Sound check at Elvis Costello
Last night Tess and I went to see Elvis Costello. Our friend Laurel ordered the tickets the first day they went on sale months ago. As it turns out, Laurel must have been the first one on the phone. Laurel claims she asked for "the best seats" and sure enough, we sat in the front row, dead centre. Coincidentally, we met some people from Union Church in the same row (who shall remain nameless to protect their identity because last night was the Union Church AGM and this might end up being the one blog per year that Pastor Greg reads… but hey, WWJD? I think he'd honour a commitment to Elvis!) Meanwhile, in the 3rd row sat a dozen people from the newly planted Watermark Church. I cheekily said to them, "I guess this is the Union Church row." As I sat there, remembering all the times I've been to a concert and eagled eyed the front row to see who got the best seats. I slouched lower. (Above: final sound checks before the concert began.)
But slouching was impossible. Elvis Costello put on a stunning performance. I have always liked Elvis not just because he had great music, but because I identified with him. He is a bit quirky, wore the suits, recorded a popular album "Live at the El Mocambo" at a Toronto rock club, married a Canadian. When I learned he was playing solo, I wondered how he'd replicate all of his songs without accompanying instrumentation. Well Elvis and his seven guitars – one of which had written on the back "Forget Iraq ~ Rebuild New Orleans", demonstrated his amazing guitar skills and diverse vocal abilities. He played most of the old favs including "Oliver's Army" during an encore.
Elvis worked the crowd well, often departing from the microphone and amps to sing unaided, just Elvis and a guitar, walking the stage, singing to the various sections in the audience. The crowd silent, listening, expecting and enjoying.
But the quietest moment in the evening had to be during one of Elvis' encores (yes, Singapore, cheer for more on Monday and Elvis will return again!) During the encore Elvis sat back in a chair to strum his way into the hugely successful Notting Hill cover of "She." There was no cheering from the crowd. The crowd went silent. Most people have a special person or memory associated with this song (for me it's Tantalizing Tess) that would have been pulled out of the recesses of peoples' minds as Elvis performed. I believe the crowd was also silent because they knew Elvis does an extraordinary version of She. For the three and a half minutes he played this song, no one wanted to miss a note or tone. We were stopped in time, enjoying the present, pleasurably reminded by the past, anticipating the future.
Epilogue: surprise, surprise, here is a You Tube video of "She" from last night…
