07.12.2018
ELVIS COSTELLO AND IMELDA MAY AT WOLF TRAP
The Vinyl District: Roger Catlin: June 26th 2017. Photo By Richie Downs
At a time when heritage artists have been distinguishing their tours with reverent presentations of their classic albums, playing them in strict order, one side and then the other, Elvis Costello has found a more flexible vehicle in a tour to celebrate his 1982 Imperial Bedroom.
A landmark album in his rich period of complex pop, it’s provided him with a playground, not only to revisit most (but not all) of its songs, but to veer off into other parts of his career. That means some of the early hits with the Attractions that are staples of his live shows, but also a couple of intriguing but as yet not recorded songs he wrote for a musical version of “A Face in the Crowd.”
Still, that means his generous show with the Imposters at Wolf Trap Thursday skipped pretty much everything from his last 17 or so studio albums, dating back to 1986. Costello, 62, already played the tour in the market back in November, but had some new tricks up his sleeve for the outdoor venue whose ambience on a hot summer night he likened to “the tropical bird house at Regent’s Park.”