elvis costello tour spain

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• September 5, 2023 Setlist

Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve Setlist at Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona, Spain

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• When I Was Cruel No. 2 ( Elvis Costello  cover) ( It quoted "Dancing Queen" by Abba. ) Play Video
• Talking in the Dark ( Elvis Costello & The Attractions  cover) Play Video
• Shot With His Own Gun ( Elvis Costello & The Attractions  cover) Play Video
• Accidents Will Happen ( Elvis Costello & The Attractions  cover) Play Video
• Waiting for the End of the World ( Elvis Costello  cover) Play Video
• Mistook Me For a Friend ( Elvis Costello & The Imposters  cover) Play Video
• Like Licorice on Your Tongue ( Elvis Costello  cover) Play Video
• Alison ( Elvis Costello  cover) Play Video
• Tart ( Elvis Costello  cover) Play Video
• Toledo ( Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach  cover) Play Video
• Almost Blue ( Elvis Costello & The Attractions  cover) Play Video
• Watching the Detectives ( Elvis Costello  cover) Play Video
• The Long Honeymoon ( Elvis Costello & The Attractions  cover) Play Video
• I Still Have That Other Girl ( Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach  cover) Play Video
• She ( Charles Aznavour  cover) Play Video
• The Birds Will Still Be Singing ( Elvis Costello and The Brodsky Quartet  cover) Play Video
• Shipbuilding ( Elvis Costello & The Attractions  cover) Play Video
• Cinco minutos con vos ( Elvis Costello and The Roots  cover) Play Video
• (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding ( Brinsley Schwarz  cover) ( Steve Nieve sang the second verse alone, and the second chorus along with Costello. ) Play Video
• The Whirlwind ( Elvis Costello  cover) Play Video
• I Want You ( Elvis Costello & The Attractions  cover) ( It included an interpolation of "I Believe to My Soul" by Ray Charles. ) Play Video

Edits and Comments

6 activities (last edit by Racing1986 , 6 Sep 2023, 11:31 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

• (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding by Brinsley Schwarz
• Accidents Will Happen by Elvis Costello & The Attractions
• Alison by Elvis Costello
• Almost Blue by Elvis Costello & The Attractions
• Cinco minutos con vos by Elvis Costello and The Roots
• I Still Have That Other Girl by Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach
• I Want You by Elvis Costello & The Attractions
• Like Licorice on Your Tongue by Elvis Costello
• Mistook Me For a Friend by Elvis Costello & The Imposters
• She by Charles Aznavour
• Shipbuilding by Elvis Costello & The Attractions
• Shot With His Own Gun by Elvis Costello & The Attractions
• Talking in the Dark by Elvis Costello & The Attractions
• Tart by Elvis Costello
• The Birds Will Still Be Singing by Elvis Costello and The Brodsky Quartet
• The Long Honeymoon by Elvis Costello & The Attractions
• The Whirlwind by Elvis Costello
• Toledo by Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach
• Waiting for the End of the World by Elvis Costello
• Watching the Detectives by Elvis Costello
• When I Was Cruel No. 2 by Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve

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Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve Gig Timeline

• Sep 02 2023 Teatro del Generalife Granada, Spain Add time Add time
• Sep 04 2023 Teatro Lope De Vega Madrid, Spain Start time: 8:40 PM 8:40 PM
• Sep 05 2023 Palau de la Música Catalana This Setlist Barcelona, Spain Add time Add time
• Sep 07 2023 National Concert Hall Dublin, Ireland Add time Add time
• Sep 09 2023 Kulttuuritalo Helsinki, Finland Add time Add time

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Category : 1995 Spain Tour

Pages in category "1995 spain tour".

The following 5 pages are in this category, out of 5 total.

• Concert 1995-01-23 Albacete
• Concert 1995-01-24 Cuenca
• Concert 1995-01-26 Toledo
• Concert 1995-01-27 Ciudad Real
• Concert 1995-01-28 Guadalajara

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Elvis Costello was born Declan Patrick MacManus on the 25 August 1954, he is an English singer/songwriter from Paddington, London, UK.

Born in Paddington, London, UK, Costello is the son of parents Lilian Alda and Ross MacManus, the latter of whom was a trumpet player and band leader.

Costello’s first musical endeavour was with the band Rusty, which he started when he moved to Liverpool, UK, with his mother in 1971. After returning to London, another band Flip City came into fruition and saw the singer/songwriter adopt a pub-rock style of music and performance. He was later signed to the independent label Stiff Records which suggested a name change, to which he combined Elvis Presley’s first name with the name his father performed with on stage, Costello. The label released the debut album “My Aim Is True” in 1976 to good reviews as well as the reggae-driven “Watching The Detectives”.

Later being associated with the punk and new wave scenes due to Costello’s unabashed passion and vigour. He soon made a name for himself with his eclectic, widely influenced instrumentation and style, drawing influences from folk and rock to ska and reggae, along with seemingly infinitely-literate lyrics. The 1978 album entitled “This Year’s Model” was the first recorded with his backing band The Attractions and featured more of a hard-rock sound than his earlier material.

Costello’s ambitious 1979 album “Armed Forces” took the band to No. 2 in the UK chart, as did Costello’s most successful single “Oliver’s Army”. This same year Costello found time to produce the debut album for the band The Special, sparking a ska revival.

The early 1980s were a very good time to be an Elvis Costello fan, in which time he released no fewer than nine albums including “Trust”, “Imperial Bedroom” and “Punch the Clock” and consistently toured with The Attractions, before tensions were raised between Costello and bassist Bruce Thomas, which caused a split by 1986.

The majority of Costello’s work since the split has been as a solo artist, defined by his smart and diverse wordplay, genre-blurring music style and inherent passion. Costello has been awarded numerous awards throughout his career including a grammy, two Brit Award nominations for Best British Male, has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Rolling Stone ranked the band 80th on their 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list.

Live reviews

I've been a fan of Elvis Costello's since the Seventies and must have seen him live more than fifty times, in all his different incarnations.It's a widely held view that he's at his best when playing on his own, an

opinion I share.

