Elvis Costello & The Imposters: The Boy Named If & Other Favourites 07/06/2022

Where: The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall – Glasgow, Scotland (UK)

Venue rating: 9/10 (Nice looking building and well sign-posted but a bit basic)

Who I went with: Solo again

Where I stayed: Hotel Ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square (It was nice and everything was straight-forward)

How I travelled there: Bus

Beverage of choice: None this time

SETLIST:

Heart Of The City (Nick Lowe Cover)
Green Shirt (Elvis Costello & The Attractions Cover)
Either Side Of The Same Town
Hetty O’Hara Confidential (Elvis Costello Song)
Hey Clockface/How Can You Face Me? (Elvis Costello Song)
Mystery Dance (Elvis Costello Song)
Truth Drug (Nick Lowe Cover)
The Difference
Alison (Elvis Costello Song)
Indoor Fireworks (Elvis Costello Song)
Penelope Halfpenny
What If I Can’t Give You Anything But Love?
Newspaper Pane (Elvis Costello Song)
Shipbuilding (Elvis Costello & The Attractions Cover)
A Good Year For The Roses (George Jones Cover)
The Comedians (Elvis Costello & The Attractions Cover)
The Death Of Magic Thinking
(I Don’t Want To) Go To Chelsea (Elvis Costello & The Attractions Cover)
Magnificent Hurt
Mr. And Mrs. Hush
Pump It Up (Elvis Costello Song)
(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding (Brinsley Schwarz Cover)
We Are All Cowards Now (Elvis Costello Song)

It was another beautiful sunny day in Glasgow. It reached twenty degrees this time, which is not hot but still rare for Scotland. I hope this trend of nice weather continues for my future concerts in Glasgow but I have my doubts. Most of the events I have booked are at indoor venues anyway but it’s still nice to live in hope. I got a bus from Inverness and didn’t have any issues, which was amazing because I know there are often issues as the service can be quite unreliable. I wish I lived in Glasgow, so I wouldn’t have to worry about public transport. I decided to see Elvis Costello since I was beginning to get addicted to live music and the freedom and independence of going to events on my own – something I never thought was possible before this year due to anxiety ruling my life. I have been researching musicians from the seventies and eighties and his music resonated with me quite a lot. The lyrics are always meaningful and his songs have excellent catchy melodies.

Ian Prowse was the opening act along with his two band members, whose names I can’t find online. IP is also the frontman of Amsterdam and Pele, which I found a bit confusing. It says on his Twitter page “It’s all exactly the same thing”, so he presumably performs a mix of songs from each band at his shows. He is apparently a local legend in Liverpool and a lot of people seemed to know him, though I hadn’t heard his music before. I came across his Tweet earlier in the day about a pre-show performance in Love Music, the small record shop just up from George Square. I had just enough time to check-in and get there for 4pm. He started introducing himself just as I walked through the door, so I timed it well. I didn’t want to make awkward small talk with everyone else there. They played a good number of songs from the new album, ‘One Hand On The Starry Plow’. I bought the CD at the end but there wasn’t a lot of pressure to do so, I just thought it would be a nice souvenir. I wasn’t courageous enough to ask him to sign it for me but I wasn’t worried about that. He was pleased with the decent turnout, for such a tiny space. He recognised most of the faces there, who seem to follow him about like groupies. I imagined it would be bigger inside but we were all standing shoulder to shoulder. I was happy to get out but would like to go back when it’s quieter and browse the hundreds of CDs they have in there. Fans were impressed with their performance later in the night too and I could see the similarities between their songs and Elvis Costello’s. EC also lived in Liverpool for a long time.

