11.11.2019
JUST TRUST ELVIS COSTELLO
Yes Weekly: Katei Cranford: November 6th 2019
Elvis Costello and the Imposters made good on their request for faith as the “Just Trust” tour rolled through the Greensboro Coliseum’s Piedmont Hall on Nov. 2.“Good evening, everybody,” Costello greeted the crowd, before clarifying, “good evening, friends.”
An artist who’s been known to tease and flirt and—especially—tell lovely stories, Costello kicked things off in proper raconteur fashion; beginning with “Strict Time,” “Club Land,” and “Green Shirt,” interwoven with tales of England in the 1970s of Leeds Polytechnique, “everything ending at 9:45 p.m.,” and the bore of eating night porter sandwiches.
Costello likened the brand-new Piedmont Hall to a palace (a room big enough for Gov. Roy Cooper to have been in attendance, largely unnoticed), stoking the flames of memory from his first U.S. tour with the Attractions in 1978. He recalled the comparative decadence they found in Howard Johnsons and roadside motels, and the love of an Arizona cab driver cut-short over a spat whether to play Freddy Fender or Pink Floyd on the radio.