His Cardiff gig on the tour he'd decided to name, with his trademark wry humour,Detour, was a good example of how one man armed only with a piano,some stringed instruments and a career's worth of great songs can provide great entertainment.The set spanned his whole career,from the likes of 'Red Shoes' to a song from The New Basement Tapes album ('Down On The Bottom').

Along the way there were the hits e.g. 'Oliver's Army' and 'Watching The Detectives' and enough rarely heard songs, like 'Ghost Train', 'Watch Your Step','Love Field' and 'Kinder Murder' to keep Elvis snobs like me happy.

Add a few judiciously-selected covers ('She' and 'Side By Side', among others) and the return of the frontwomen of support band Larkin Poe to much appreciative applause to help rock up the last third of the show,and you had a fine performance.

Pride of place must go, however, to 'Shipbuilding',performed alone at the piano with an intensity that rolled back the years to the time it was written.As always with Elvis, the political side of his character was not left unexplored, both in such songs and his chat between them.Also worth mentioning was the tailoring of the stage set to acknowledge that Elvis was in Wales,the sort of attention to detail which is always appreciated.

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Veteran rock icon Elvis Costello has now reached his 60s yet shows no sign of slowing down his relentless touring schedule. Delighting fans globally, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee is considered to be one of the most well known singer/songwriters who has collaborated with a huge amount of stars.

His discography stands at 30 albums so condensing this into a 20 song setlist is a difficult task however the way in which Costello is able to charm a crowd means they remain enthusiastic to whatever he chooses to play. There are of course big cheers for his hit single 'Veronica' which clearly a lot of the audience were hoping he would play. The songwriter delights his fans with tales of years past, the beginnings of his career and his travels around the globe. He also speaks fondly of his supportive musicians and introduces them each to the crowd who cheers them on.

Big finisher 'Watching the Detectives' leaves the crowd cheering and stamping their feet for the reappearance of Elvis. He leads the musicians back onstage and performs a final time before exiting proving he truly is an icon of rock.

Elvis was absolutely spectacular, combining a mix of jovial storytelling and timeless classics marked on a night that all of the New Orleanians in attendance will not soon forget. His video clip of "Papa Costello" aka Ross McManus rocking If I Had A Hammer on BBC television "back in the day" was just plain COOL! To top it all off, he had local R&B legend Alan Tourssaint join him onstage to thoroughly captivate an already grateful audience. My personal favorite was the two singer/songwriters performing Deep Dark Truthful Mirror. The intimate Civic Theatre was the perfect venue for one of the best shows I've seen, since moving to the Big Easy five years ago.

Elvis Costello came to Jazz festival 2014 in Montreal. I am a big fan of his work. I reserved 2 tickets as soon as I could in the new Maison symphonique.

I was amazed with his solo show. Him, by himself playing all his guitars (about 15 different ones) and his voice, deep, true and very melancholic.

Felt swept up my feet when he sang Alison, shipbuilding (with keyboard), everyday I write the book, Peace-love and understanding, etc. I would have sat there for another 3 hours.

Can't wait for him to come back solo or with his band. Amazing man, creator and music industry underdog leader. Bravo Elvis.

Elvis Costello was once again played Glasgow and as usual I attended .

Although I had never seen him in The Armadillo it was a great night.

It was a tour through his greatest hits and a joy with 2 old Attractions band members playing along side him with 2 female backing singers and bass all covered brilliantly.

I did although find Elvis voice somewhat strained at times on certain songs (Which I have never seen happen before).

Finished of with Pump it Up ! And that they did pumped it up until the roof nearly came of the building.

Thanks Elvis.

Jesus Christ on a broomstick this show was painful. Elvis sounds like something wounded. Long, incoherent, rambling stories may have been a saving grace from his singing. No crowd atmosphere - people seemed to be chatting. I left after 45 minutes. And no - it could not have gotten better. The main sounds like he is in the painful pushing throes of constipation.

Kingsbury Hall was the perfect venue to see Elvis...Larkin Poe was the opening act and they were very talented...Elvis was amazing...only had to wait 39 years to see him and the wait was worth it...basically a "Storytellers" type show...great visuals and he was in fine form...I would highly recommend as my wife and I came out totally satisfied with the show...

Such an intimate evening! Can you imagine how it feels to have Mr Costello behind your seat singing Allison to you? Now i can! Genius! Nice set up, i only missed Oliver's Army, but such a good set list. You don't miss anyone, he's good enough by himself playing acoustic. GREAT EXPERIENCE

I have been listening to him since i was 14.my favorite line is "who put these fingerprints on my imaginstion.i have a lot of favorite singer song writers, but find him the most versatile.if i could pick one person to sit with in a pub, and talk it would be him.di

Musically good. Visually good.

Too loud for the Ryman.

Elvis Costello was obviously focussed on his new album as he didn't play many hits.

Certainly not my favourites: Oliver's Army, Good Year for the Roses, Veronica or I can't stand up for falling down.

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Elvis Costello on the Endurance of ‘This Year’s Model,’ and What’s Gained in Translation With New ‘Spanish Model’

Looking back to 1978, Costello says, "When we made 'Pump It Up,' I said, 'Well, this is as good as ‘Satisfaction.’ Let’s see whether other people think that.'” In 2021, Latin stars like Juanes and Luis Fonsi are singing his second album's praises.

By Chris Willman

Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

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In 1978, Elvis Costello looked at a society’s collective eagerness to move on to the next thing and snipped, “Capital punishment, she’s last year’s model.” Stick around for another 43 years, though, and you may find out that this is your reward: There’s a sort of brand new version of his classic sophomore album. “This Year’s Model” has been retooled as “Spanish Model,” with stars from the various worlds of Latin music being brought in to replace Costello’s original lead vocals and replace them with their own, in one of the most unexpected and delightful musical wrinkles of a 2021 that would seem to have seen it all.

