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PASTEL BLUE
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Steve Nieve is a phenomenally versatile pianist. The Brodsky String Quartet can get as funky as a spirited klezmer outfit that honed its musical style studying with Irish fiddlers. Oh yeah, and Elvis Costello is a reliably sad and restless rock icon, as he reconfirmed at the Wang Theatre for two hours last Friday night when he appeared with his keyboardist from the Attractions and the classical foursome. If necessity is the mother of invention, Costello, in his hallmark specs and with a loose, chunky knot in his blue tie, respected that mother as he flaunted, yet again, his tendency for reinventing himself. But in the mid ’80s, when my friend’s big brother yanked out a piece of vinyl he called This Year’s Model, I never could have imagined that the cranky crooner behind those hard-edged tunes would put on a show where shushing in the audience was as common as "yee-haw" at a rodeo. (Ushers even offered a harsh warning to one man in a gray hooded sweatshirt that matched his hair. To judge by how well he knew every word to all the songs, he just wanted to show off his devotion.) Costello has always been emotional, never ashamed to wear his heart out, but it was more fun when those emotions were icing on a heaping helping of punk attitude. After all, this is the guy behind albums like Get Happy!! and Goodbye Cruel World. He opened the show with "45," then moved on to unleash a salvo of almost-anthems, like "Accidents Will Happen" and "Inch by Inch," that were clear reminders — in case you needed them — of the rock that forms the core of his soul. But the songs he showcased from last year’s North (Deutsche Grammophon) come from a harder place: wallowing, navel-gazing sadness. If once he was almost blue, now he’s entirely blue in pastel shades that are light on the ears. Thank goodness Nieve’s abilities were ravishing at his least impressive moments. And thank goodness Costello is prone to sudden mood swings. Even the lite ballads didn’t dim his sense of humor. No, that sole singing audience member wasn’t the only comic relief. The night’s high point — besides "Watching the Detectives" and a cheeky snatch of "Fever" — was the lounge-singer-style spiel he broke into during "God’s Comic." He painted Heaven as an image of a VIP lounge in a bad nightclub à la 1985, then did some work on this year’s model of the world, taking jabs at everything from right-wing religious fundamentalists to Dick Cheney to the Country Music Awards. Divine comedy indeed.
BY LIZA WEISSTUCH
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