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In a back catalog as big as Costello's, there always will be inessentials. Even the songs themselves sometimes leak filler, creating their own drag. More recent efforts like "Bedlam" and "Episode of Blonde," to take two examples from the Warfield set, require some rough sledding to lock in to their respective grooves; they don't seem to have come as easily as, say, his hooky New Wave staple, "(I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea" -- to which, happily, he did want to go last night, and therefore adjusted the big wheel accordingly.
Well, making us wait for the good stuff is the showman's prerogative. As for steering the wheel himself, he asked, "If I can't cheat in San Francisco, where can I cheat?" Fine, although we bet he says that to all the cities. Relatedly, covering the Grateful Dead's "Ramble On Rose" and closing out his cover of Nick Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" could in theory have seemed a tad ingratiating. But the arrangements were highly embraceable. (Yes, your reviewer knows better these days: It's not just the voice itself; it's the phrasing.) And in retrospect the latter, a cry of rage and despondency channeled by an eloquent weirdo nerd into something you can (and did) dance to, seems like rather an ideal expression of local sensibility after all.
Critic's Notebook:
Songs widely expected but not played: "Alison," "Pump It Up"
Honorary imposter: The woman who got on stage, possibly without being invited, and kept busy for many songs, step dancing, playing air guitar and strumming her own leg.
Best stage banter: Welcoming one audience-culled couple to the stage, Costello asked if they'd come to the show together. "And we're gonna leave together, too," the woman answered. The crowd liked that. "Depends on the song," Costello said. The crowd liked that too.
Second best banter: Costello to orchestra section, after having visited balcony section: "Up in that balcony they're all high as a kite."
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