Costello’s partner on the project was Sebastian Krys , who had been known primarily for working with Latin musicians — and was in fact named producer of the year at the Latin Grammys — before he picked up his latest non-Latin Grammy for producing Costello’s “Look Now.” With Krys’ contact list, it wasn’t an insurmountable feat to sign up a guest list that includes Juanes , Luis Fonsi, Draco Rosa, Cami, La Santa Cecilia’s La Marisoul, Jesse & Joy, Morat, Jorge Drexler, Fito Páez, Gian Marco, Vega and others, representing Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Spain, Uruguay, Argentina, Peru, Puerto Rico and, yes, even the mainland U.S. Underneath all these star turns remains the thrilling work accomplished in the late ‘70s by as great a backing band as ever lived, the Attractions, original producer Nick Lowe , original engineer Roger Bechirian and, of course – not completely scrubbed from the tracks — Declan McManus.

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Variety sat down with Costello and Krys to discuss the international boundary-crossing “Spanish Model” and the enduring power of the 1978 record it’s modeled after. Costello can wax humble, but only so humble when he’s discussing a song like “Pump It Up,” which he considers “the next best rock ‘n’ roll record made in England after ‘Satisfaction.’ I’ll say that right out loud.” He’ll just leave it to somebody else to say en espanol .

Popular on Variety

Variety : It would probably be wrong to call “Spanish Model” a tribute album, right? Because this is a strange project that’s well out of the realm of anything anyone’s ever done, really.

Costello: It’s well out of the range of tribute album. I mean, when I think of tribute albums, I think of something like [the 2019 Tom Waits salute] “Come On Up to the House: Women Sing Waits,” and Phoebe Bridgers’ great version of “Georgia Lee” on that record. Here was this young woman who I hadn’t heard before, and it was so affecting. That’s a proper tribute to that song; it’s a real re-interpretation. This isn’t the same. These singers are actually in the band with us— or with our older selves. All these people are in the Attractions. And that’s got to scare the hell out of some of those guys!

In announcing something like this, part of the fun of it is the shock value. I would think people in my audience who have been paying attention are used to surprises by now. But they’re going to want to know, how is it done? I don’t know of another record that takes this approach of taking original recordings and replacing the lead vocalist with other singers, and then more than that, in another language. But of course it’s going to be interesting to see the reaction from listeners of the guest artists who are providing the vocals, many of whom have no idea who I am. They’re going, “Why is my favorite singer singing on this record?” When they read the description of exactly what it is — 40-year-old backing tracks with my voice taken off and a new singer — it does sound crazy.

What was your initial reaction to the idea, Sebastian?

Krys: When he told me on the phone, I did pause for like 15 seconds, because I was just trying to process it, and then I thought to myself, “I better say something!” I guess my first thought was, “What are people gonna think?” My second thought was, “Okay, this is a classic record — danger.” [Laughs] And my third one was, “Well, this makes sense.” And why it made sense to me was because I met Elvis when he was working on a ballet, and one of my favorite records is “The Juliet Letters” [Costello’s collaboration with the Brodsky Quartet]. So it’s consistent with how I perceive him to be as an artist, which is believing that there’s no danger in creating art. There’s only danger in trying to please people and taking measured steps and being fearful. Music should not be treated as a museum piece; it’s not the same as a painting. It’s something that’s alive and that evolves.

The other part that was really important to me was the idea that I could get people to discover his work through these singers, because I discovered a lot of music that way. Paul Simon’s “Graceland” came out when I was 14 or 15, and that record was a gateway to me becoming a fan of African and West African music. So conversely, this has both functions, too, where maybe somebody who is an Elvis fan who has no interest in Latin music will hear somebody’s voice and say, “Let me hear what Draco or Juanes does outside of this,” and maybe that becomes a gateway to opening up a world of music for somebody.

What’s gained or lost in translating these songs?

Krys: I grew up in Argentina, listening to the Beatles, and I had no idea what they were saying. You just mimic the words and you feel the energy of the record. And later on when I learned how to speak English and found out what some of the messages were, it was a real revelation. One of the things that I love is that there are ideas on this record that I can’t point to any other songs that have the same ideas, that are set in the same way. It’s just like any literature — there are versions of that literature that are translated into every language so that people from other cultures can enjoy it. In music that happens once in a while — you know, “Yesterday” will be covered in every language. But I don’t think it’s happened with an actual album, and definitely not in this way. I think with such an iconic album, and an album that reached the U.S. and Europe but maybe didn’t reach Latin America, it’s an important journey to take.

I had been in so many situations where I was trying to turn Latin artists onto Elvis’s music. And a lot of what they would respond to me with is, “I love it. I wish I knew what he was saying.” … Lyrically, “This Year’s Model” is still very relevant today, what the songs have to say and how they say it. And this is a real opportunity to maybe turn an entire side of the world onto this great, great record, through these voices, and get these ideas out.

Costello: “This Year’s Model” doesn’t really have a lot of topics or themes. The songs are mostly about desire and how that relates to love; fashion and how that relates to particularly the male gaze toward women; and control, especially political control over us all. That’s pretty much the whole record, so I don’t think there’s anything there that somebody in another language would not have encountered. Now, it’s true to say that some of the way I said it might be a little obscure, because I’m using peculiar English idioms.

But I constantly fall in love with records in other languages — languages in which I don’t even know one or two curse words — because what you respond to is the humanity, the pride, the sorrow, the celebration. And in the voice, you can tell certain things, and the music gives you a clue to what that is. With this, I became really curious to see what would happen when these people, in another language and of another generation and sometimes another gender, explored what they would hear, and how Sebastian would then mix the instrumental performances around very different timbres, and the way the phonetics and the articulation of another language lands on the music. There were all these unknown factors that could only be thrilling to hear.

Did working on this make you reevaluate the original album?

Costello: With “Spanish Model,” sometimes I think the band actually sounds tougher, because in some cases, the vocalist sounds a little sweeter than me, and therefore, the band, by omission, sounds even more ferocious than before. And that’s really saying something. When you just have the high tone of the vocal from somebody like Nina Diaz on “No Action,” and then you can really hear that roaring low end from the bass and all that drumming, it’s scary.

