Elvis Costello and the Imposters at the Ryman, 1/29/2024
“This is the place where you can do everything you want to do,” said Elvis Costello near the end of his career-spanning three-hour set Monday night at the Ryman.
Whether Elvis was talking about Nashville generally or the Ryman Auditorium specifically, he certainly did just that: everything he wanted to do. Over the course of the evening, the consummate showman — joined by his longtime backing band the Imposters, along with acclaimed Texas songster Charlie Sexton on guitar — played roughly 30 songs, offered myriad anecdotes, brought out a couple of special guests and a horn section (a first for Costello’s current tour), and wore several hats (literally).
Elvis Costello and the Imposters at the Ryman, 1/29/2024
The show featured no opener, and Costello and the Imposters’ set was frontloaded with largely new material. Hitting the stage promptly at 8 p.m., the band jangled through the shuffling rockabilly of latter-day tunes like “A Town Called Riddle,” “I Don’t Want Your Lyndon Johnson” and “Like Licorice on Your Tongue.” Early-days numbers including “Pills and Soap” and “Possession” made it into the top of the set as well, with Costello bringing out a three-piece horn section — trumpet player and arranger Michael Leonhart, saxophonist Donny McCaslin and trombonist and Nashville resident Raymond Mason — to augment many of his songs.
Along the way Costello told a number of his trademark meandering tales from the road, from anecdotes about record shopping in Texas to seeing the Predators play (“What the fuck is a team from Nashville doing on skates?”) and that time Carl Perkins bailed on joining Costello and his band onstage in Nashville back in the ’70s (he “fled the fucking scene” when he heard “our sorry, punk rock, New Wave asses”). After teasing that he’d eventually get to crowd favorites (songs “with girls’ names in the titles”), Costello called for a blackout of the house lights and launched into the slinky reggae of all-timer “Watching the Detectives.”
Elvis Costello and the Imposters at the Ryman, 1/29/2024
As the show went on, Costello bounced around the stage, taking longtime Imposter Steve Nieve’s spot at the piano for “Poisoned Rose” and the gospel rave-up “Blood and Hot Sauce” before swapping to a wide-brimmed hat and an acoustic guitar for renditions of “Everybody’s Crying Mercy” and a medley featuring Burt Bacharach’s “Mexican Divorce.” There was some riffing about the great Western philosophers — from Marx (Gummo, Harpo, Chico, Groucho, Karl and Richard) to Jimmy Durante — and a reference to Nashville’s whooping party buses during “Clubland.”
Costello brought out sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe to join him on “Blame It on Cain,” “That’s Not the Part of Him You’re Leaving” and a particularly moving rendition of “Burn the Paper Down to Ash.” By this point — roughly the two-hour mark — the 69-year-old London native was showcasing his world-class stamina. The audience, composed largely of salt-and-pepper Gen-Xers, stuck with him for the most part, though some began to peel off in groups of two or four. Their loss. Anyone who split before 10 p.m. missed gorgeous, low-key renderings of “Almost Blue” and “Someone Took the Words Away,” followed by a full-bore run of bangers “I Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down,” “High Fidelity” and “Pump It Up.”
Charlie Sexton with Elvis Costello and the Imposters at the Ryman, 1/29/2024
Because Costello, Sexton, Nieve, bassist Davey Faragher and drummer Pete Thomas never left the stage, there wasn’t exactly a clear line of demarcation between the main set and what you might call an encore. Whatever you call it, Costello and the Imposters closed out their roughly 30-song set with “Alison,” “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror,” “Shipbuilding” and a barn-burning “(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace Love and Understanding” that brought the weary crowd to its feet.
Recent set lists show that while Monday’s gig was a particularly long one, sets during Costello’s current 7-0-7 Tour regularly land well north of two hours and around the 25-song mark. Even nearly a half-century into his career, Costello is proving he’s an indefatigable force of nature, and one of the greatest showmen in the history of rock ’n’ roll. We’re lucky to bear witness.
The Spin: Elvis Costello and the Imposters at the Ryman, 1/29/2024
The master songsmith held court for three hours Monday at the Mother Church
Elvis Costello and the Imposters at the Ryman, 1/29/2024
