Elvis Costello and The Imposters

I’ve waited years to see him and now I’m feeling a bit wobbly from the heat (and beer) but when Elvis walks out looking not a day older than he did a decade ago all the strains of the last few days disappear as he delivers a hit littered set with near perfection.

It’s totally fantastic, Elvis has a wealth of material, some of which we’d forgotten he’d written and they’re real treasures. I’m too busy loving every chord to make a set list but I’m pretty sure he played the classics like Pump It Up, I can’t Stand Up For Falling Down, (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea, Good Year For The Roses, Watching The Detectives, Oliver's Army, Every Day I Write the Book and a new song about monkey’s which was catchy and could be called Monkey To Man. There were many more tunes some of which were new but I have to confess to not having bought an Elvis record since Spike. This is something I intend to rapidly rectify!

The Imposters are an excellent band of musicians, although they clearly are allowed the odd transgression at times tho’ by and large they are incredibly tight. All the numbers as far as I can tell are presented to us pretty much in the same arrangement as on the old vinyl. Steve Nieve is still fantastic on the keyboards, Pete Thomas sizzles on drums and Davey Faragher plays a faultless bassline. I was amazed by just how good a guitarist Elvis is. Costello was clearly enjoying his performance, though he spoke little and stopped playing for only a minute or so, often going straight from one song to another with no break. But it’s a good line to take as this way he packs the songs in.

Elvis finishes with ‘The Dark End Of The Street’ sung like Dan Penn wrote it to sound and it’s glorious, his voice is as strong on it as Gram Parson’s was, although it makes you wonder why he doesn’t use it more often but it’s this last song that makes this a memory to treasure. A fantastic set by a man who has done so much material and it’s great to hear some of it again. I’m yelling for a second encore in the hope that he’ll come back out and do ‘Alison’ but he doesn’t, instead the main arena floodlights come on, and that’s it Cornbury is over once again. Let’s hope it returns next year.

A fantastic weekend, many thanks to the organisers for such a lovely family friendly festival and thanks for bringing us Elvis.

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