I mean, I hope that people realize how good that group is. Not my part in the writing of the song so much; I know the songs are good. But that is some serious playing. As good as anything. When we made “Pump It Up,” I said, “Well, this is as good as ‘Satisfaction.’ Let’s see whether other people think that.” Well, no, it wasn’t as big a hit as that, but this is the next best rock ‘n’ roll record made in England after “Satisfaction.” I’ll say that right out loud. I thought that at the time when we did it. I thought, “What’s the other one [to compare it with] — you know, a riff-based song?” There isn’t one. What, something by T. Rex? Don’t make me laugh. Though “Jeepster” ain’t bad. No, I honest-to-God thought that when we made “Pump It Up.” I said, “This is the next one. And let’s see what happens.” And, well, I think Mick (Jagger) gets played at the rallies of dubious politicians. I get played at hockey games. I think we won. [Laughs.]

What was happening in the transition from working with another group of musicians on your first album, “My Aim Is True,” to first getting the Attractions’ sound down on “This Year’s Model”?

Costello: We made [his 1977 solo debut] “My Aim Is True” in six days. They released two singles from it. They both bombed, and they still put the album out. And then there was a bit of activity, and I became a professional musician and needed a band. And by the time we were ready to go to America for our debut, we also sensed that we should record another record. The band sounded so different to “My Aim Is True” that that just pushed us forward. But it didn’t leave very much time for a second thought about all the other ways that we might have done it — like, where would there be room for my suite based on Jules Verne or something? You know, we weren’t suddenly going to turn into Yes or ELP. We were into short pop songs. That’s what I thought we were doing.

And then by the time we came back from America, I was starting to get a bit self-conscious about this sneery character that I was being perceived to be. And thankfully, that kind of went away on the next record, and I sang relatively melodiously throughout “Armed Forces.” Some people that liked “This Year’s Model” didn’t like “Armed Forces” because it wasn’t rock ‘n’ roll enough. Well, we were not playing that now; we’re playing this.

But just to isolate the tracks and hear how incredible the band is and how vivid it all is — take me out of it; just the other three guys playing — it doesn’t sound old-fashioned, unless I’m really kidding myself. Some records made in the ‘80s sound terribly old-fashioned, because they’re so imprinted with all the drum echoes, and there’s less actual sense of the people’s playing and it’s more about the effects that they’re being heard through — gated drum reverb and things like particular types of synth that have not dated very well. But (on “This Year’s Model”) we’re using fairly universal sounds: a good bass sound; a slightly unusual drum sound, in that the snare is kind of high-tuned, not flat and dead like most L.A. records were at the time; the guitar isn’t very big; and we’re using a Vox Continental instead of a Hammond or some other warmer instrument, and occasionally piano. It’s very austere, in some ways, even though it’s ferocious rhythmically.

I think the band sounds more aggressive in Sebastian’s mix than on the original mix, because my voice isn’t in the picture, which was always leading and drawing the ear with all of my attitude and sibilance in my voice. [He makes a grrr sound.] Now you hear somebody like Jesse & Joy sing “Living in Paradise” with a beautiful voice and you can hear how great the band are playing. You hear the bass. The bass is terrific on that track.

A few of the songs are allowed to go on longer than they did on “This Year’s Model” in these new mixes, which a certain kind of fan will relish.

Krys: Well, part of that was me knowing that record from front to back really well. When you’re a fan of records and you’re a kid, and that fade-out is going, you’re cranking it and trying to hear the very last piece of information, and you’re always wondering, “Well, what happened after the fade-out?” And then when I got to open up the tracks, as a fan, I figured, well, other people will appreciate knowing what happened, too.

Costello: There’s really only like two or three moments where that is applied. Bear in mind, after my first record, I had a clause in my contract that said I couldn’t have any more songs that were under a certain length, because there were two songs under a minute and a half on “My Aim Is True,” so [the record company dictated] all the songs had to be longer — they had to be three minutes. But we still tended to err on the side of brevity and being really concise, and Nick was making pop records. He wanted them on the radio, and he went for pretty logical fades. I think sometimes he snipped out repeats and things like that to get to the end. I wouldn’t mind betting that he snipped out one or two rounds of “Radio Radio”; if you compare it to the version (on the new album), Nick just took out one of the rounds where it’s saying the same thing, so he could get to the ending.

There’s a previously unheard outro to “Pump It Up” that has Mick Jones of the Clash playing an extra guitar part that had never been heard before, which is interesting.

With “Pump It Up,” I told Sebastian going into it that there had always been this dilemma about Mick — this struggle with the band not really understanding why I wanted Mick on the session. He didn’t play on the basic session. He came in and overdubbed. So the idea that I was asking Mick Jones from what everybody saw as a rival band to come and play on our record (didn’t go over well). … On songs like “Mystery Dance,” I made a point of playing only downstrokes on the guitar, like the Ramones, so it didn’t swing. Now, Mick’s playing a swinging part, like a Chuck Berry rhythm, and it’s only heard in the back end of it when the vocals are outgoing. For me it’s great, because you hear that he was alive to what I was playing, which was much more insistent. He’s push-pull with me, and it’s just another little thrill to the end of the record that nobody’s heard.

It’s practically a whole drum solo you hear Pete Thomas doing at the end of “No Action” now.

It’s the same with letting Pete play out at the end of that song rather than fading out on his fills.He’s burnt himself out on playing the song, and it’s what you call the cool-down. You can’t stop him. He wants to keep going. Well, I think that’s a good glimpse of what he was, which was this unbelievable machine of a drummer. To my mind, Pete should be way more acclaimed than he is. He’s such a modest fellow. He’s every bit as good as any of the great drummers of the last 60 years — every bit as good as Charlie Watts or John Bonham or any of those people. They’re all great as well, but he’s not a lesser drummer. There’s many drummers where I’ve heard people say, “Oh, he’s a great drummer,” and Pete could kill him at a hundred paces. But he’s so modest and isn’t trying to dominate; he’s always serving the music. Once or twice, he gets to kind of really step out like he did on this record.

