03.04.2020
ELVIS COSTELLO RETURNS TO ‘THE SCENE OF THE CRIME’ WITH A LOT TO PROVE
Nottingham Post: Sean Hewitt: 3rd March 2020. Photo Paul Dixon
Returning to what he called “the scene of the crime” nearly two years after a “terrifying”, below-par performance here sparked a temporary retreat from the stage while he recovered from a cancer operation, Elvis Costello had a lot to prove.
I won’t waste any time: he proved it. This was Costello at (nearly) full power, blasting through a massive cross-section of material from more than four decades and over 30 albums.
From the off, this was a different proposition from 2018. His most recent album, the Grammy-winning Look Now, is his best for years. But the tour is called “Just Trust” and Costello says that just means that audiences should “just trust” The Imposters to deliver the best show possible. Then again, Trust is also the title of an often-overlooked 1981 album of his. Eccentrically, he played more songs from that than from Look Now.