LENS O'TOOLE
ELVIS COSTELLO
Elvis Costello has added an Atlantic City show to his “Radio Soul!: The Early Songs of Elvis Costello” tour. It will be at The Event Center at Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, Sept. 19. Tickets will go on sale April 25 at 10 a.m., with pre-sales beginning Sept. 24 at 10 a.m.; visit ticketmaster.com.
Costello will be joined by his band The Imposters (keyboardist Steve Nieve, drummer Pete Thomas, bassist Davey Faragher) as well as guitarist Charlie Sexton. Nieve and Thomas were also members of Costello’s original band, The Attractions.
According to a press release, the tour will emphasize songs from Costello’s 1977 debut album, My Aim Is True, to 1986’s Blood & Chocolate.
Costello said in a press release: “For any songwriter, it has to be a compliment if people want to hear songs written up to fifty years ago. Among them, ‘Radio Soul,’ the first draft of what eventually became ‘Radio Radio.’ …
“You can expect the unexpected and the faithful in equal measure. Don’t forget this show is ‘Performed by Elvis Costello & The Imposters,’ an ensemble which includes three people who first recorded this music and two more who bring something entirely new. They are nobody’s tribute band.
“The Imposters are a living, breathing, swooning, swinging, kicking and screaming rock and roll band who can turn their hands to a pretty ballad when the opportunity arises. …
“If there is an encore and we play, ‘Farewell, OK,’ it probably means some of those ‘Early Songs’ will have been performed in your city for the very last time. I don’t want to go back, I want to bring these songs into the present day, once more, in the event they are ever pushed out of the way by the next number that I write.
“You could say time is running out but only time will tell.”
Costello will turn 71 in August.
The tour’s first leg will be in June and July. The Atlantic City show (currently the tour’s only New Jersey stop) is part of an added September/October leg. To see all dates, visit elviscostello.com.
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