With Pete, the person that he sort of pulled from, initially, was Mitch Mitchell (of Jimi Hendrix fame). In some ways I think he’s closer to Mitch than Charlie Watts. He’s like a mixture of those two drummers. He’s got the funk that Mitch Mitchell had… All these other much more technically dazzling drummers can’t hold a candle to him, because they’re too egotistical. And the good thing was that we had like a tremendously show-off bass player (in Bruce Thomas). And although we don’t get along, I would give him this: This is the best he probably ever played. I mean, he plays great on lots of our other records, until it sort of got too strained, but this is really as good as you can play in this kind of music. I mean, it’s startling, some of his stuff. It’s not like John Entwistle, but it takes the same amount of space that Entwistle did. You can’t tell whether there’s another guitar there some of the time. And I never played many solos in those days, so it freed Pete and I to really be the rhythm section a lot of the time. The rhythm lock is between the drums and the guitar, and then the bass is free to do all these accenting things. And Steve (Nieve) at this stage isn’t doing as much as he did later on, but he’s also in his own particular pocket, which is slightly ahead or right on top of the beat; he doesn’t lay back.

So it’s all those tensions. You can sit down and analyze every group and put them on an oscilloscope and work out how it is that they work. But this is a really great group. I mean, my contribution instrumentally aside, just as a three-piece group, there isn’t a better one. There’s many as good as this, but there’s not too many better.

You still play a number of songs from “This Year’s Model” on most of your tours, so it’s seemed like the album has continued to sit well with you over the years.

Costello: The songs are fun to play now because we play ‘em slightly differently. Davey (Faragher, bassist for the Imposters, the successor to the Attractions) has got very great respect for Bruce’s original parts, but he puts ‘em in a pocket where Pete is. Pete’s changed a lot from playing with Davey, and he’s much more American in his conception of rhythm now, in the sense that he does sort of sit back a bit more than he did then. Not because he’s tired. [Laughs.] He just feels it that way.

Do you have a solid feeling about where “This Year’s Model” sits in your canon?

Costello: I don’t really think like that. I like it always because it’s the first one with the Attractions, with whom I did all the early work, so at different times I sort of favor this one. Recently, I’d been listening to “Armed Forces” because we’ve got that boxed set that we put together, so I’ve been listening to that music and appreciating it. It’s hard for me to separate out, if you’re talking about the records. Yeah, there’s a certain approach to “Get Happy!!” which is undeniable. There’s a certain approach to “Blood and Chocolate” that’s undeniable. [More recently] there’s the way I have talked about “Look Now” being a combination of the feeling of “Painted From Memory” with the scope of “Imperial Bedroom,” though it really doesn’t sound like either of those records. It’s its own record, and so it should be. And then you’ve got things like “King of America,” and then we’re talking about “North”…

Krys: The funny thing about that question is, I was talking with Fito Paez, who sings “Radio Radio,” and mine and his entre into Elvis was “Mighty like a Rose” [from 1991]. So I think with Elvis’ body of work, it just depends on where you got in — when you got on the train and if you worked forward or backward from there. A lot of people couldn’t handle the left turns. But when “Mighty Like a Rose” came out, I was 19, and that record at that time made sense to me. I didn’t care about the early work. I worked my way to it eventually. But it’s interesting, because I think it’s all contextual. If you started with “My Aim Is True,” that’s that context. But Fito said the same thing: “I love ‘Mighty Like a Rose’!”

How much did the singers on “Spanish Model” stick with a strict lyrical translation of the songs, and was that important?

Costello: [To Krys] You’re pretty happy with the veracity to the spirit of the lyric, right? I mean, Jorge Drexler and I talked on the phone for an hour and a half about the lyrics of “Night Rally” [a song about fascism], because he wanted to know about every image in the song — like, all the bizarrest psychedelic images in the bridge. He wanted to know about the chicken (“Get that chicken out of here”); he said, “Why did you choose it?” I said, “Because it’s a frightening image.” It’s like a Room 101 type of thing [i.e., the final torture chamber in George Orwell’s “1984”]. I explained all the background thinking — far more than was ever in the song — as best I could remember it, so that when he came to do the Spanish rendition, which was not anything like a literal translation, it had the same sense of dread.

I love hearing these people sing their adaptations of these songs with intelligence and humanity and sometimes a bit of wit. With “Radio Radio,” it would be ridiculous for Fito Páez to translate my lyrics literally. Bear in mind, my song was an exaggeration. Of course it would be kind of ridiculous to be railing against radio as our main enemy with so many things assailing us in media. My first draft of that song, “Radio Soul,” was a celebration of radio. I got out in the world and thought, “I don’t think that’s going to fly. Let’s say what we see now.” But I always sort of had my tongue in my cheek with that song, even though everybody took it very seriously. And Fito got the note of humor in it.

“Radio Radio” is like my “Peace, Love and Understanding,” if that makes any sense to you. Nick Lowe’s version of “Peace, Love and Understanding” [as its original songwriter, before Costello covered it] was very satirical. And as far as I was concerned, “Radio Radio” was like “Who Needs the Peace Corps?” by Frank Zappa. That’s why we did it on “SNL”: because it was a joke. Nobody ever saw it that way, because it was so furious-sounding, but it’s obviously a joke. You know, do I really think that we are being totally controlled by radio? Of course not! Some of the humor in these songs just went by people because of the way my face looks. Certainly it did then.

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Category : 1995 Spain Tour

Pages in category "1995 spain tour".

The following 5 pages are in this category, out of 5 total.

• Concert 1995-01-23 Albacete
• Concert 1995-01-24 Cuenca
• Concert 1995-01-26 Toledo
• Concert 1995-01-27 Ciudad Real
• Concert 1995-01-28 Guadalajara

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Liner Notes - Extreme Honey

This album contains a couple of hit singles, a few records that you may have heard on the radio and a very personal selection from my Warner Bros. recordings. Together, they are the songs that I would like to present to the listener once again. Now if only I’d kept a diary….

1988….Return from Greenland…Start work in SPIKE in Dublin with T Bone Burnett & Kevin Killen co-producing…Donal Lunny convenes on Irish Folk Chamber Orchestra from members of De Dannan, Moving Hearts & The Chieftains … He also plays mean a bouzouki on “TRAMP THE DIRT DOWN”… Have murderous impulse about wretched, vandalistic, vindictive ruling regime in England… Song gets it out of my head, it doesn’t change the world…

Sessions move to New Orleans… Record Allen Toussaint’s really grand piano for “DEEP DARK TRUTHFUL MIRROR”…A song of drunken delusions…The Dirty Dozen Brass Band also star on this and “Chewing Gum”, which features Kirk Joseph’s mighty sousaphone.

