09.08.2023
Elvis Costello with Steve Nieve in Dublin: Moments of unadulterated pleasure you simply didn’t expect
Irish Times: Tony Clayton-Lea Fri Sep 8 2023. Photo: Tom Honan
They have spent the best of 45 years together on tour buses, dressingrooms, hotel lounges, aeroplanes, recording studios, and stages, so it’s no real surprise that Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve slip and slide off each other’s backs like eels. They have an instinctive shorthand that may be indiscernible to the naked eye, but which they can each see coming almost without having to look up or over. Sure, they have a set list prepared and fit for purpose, and each show has a starting point, but, as he said in this paper a few days ago, “after 10 minutes it all goes to hell and we change everything.”