Friday, May 20, 2011

Elvis Costello Revolver Tour

First off, I'm going to complain. Not about Elvis, but about people. I don't like venues where beer is served, especially if you can take the beer to your seat. Why? People are constantly walking around (to go get beer, come back with beer, or go for a piss cause they drank so much beer), some people get drunk, and some of those drunk people get stupid. Two guys actually yelled at/jeered/heckled Elvis last night. I was in shock. It was rude. Beyond rude. I was worried that we'd all be punished if Elvis decided to walk off and not come back. But Elvis is cool. He walked off, changed jackets, and came back. Thank you Elvis.

So I was wondering why this tour was called the Revolver Tour. I guess it is for two reasons--he played mostly old songs, and there was a giant spinning wheel of songs on stage. After Elvis and the Imposters came out and played a couple of songs Elvis put on a top hat and grabbed a cane. He announced that his name was Napoleon Dynamite and that someone would have to come up and spin the wheel to pick the next song. He picked out a girl from the audience with a spotlight and she came up on stage, spun the wheel, and then she got to stay up on stage while he played that song and another one. She got to sit at "the lounge" and have a drink, and even got to dance in the go go cage and with Elvis. So cool.

A girl (with a really nice ass) in a crazy outfit (think bright colors, spandex, bell bottoms, stripes) brought people up onto the stage and they spun the wheel and Elvis played whatever the wheel said. The purple wedges had words on them that signified a set of songs. Somebody spun Napoleon Solo--which meant that Elvis got to pick the song and do a solo. Someone spun Joana, which is slang for piano, so Steve Nieve got to pick the song and Elvis sang it with only the piano and guitar. The purple wedge marked Time was for a bunch of songs with the word time in them. And there were many other songs. Elvis even came out into the audience to sing one song, and he came out himself to pick someone to spin the wheel.

After about an hour and twenty minutes the guys all walked off stage. That's pretty normal. He takes a 2 minute break, then comes back. Elvis walked back on stage (alone) in a plaid coat and said it was time to play his Napoleon solo. He played two songs from his newest album--National Ransom. Ross and I really like the first one Slow Drag with Josephine. I'll put it under songs stuck in my head if you want to download it. This is when the yelling happened. It seems these guys didn't want to hear new songs, or Elvis acoustic solos. Whatever. Douches.

Elvis walked off after those two songs, changed into a gold jacket, and came back with the guys for another set. No one spun the wheel. They just played song after song, after song. Then it was over (pouty face.)

I just bought a ticket to see Elvis at the Wolf Trap on June 15th. Woohoo!


The go go dancer did her thing during a lot of the songs. It was kind of entrancing.

I love Elvis. Oh, and a special shout out to Steve Nieve. I love him too. He played the theremin.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

What time did he come on stage and how long was the concert in all? Can't wait - going on Monday!

k. said...

Anon: I'd say he came on at about 8:20, maybe earlier. It was raining pretty hard, so I think they were just waiting for everyone to arrive and get in. There was no opening act. I'd say he played for about two hours total. He was done at 10:20. As always, he put on a great show.

Nicole said...

Looks like a fun show. Love the colorful stage setup and the dancer in the cage.

Eddie (Surprise, I'm not a man!) said...

Hey! I was at that show also! And I happened to be two rows right in front of the heckler. I turned around and asked who said that and he wouldn't confess. Saw a big man with a Superman shirt on, thought it was him, and called him "Super Fatty". lol Oh well, it made me feel better. It was a great show as always. I've been lucky enough to get front row center at the Count Basie Theater in Jersey on July 26th. Can't wait for that! I've seen Elvis too many times to count and often have been front row center at the standing gigs. (Electric Factory, Festival Pier, etc) He always puts on a great show and I would expect nothing less from my favorite man of all time! I wanted to be in that cage soooo badly!! (Pouty face for me too)

Eddie (Surprise, I'm not a man!) said...

Oh, BTW, there is a presale happening at 12:00 today for tickets at the Borgota in AC for sometime in July. go to this link and enter the username Elvis and the password Costello if you want to get them. http://tixx1.artistarena.com/elviscostello

k. said...

Eddie,

Don't you love opening your email and seeing a message from Elvis Costello? Getting tickets for the AC show is tempting....

Too bad I can't just jet over to Prague in November to see him play. I'm really curious what his show is like when he plays abroad (I know it's great, I'm more curious about the audience and vibe I guess.)

Have a good time at the Count Basie.

Eddie (Surprise, I'm not a man!) said...

Thanks! I do love those emails. I guess you get them too. I would love to Jet over to Prague anytime but to see Elvis would def top that trip off. Take care!