Hollywood sessions with T Bone de Mille: Cast includes many pals from ‘King of America’ sessions. Work for the first time with Marc Ribot and Jerry Marotta on song about Bentley and Craig case. “Let him dangle”. Meet Burt Barachach in studio corridor. Thankfully, he laughs when he hears how much we’ve nicked from him for arrangement of “Satellite”. “(You’re nobody til everybody in) This Town (thinks you’re a bastard)” features Roger McGinn and his hot Rickenbacker 12-String….

Back in London. Dub Chrissie Hynde’s vocal harmony onto “Satellite”. Paul McCartney arrives carrying his own Hofner to add bass part to “VERONICA”, the first of twelve co-written songs. Two appear on SPIKE and four more on Paul’s album “Flowers in the Dirt”…

1989. “VERONICA” becomes my first U.S. Top Twenty Single. On tour with seven piece band called Rude Five. We were over Utah or somewhere equally distant, when I realised we had a hit on our hands. Flight attendant says her grandmother had a similar experience to “VERONICA”. Tribute to Evan English’s video clip. Who says you can’t have old people on M.T.V?.

1989…Move to the hills of Dublin. Very cold so start to grow hair and beard. Seems to scare people, so grow it longer…

1990…Try to record MIGHTLY LIKE A ROSE with estranged Attractions but too many lawyers around so go to Barbados for two weeks to surf, drink rum and record “Kojak Variety”, on album of my favourite songs by other people. Then on to New York to record “Weird Nightmare” for Hal Wilner’s record of Charles Minus music. Band includes Henry Threadgill and Bill Frisell but also uses Harry Partch’s beautiful homemade instruments.

Five years later try to persuade major record company to issue Kojak Vairety without any advertising so purchasers can discover it in racks at their leisure. Fail. Kojak Variety is not represented in this collection but is still in the shops awaiting your discovery.

The MIGHTY LIKE A ROSE session finally began in Hollywood. My co-producers are Mitchell Froom & Kevin Killen. Like SPIKE, multi-track used like experimental music manuscript. Parts added and subtracted until final arrangement reached. Create wall of sound effect by simultaneous overdubbing of three keyboards, two basses, two acoustic guitars and percussion over pre-recorded rhythm section for “THE OTHER SIDE OF SUMMER”. I am most proud when song is run at full length under anguished debating of teenage moral dilemmas in television series “Beverley Hills 90210”….

Finally learn to drive. New talent pressed into service for “THE OTHER SIDE OF SUMMER” video clip. Steer vintage Buick full of French models to their near doom along deadly “To Catch a Thief” cornice above Cote d’Azur. Brakes not terribly efficient.

1991: Rude Five World Tour…”Re-set the pig!” cried still another director, mistakenly pointing at tiny porcine co-star of next attempt to bamboozle world of pop through magic of movie camera. Director claims he always has a cute dog in his vodeos. “Over my dead body” I reply “Unless it is a pathetic dog on a piece of string”. We settle for a pig. They are very charismatic and excellent at lip-synching. I begin to think of a different career…Final clip has little to do with “SO LIKE CANDY”, another McCartney/MacManus composition. I think my hair might have been in my eyes at the time. Pigs go on to bigger things.

Bad mood music: I write “HURRY DOWN DOOMSDAY (THE BUGS ARE TAKING OVER) over Jim Keltner’s cranky drum loop. Spotlight on Marc Ribot’s descriptive guitar work. Original album credit: “Giant Insect Mutation and Bug Attack”. Nick Lowe arrives with great off-centre bass part. Star of show is James Burton who delivers mind-bendingly fleet guitar solo. Still cannot believe he achieved this without tape being slowed down. There are songs I like better but “HURRY DOWN DOOMSDAY” is the record which most improves my humor if I should chance to hear it.

Borrowed an image from an old cartoon for this line in “COULDN’T CALL IT UNEXPECTED No.4”… “I’m the lucky goon who composed this tune from birds arranged on the highwire”…Wishful thinking…Could not read or write musical notation at the time..While mixing of MIGHTY LIKE A ROSE, compose music with Richard Harvey for score of Alan Bleasdale’s epic television drama serial, “G.B.H”. My musical illiteracy makes Richard’s job harder. His adaptation of “COULDN’T CALL IT UNEXPECTED melody becomes part of the main theme…Give three numbered themes this same title in honour of Thelonious Monk’s “Well you needn’t” No. 2 appears as interlude on MIGHTY LIKE A ROSE. This circus waltz becomes “COULDN’T CALL IT UNEXPECTED…No. 4”.

1991: Had begun attending many string quartet, classical piano and lieder recitals in early ’89. Heard the Brodsk Quartet play most of Shostakovich’s quartets in London. In November ’91 we were introduced, became great friends and started writing together. Music and words composed by all of us in various combinations of Thomas/Belton/Cassidy/Thomas/MacManus credits. Started not to feel the cold so much. Got a haircut and shave. Took lessons in musical notation.

THE JULIET LETTERS is a sequence of songs and musical pieces in the form of letters. They include an eccentric aunt’s reply to family begging letters, a chain letter promising riches in return for your soul, a child’s note, a message at a séance, an adaptation of a real letter from female U.S. Gulf War soldier, several deranged love letters, some graffiti and a suicide note. “THE BIRDS WILL BE SINGING” is the last song in the sequence.

THE JULIET LETTERS was first performed at the Amadeus Centre on 1st July 1992 and recorded in a disturbingly tartan room at Church Studios, Crouch End, London with Kevin Killen at the controls between 14th September and 1st October ’92.

February/March ’93: Around-the-world-in-25-days-Juliet Letters-world tour of 19 concerts in 10 countries. In Barcelona, perform in exquisite Palau de la Musica only days after appearing at Folies Bergeres in Paris and in a converted chocolate factory near Pisa…the piece turns out to be both funny and emotional in concert…much about it feels totally new to me. Some folks bewildered by absence of electric guitars. Others tuning in for the very same reason….

Return to November ’92: Still liked electric guitars, so wrote ten songs in one weekend for pop chanteuse Wendy James with help of my wife, Cait O’Riordan. “Gwendolen Letters” demo sessions, with Pete Thomas on drums and me playing everything else, at Pathway Studios, home of My Aim is True Sound is still perfect for a certain kind of violent music. Soon Pete and I return to cut true and ugly story; “KINDER MURDER”, “20% Amnesia” and several ragged pieces. Return to Dublin to write more songs. Six BRUTAL YOUTH melodies come to me in one day. Now realize I will need a real piano player, so call up Steve Nieve…and a real bass player…calling Mr. Nick Lowe…and a bigger studio for the extra musicians…Olympic… a new production team: Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake. Summer of ’93: This line up cuts half of the BRUTAL YOUTH recording including “ALL THE RAGE”, which says something about that obsolete function involving paper, ink and opinion… “you know the measuring pole, the merry boots of clay”..and you know what they say about opinions. Speaking of which, O happy day, bass player Bruce Thomas arrives. First attractions sessions in over eight years complete the album.

“13 STEPS LEAD DOWN” written after visit to Escorial, where kings of Spain are buried at the foot of thirteen marble steps so as to instill dread in the visitor. “SULKY GIRL” is fantasy life of Stuttgard schoolgirl who courts a scandalous reputation to test her power.

“LONDON’S BRILLIANT PARADE”, is a sidelong look at the town in which I was born. The last verse is my own personal street map. The record is beautifully lead by Steve Nieve’s piano playing. Jan. 1994: Record “Lost in the stars” with Brodskys in Toronto for movie of Kurt Weill music . Film set is sub-zero (-27 degrees) derelict factory…April: Tape Gershwin duet with Tony Bennett for his M.T.V. Unplugged in New York….Spring and summer: Early records are re-issued by Demon Records & Rykodisc. “Elvis Costello and the Attractions” tour world playing the violent end of BRUTAL YOUTH plus songs from previous seventeen years. Sometimes we play louder than you can think. Three months after tour my ears stop ringing. January 1995: Conclude a JULIET LETTERS tour of the Castilla-La Mancha region with a concert in Toledo, Spain…

March: First performance of “Put away forbidden playthings” written for viol consort Fretwork & Countertenor, Michael Chance….

April: Royal College of Music benefit concert at St. James’ Palace for alleged next king of England and flush pals. Perform JULIET excerpts and Mike Thomas’ arrangement of “God Only Knows” with Brodsky Quartet. Duet on “Mistress and Maid” & “One after the 909” with star of the show Paul McCartney, Brodskys join Paul for finale of his famous “chamber music” songs…

April/May/June: Co-write music with Richard Harvey for Alan Bleasdale’s eight hour television drama series “Jakes Progress”… April: Play six shows in Paris, London & Dublin, as unannounced support to Bob Dylan. Try out songs for ALL THIS USELESS BEAUTY then join Bob for duet on “I shall be Released”…

April: Write “God give me strength” against movie deadline with Burt Bacharach using fax and answer machine messages…

May: Play two songs solo to 300,000 people at “Primomaggio Festival in Piazza San Giovanni, Rome. Join Robbie Robertson & band for “I Shall be Released” finale. Just happen to know the words…

May: Kojak Variety released after five years in the can. Too much advertising. Transatlantic radio broadcast disaster when voice departs in mid-show, after stupidly singing “Bama Lama Bama Loo” in front of Little Richard in Arctic T.V. studio conditions on previous day…

June: Director of eight day Meltdown Festival at the South Bank Centre, London. Get to invite, and sometimes perform with, the following: Jazz Passengers with Deborah Harry, Fairfield Four, Anuna, Bill Frisell, Donal Lunny and band, Moondog, Brodsky Quartet, John Harle, Composers Ensemble, Marc Ribot, Fretwork, The Wooden Indians, Steve Nieve, June Tabor, Jeff Buckley and Gunther Schuller conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The programme includes my very short orchestral overture: “Edge of Ugly”. Takes longer to make traditional composers bow than to play the damn piece. Sing over fifty different songs during numerous appearances…

July 1st/2nd: Final concert of Meltdown entitled “Glad to be unhappy” concludes at 1a.m. Later that day fly to Roskilde Festival, Denmark. Perform three songs with Jazz Passengers and D.Harry, 45 minute programme with Brodsky Quartet and then close show with Attractions plus M.Ribot and James Burton for BRUTAL YOUTH/Kojak Variety set…Fall down for two weeks.

July/August: Return to Dublin to rehearse songs for a five-night stand at Beacon Theatre, New York before going into studio… Nonesuch Records release a limited edition of Meltdown set with Bill Frisell as Deep Dead Blue.

ALL THIS USELESS BEAUTY was recorded in Dublin in August and September ’95 and completed and mixed during February ’96 in London. It was co-produced with Geoff Emerick & jon Jacobs who were also at the board for the 1982 album, “Imperial Bedroom”.

During autumn interlude make two guest vocalist appearances plotted during summer. Record “The Night Before Larry Was Stretched” for Donal Lunny’s Common Ground Collection and “O Mistress Mine”, John Harle’s setting of three songs from Shakespear’s “Twelfth Night” for Terror and Magnificence album.

Visit St. Petersburg to view art collection looted by Red Army in last days of Second World War and kept in a secret vault until current exhibition. Every incident in “MY DARK LIFE” occurs during that short trip. Track recorded in London for album Songs in the Key of X in one furious fourteen hour session with Brian Eno. I play piano, guitar and bass while Brian works gadgets and makes ample use of tape machine erase button.

Over thirty songs were considered for inclusion on ALL THIS USELESS BEAUTY, POOR FRACTURED ATLAS, are two of the most elegant, if untypical, performances by the Attractions. They are probably among our last recordings together as a band.

Steve Nieve and I arranged “I WANT TO VANISH” around his piano part for the Brodsky Quartet and three players from the septet which had augmented the Brodskys at the Meltdown Festival. The song may seem bleak on first hearing but it does contain the line “I’m as certain as a lost dog pondering a signpost”, which might be my motto.

