and Nieve continue their way through the next two weeks more including four splendid nights in Chicago. (Lucky them!)
Photo c2025 Showbiz411
