More Thoughts on Elvis Costello: The Boy Named If

Elvis Costello and the Imposters

Elvis Costello continues to charm the pants off his audiences. It’s something he’s done successfully in a music career that’s spanned more than five decades. He’s one of his generation’s greatest songwriters and performers – and one of many reasons I never tire of seeing him perform live in concert. 

Costello has worked diligently at his craft to attain a special place in the music world. Whether with a simple wink of the eye, a friendly smile or just the right choice of words and upbeat tone of voice, the bespectacled and iconic English musician, who was once described by a critic as a “pop encyclopedia,” has become a master of the craft of storytelling.

Last week at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Va., near Washington, D.C., in what was my 13th time to see Costello in concert since the early ‘80s, Costello delighted the baby-boomer crowd with disposable money that flocked to see him and his band, the Imposters (Steve Nieve on keyboards, Pete Thomas on drums, Davey Faragher on bass, Charlie Sexton on assorted guitars) and joined by guest vocalist Nicole Atkins – plus special guests Nick Lowe and Los Straightjackets – with his good-natured manner and geniality of performing. The singer-songwriter, who turns 68 on August 25, has taken great care of himself and of the stories he shares with his audiences, through his musical lyrics and interpretation.

Nick Lowe and Los Straightjackets

Musically, throughout his 105-minute performance, Costello moved freely between playing a canon of his most-recognized hits – “Accidents Will Happen,” “Watching the Detectives,” “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea,” “Pump It Up,” and “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding,” which he performed with Lowe – and also a quartet of new songs from his most recent album, “The Boy Named If.” The set list on this night totaled 17 songs. Throughout, Costello’s material was filled full of rich characters loaded with plenty of desire mixed with heartache. 

What one learns from going to so many Elvis Costello shows through the years – and whether seeing him perform with his original band the Attractions, current band the Imposters, with special guests such as the late great New Orleans pianist Allen Toussaint or backed by a symphony orchestra – is that Costello is truly a music fan. He also delights in championing the works of other musicians, whether it be from country star George Jones or rock guitarist and producer T Bone Burnett – or even the influential Philadelphia hip-hop band The Roots. Through the years, Costello has also collaborated with Burt Bacharach and duetted with Tony Bennett. 

Filene Center at Wolf Trap, Vienna, Va.

Looking back, Costello has immersed himself in pop, rock and roll, country, Americana, soul and jazz, among the many genres that he’s mastered. In a Costello show, he’s not afraid to share many of the lessons he’s learned growing up in a Liverpool music family and we’re rewarded with songs that are as literate as they are artful. I am reminded of when my wife and I took the train to Philadelphia last October just to see Costello perform at The Met, an old opera house in north Philly, and he charmed us with a hauntingly beautiful minor-key tango that blended his own song “Brilliant Mistake” with the 1930s Al Dubin-penned “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” that was a hit song for Bennett among many.

Throughout his Wolf Trap performance, Costello showed he can be acerbic and witty, as well as lamenting and sad. There’s always a fine balance between rock and balladry in a Costello performance and this one was no different from the other 12 shows I had seen over the past 40 years in that regard. Yet, he also reminded us that this was no exercise in nostalgia and pastiche, either despite the age demographic of the audience – about 55 to 70 years-old – that’s been around to enjoy Costello from the beginning of his rock-n-roll career in the late ‘70s.

Collectively, Costello’s body of work is that of an adept storyteller who’s learned more than a few things from the past. On this summer night in northern Virginia, Costello took his audience on a musical journey through his expansive songbook that was as intimate as it was entertaining – and it was inspiring, too.

Elvis Costello and the Imposters

Elvis Costello’s Wolf Trap set list:

Accidents Will Happen / Green Shirt / Either Side of the Same Town / Hetty O’Hara Confidential / Mystery Dance / Watching the Detectives-Invisible Lady-Isabelle in Tears / My Most Beautiful Mistake / Still Too Soon to Know / Just About Glad / The Man You Love to Hate / Penelope Halfpenny / What If I Can’t Give You Anything But Love? / Magnificent Hurt / (I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea / Pump It Up / Indoor Fireworks (with Nick Lowe) / What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding (with Nick Lowe).

All photographs: © Michael Dickens, 2021.