The last Attractions tour in the summer of ’96 had many highlights but I could feel us pulling apart again. So after six great nights in London, a rare old Parisian cabaret, the real Royal Court in Liverpool our tragic Greek debut in Athens, one more time at “Barrowlands” In Glasgow, The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, New York, Minneapolis, San Franciso, our fist Portland date for over seventeen years and Seattle, where we made our second American debut in ’94 and our final U.S. bow, it was over to Tokyo and time to say…Nagoya and out.

I returned to Dublin and completed work on “Three Distracted Women”, a set of three songs written for the Brodsky Quartet and the beautiful voice of Anne Sofie von Otter. The piece was premiered in Paris in November ’96. Around the same time W.B. issued a very limited edition set of five live E.P.’s “Costello and Nieve …For the first time in America”, featuring highlights from our May ’96 club tour. Keep an eye on this new duo, I think they’ll go far.

Music that got started in the summer of 1995 is beginning to appear. I hope you get a chance to hear “God give me strength” on the “Grace of my heart” soundtrack, “Aubergine” on the Jazz Passengers’ “Individually Twisted” album. Aruna’s choral version of “Deep Dead Blue”, “That Day is Done” on the Fairfield Four’s new record and “Put away forbidden playthings” on a Fretwork release in late ’97.

I would like to thank the good people at Warner Bros. for the license to record when and what I wanted even if, on occasions, it was for another label. My time at W.B. has had ups and downs. The good people know who they are. The bad people know where I live. The measure of failure has become much more drastic but I also know that there are singers and bands who would be delighted by my smallest success. It’s easy to start imaging that you have a right to be heard. I am very proud to have had such a curious audience.

I hope you enjoy these selections if you are hearing them for the first time. If you already know the albums then I hope you hear something new in my choices and this sequence… there was really no more room for the likes of “God’s Comic”, “Rocking Horse Road”, or “You Bowed Down”.

At the time of writing I am half way through composing a new album of songs with Burt Bacharach, which I hope we will record by the end of ‘97.

I am the third in four generations of musicians in my family. I don’t imagine I am going to stop now.

Singer Elvis Costello cancels tour after revealing cancer surgery

LONDON — British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello announced on Friday he was cancelling the remainder of his European tour after revealing he had undergone surgery for cancer.

Costello, 63, whose hits include "Oliver's Army," "Everyday I write the Book" and "Alison," said he had been forced to call off the final six dates of his tour, which included concerts in Croatia, Austria, Norway and Sweden ,on medical grounds.

"Six weeks ago my specialist called me and said, 'You should start playing the Lotto,'" Costello said in a statement. "He had rarely, if ever, seen such a small but very aggressive cancerous malignancy that could be defeated by a single surgery."

He said he had been elated that the tour could go ahead but did not realize the demands that playing long performances on a nightly basis would have on him as he recovered from the treatment. His doctor had now advised him to take a break and rest.

"The spirit has been more than willing but I have to now accept that it is going to take longer than I would have wished for me to recover my full strength," he said. "Therefore, I must reluctantly cancel all the remaining engagements of this tour."

Costello, born Declan Patrick MacManus, rose to fame in the 1970s and has produced a string of influential albums since with his bands the Attractions and the Imposters. He said he would have a new record out in October.

"We will return at the soonest opportunity to play that music and your favorite songs that still make sense to us all," he said.

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Daryl Hall and Elvis Costello Announce Spring and Summer 2024 Tour

By Madison Bloom

Elvis Costello and Hall and Oates ’ Daryl Hall have announced a co-headlining spring and summer tour. Costello and Hall will kick things off June 2 in Troutdale, Orgeon, before traveling to cities in Washington, California, Nevada, Illinois, and more, and wrapping things up in Vienna, Virginia on July 25. Find their itinerary below.

Costello will perform with his longtime band the Imposters , while Charlie Sexton will support throughout the trek. “We are looking forward to kicking off the show in style in the certainty that Daryl will deliver a slam-bang finish,” Costello said in a statement.

Hall added, “It’s fantastic to be able to rekindle a musical relationship. Get ready for lots of great music.”

Costello and Hall collaborated back in 1984 on the former’s single “ The Only Flame in Town ,” which appears on Costello’s ninth studio album, Goodbye Cruel World . That LP was recorded with Costello’s early band the Attractions .

Back in 2022, Daryl Hall released a career-spanning compilation of his solo work called BeforeAfter . He has more recently been embroiled in a legal battle with former bandmate John Oates over an alleged breach of partnership .

All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Daryl Hall + Elvis Costello & The Imposters With Charlie Sexton:

06-02 Troutdale, OR - McMenamins Edgefield 06-04 Airway Heights, WA - BECU Live at Northern Quest 06-06 Seattle, WA - Remlinger Farms 06-08 Bend, OR - Hayden Homes Amphitheater 06-10 Saratoga, CA - Mountain Winery 06-12 Lincoln, CA - Thunder Valley Casino 06-14 Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl 06-16 San Diego, CA - Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU 06-18 Los Angeles, CA - The Greek Theatre 06-21 Rancho Mirage, CA - Agua Caliente Casino 06-23 Las Vegas, NV - Fontainebleau Las Vegas 07-04 Toronto, Ontario - Budweiser Stage 07-06 Highland Park, IL - Ravinia Festival 07-08 Detroit, MI - Masonic Temple Theatre 07-10 Philadelphia, PA - TD Pavilion at the Mann 07-12 Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena 07-14 Boston, MA - MGM Music Hall at Fenway 07-16 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall 07-18 Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center 07-20 Bethel, NY - Bethel Woods Center for the Arts 07-22 Gilford, NH - BankNH Pavilion 07-25 Vienna, VA - Wolf Trap Filene Center

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By Matthew Strauss

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By Nina Corcoran

Category : 1995 Spain Tour

Pages in category "1995 spain tour".

The following 5 pages are in this category, out of 5 total.

• Concert 1995-01-23 Albacete
• Concert 1995-01-24 Cuenca
• Concert 1995-01-26 Toledo
• Concert 1995-01-27 Ciudad Real
• Concert 1995-01-28 Guadalajara

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