ElvisCostello, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

I literally just got back from the Elvis Costello concert at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The show was effing brilliant!!!

In all my years I have never seen Elvis Costello perform live.

The show started with Costello coming on stage in a black suit and bow tie then introducing the orchestral piece that he composed. The BSO then performed the piece which was his interpretation of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights Dream. Costello explained that in his version he imagines Puck as being a funky jazz musician. The piece was very reminiscent of something that the late Aaron Copeland might compose.

My only complaint about the work is that I did not like how there were seemingly long pauses in between each change in musical movement. This in a way made the piece sound a bit disjointed to me. I am used to hearing orchestral pieces where there is a constant musical rhythm being played without pauses between movement changes. Despite the issue with the long pauses I did like some movements in the piece. As to what the names of the movements were I do not know as it was not written in the program. Overall, the orchestral portion of the program lasted about 40 minutes then Costello took the stage again. This time he was there to sing with the BSO backing him up.

When Costello took the stage and sang my eyes began to mist a little. I felt as though I was on the verge of crying. It was just a temporary overwhelming feeling of, OH MY GOD!!! STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME IS ROCK N’ ROLL LEGEND, ELVIS FRIGGIN’ COSTELLO!!! IT’S HIM!! IT’S HIM!!!

You see Elvis Costello is one of the artists in my personal music collection that I own several format versions of. To have this unique honor means that I have been into that artist for a very, very long time. So thus, I have Costello on vinyl, cassette, CD, and now in permanent rotation on my iPod. So to me having the music of Elvis Costello around is as essential as breathing. His music has been the soundtrack of my life for well over twenty years and seeing him in person was like seeing Santa Clause in person, only he’s real.

In case you are wondering the other music artists who have this unique distinction in my music collection are Patti LaBelle, Billy Idol, U2, The Clash, Blondie, The Police, The Cars, The Cure, and New Order. I can not imagine spending the rest of my life without having access to their music. Its my comfort music for the soul albeit with a predominantly New Wave beat. OK....Back to the concert.....

The orchestral arrangements of his popular music by the BSO were phenomenal. I really liked the big band version of Watching the Detectives. It truly rocked! I also liked the version of Alison he performed. In the middle of Allison he started singing Tears of a Clown. The one standout performance in my opinion was when he did a very soulful rendition of God Give Me Strength. He really worked that song as though he were performing at The Apollo Theater.

My only disappointment of the night was that he did not perform, What’s So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding? I thought for sure he would perform that song! I guess in our current political climate the song might come off as being too controversial.

I do not know why but I like to focus on what the performers have up on stage to drink. On the stool nearby Costello were two bottles of Aquafina water and a mysterious tall silver container of something. Early in the show Costello took one sip of whatever was in the mysterious silver container and no more. The rest of the night was fueled by Aquafina water. My speculation on this is that maybe the reason he took only one sip out of the silver container is that he was fresh out of what ever it was. So throughout the night he was left with Evian water.

As far as the audience goes it was slightly younger than the usual Meyerhoff crowd. I would say that the majority of the people in the audience were Gen-Xers like myself. Also in the section I was seated at I was surprised to find that I was not the only African American woman there. There was another and she also appeared to have come there alone as well. When we saw each other we just smiled and nodded in recognition. I wonder if she was the same woman who was taking pictures at the Olivia Newton John concert last year? Naturally, there were a couple of black men there with non-black women.

Also, I brought my camera there with the intent of snapping a picture of Elvis Costello. Like last year at the Olivia Newton John concert I chickened out. I became afraid that maybe he might stop the show and yell at me for taking a picture of him. Or that maybe if I took a picture the flash would be so much that one of the orchestra members would be temporarily blinded and the music would be thrown off key.

Overall, it was a phenomenal night. In total Elvis Costello got about four standing ovations. Should Costello comes to town again and the venue is assessable to the MTA I would love to do it all over again.