The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall was well-organised but I was surprised to be let in before 7pm. I was sitting on the steps by the front door doing my best to avoid chewing gum all over them when I noticed people were streaming in. There were very little security checks in place but the staff were friendly and polite. Sometimes venues can be extremely strict and make sure to check your bag and ID etc. It’s probably more lax in Scotland because we experience less crime here but I would still prefer they did thorough checks. You never really know who you’re letting in. I appreciated the sign on the doors to say what time EC was expected to come on stage (8:45pm), as a lot of the time you are left guessing unless they post the schedule online. This gave me plenty time to roam around but there wasn’t a lot to do except eat, drink or visit the merch stall. I felt like the only person under thirty years old but it makes sense that he has an older audience, considering when he reached the height of his fame. I bought my ticket late, so could only manage to get a seat in Row R. I was pretty central and could still see well but my photos weren’t the greatest.

There were a few songs on the set list I didn’t already know. I researched some of the more obscure ones before coming but the set list differed wildly from Brighton’s one a couple of nights earlier. I like that he does a few deep-cuts and doesn’t only rely on the hits to please everyone. He had two microphones and sometimes sang through a megaphone, which I’d never seen anyone do before. It was a very creative idea and added a new spin to the songs. A woman in front of me got very excited when he started to sing ‘Green Shirt’ and said it is one of her favourites. He tends to switch his biggest hits around each night and I was excited about the ones we got but was disappointed he didn’t do ‘Oliver’s Army’, even though I knew he wasn’t planning to perform that again live. Another one I would have liked to have heard is ‘Watching The Detectives’, as I have possibly listened to that the most. He always does ‘Pump It Up’. It already feels like ‘The Boy Named If’ was released ages ago, not only January of this year. The new songs blended in so well with the classics but I would have liked to have heard more of them. He only performed two or three from the new album.

He talked a lot about the recent Jubilee celebrations, which I watched to see Queen, Alicia Keys and Duran Duran perform. Someone booed and he replied that was kind of how he felt about the whole thing as well. He made some inappropriate jokes about it that didn’t go down well as he wasn’t doing a fantastic job of reading the room. He also complained about Rod Stewart’s performance of ‘Sweet Caroline’ before apologising for tearing it apart because he is “one of ours”. I could tell he was saying everything in good humour but not a lot of people were taking him on. I don’t think he was trying to antagonise anyone but he got into a lot of trouble over the next few days following what he said at this gig. His negative comments even made it into the newspapers and he and Rod Stewart had a bit of an argument on Twitter. RS explained he was recovering from COVID which explains why his voice was so rough during the performance but he didn’t want to let everyone down.

He also talked about growing up Catholic and told a funny story about being told he needed to confess a sin at seven years old. He chose to confess to “adultery” even though he didn’t know what it was, he just “thought it sounded cool”. He joked he didn’t know anyone who owned an oxen, so he wouldn’t have been able to steal one. He also discussed how he has been busy making new music and joked he has ‘Scotch Model’ and ‘Japanese Model’ lined up for release, after ‘Spanish Model’. A drunk woman kept shouting down to him from one of the balconies and you could tell she was getting on EC’s nerves. Sometimes she wouldn’t let him speak or finish his stories and the security guards took ages to take action. She was shouting “You’re a legend” and other positive remarks but was creating a sour atmosphere because she wouldn’t stop. Elvis told her “Shhh!” a few times and then claimed his electric guitar is louder than her and could easily drown her out.

He received a much-deserved standing ovation at the end and seemed to enjoy the attention and praise he was receiving. On the way out, I heard someone say he should have ended on the second last song as it would have made a better finale. People stood up and then awkwardly sat back down again for the last song, which was slow and not known by as many people. I queued for the merch stall and asked the man about the new ‘Rusty’ CD but he said they didn’t have any. I’d seen online they would have a limited number of copies at the show, so I was probably too late in asking about it. It was officially released a few days later, so I didn’t have long to wait. Queuing turned out to be worth it anyway because IP was there signing things and asked what a boy’s name was and he replied “Diego”. It was funny because there is a track on the album called that and it’s such an unusual name. Overall, it was a great experience and worth the tedious trip down. I was captivated from beginning to end and I would be happy to see the band again if I get a chance.

GALLERY: