J and Margret! I saw him on Saturday night in Philly! He was fabulous. He played for 2.5 hours. 3 encores. He played an even mix between songs off of his new album and old classics (Alison, Beyond Belief, Pump It Up, What's So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding?, Watching the Detectives, and others I can't remember.) His voice was great, he joked a lot with the audience, the audience was really enthusiastic... The highlight, though, was that he ended the show with I Want You. !!! It was awesome. It was stripped down to bare instrumentalization, the stage was barely lit in dark purple with just his face illuminated in yellow (neat effect), he had such passion in his singing...it was great. The only bad thing was that we were in the very back row of the balcony, but the Tower isn't that large of a theatre so you could still see the stage pretty well. I counted at least 30 people (men and women) in the audience who were trying to look like him, and I saw a lot of people my age with their parents. Funny. I had such a good time!

Score Spider, I'm jealous:) I entered a contest to see him in Europe,not that I'm holding my breath to see if I won. He really does put his heart in his preformance.

How many times have you seen him, J? At least twice, right? After he gets back from Europe, he's playing two dates in New York in October. I just might have to go see him again. Now if only Tom Waits would tour...

see spider, if you'd finally agree to meet me we could drive around till we found his house and drive by again slowly and laugh and then stop at a bar on the way home, bump into him, tell him our stalker for a day story and all become fast friends me and you and tom waits

that reminds me.....someone played a joke on us. friday driving on a random hillside street crammed with houses...my friend from out of town blurted out "Oh my god there was a naked woman meditating on her porch. how california!" naturally i slammed on the brakes and did a uturn. Approaching the house again....we realize its a very real mannequin in a nude outfit sitting in a very obvious place. We speculated they put it in this location as a practical joke....getting kicks everytime a car slams on the breaks and does a turn around. Would you have done a u turn?

nah. maybe if it was the Midwest. Elvis played here recently, and according to one person who went, the crowd was terrible. a bunch of middle aged yahoos who kept yelling at the kids to sit down and stop yelling. I'm glad I didn't go, it seems to me that the performance space (brand new) is a yuppie magnet.

Man, that sucks, Sem! The crowd in Philly loved him, and that enhanced the experience. They sang along when he prompted them, and danced (even the 60+ year-old man in front of me), and cheered loudly and with joy.....the only time they were annoying was when some people yelled "We want you!" and "Declan, we love you!" during I Want You. That song is sacred, dammit -- show some respect. Let me thank J and Margret for inspiring me to buy Blood and Chocolate a few years ago.

i finally got off my ass and bought Blood Money. I didnt get Alice yet, but im totally diggin this one.

if i ever meet elvis costello i would faint. did anyone see that special he did on TV not too long ago? fuckface was kind enough for once to have the tivo pull it down so i could watch it. elvis is dreamy. his new record is a classic. i am very jealous spider. also, i didn't know you were in philly!

i am jealous. i entered the same contest as j. my new favorite song off the new album is 'tart', but i like both dusts. he's a fantastic, taut vocalist.

i saw elvis costello and maybe. . . 10,000 maniacs? weird so long ago i am so old

I jsut read a drink with Shane Macgowan and he talks about how Elvis Costello put up with all sorts of crap from the Pogues since he was all goo-ggo eyed over their bassist. He also said they blew Costello off the stage every night, which is within the realm of the plausible. He also recoutned how the bassist, Cait O'Riordan (who later married Costello) kicked Matt Dillon in the balls and he fell down a couple flights of stairs.

10,000 Maniacs? oyyyyy veyyyyy not that this means anything anymore but years ago...i avoided any girl that considered herself a fan of them/Natalie Merchant. usually those girls had no sense of humor whatsoever...and took themselves way too seriously.

I like Dust 2 better than Dust...it's noisier and more fun. I think My Little Blue Window is an incredibly sweet little song, and I don't like Dissolve.

PS. I'm still in DC, but I travelled to Philly to see him. He played in Virginia a week before the Philly show, and I missed him then.

Come to think of it Spider,you might like The Juliet Letters with Elvis and the Brodsky Quartet.This reminded me of how pissed of I am that I lost my napster files,I had some so with Elvis and Tom Waits,Elvis and Paul McCartney,Elvis and Gwen Steffi,etc.Rare stuff,though I do know that Elvis is against Napster and anything like it,he says it's stealing.

btw, did i ever tell you guys that i saw elvis costello at the backyard this summer? i ended up going alone (got stood up) and then ended up scoring a front row ticket for the price of gen admission. he was absolutely sublime. deep dark truthful mirror melted my brain.

He's getting a divorce,say's they just grew apart.