Moody Mistress's Journal

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Elvis Costello at Merlefest

Setlist:
1.(Angels Want To Wear My) Red Shoes
2.Everyday I Write The Book
3.Veronica
4.Country Darkness
5.Radio Sweetheart
6.Alison
with Larry Campbell:
7.Brilliant Mistake
8.Stranger In the House
9.Indoor Fireworks
10. Hidden Shame
11.The Delivery Man
12.Complicated Shadows
13.Life's Companion
with Jim Lauderdale:
14. High Timberline
15.Friend of The Devil
16. Little Palaces
17. Ommie Wise
18. Must You Throw Dirt in My Face
19. Mystery Train




The rarities and EC's banter made this show really worth it. I was freezing in a little fold-out chair, about 100 miles from the stage, but I got to hear Hidden Shame, Little Palaces, even a Grateful Dead Cover... By Mystery Train, which EC's done before but I've never heard live, I was really wishing the show wouldn't end. That song was probably the climax of the whole show, but sadly there was no encore.

EC starts his big tour tomorrow--kind of odd to be touring when your babies are 5 months old. He did say this was his first "big gig" since they were born and that it would take something pretty big to get him away from them... (I don't know how that explains the tour though.) I was overly (and too easily) amused when he said he rehearsed these songs for the twins, who "kicked their legs".. There was also a mention of playing 1950's children's songs for them--and that they'll need "therapy" for it later. He also said the songs that night had just been rehearsed, and if the audience didn't like it, "who cares?" (My non-"EC fan" friend actually giggled at some of this...)


The crowd could've stood to be a little more enthusiastic. I think EC did a pretty good job considering this is an American bluegrass festival, and he's 1) Best known as a rock 'n' roll musician and 2) English.
A lot of people did seem to get into it, and sang along, but the response where I was sitting wasn't overwhelming.




Despite having bad seats, and despite my bad camera (which I think is broken), I managed to get a few pics. They may look a tad pathetic, but they're really quite good and here's why:


This is my actual view:















See that person in pink, on the far left? See that black, box-like thing directly behind them, in the distance? That's the stage.

Here's Elvis:

Here's the monitor screen, projecting his image to everyone-- except me, since I had to lean around a canopy thing to see it:

Here are the photos I took of Doc Watson, the headliner of the festival, quite famous around these parts--and he's also someone EC idolizes.

And here are the random photos of the sky and other things I took, while waiting for 4 hours to see Elvis:

Stormy sky... Was relieved that it rained before EC was on, and not during...

***Nearly forgot my one moment of horror: During EC's set, I noticed a guy drunkenly dancing with some other people. His friend was a guy in a Santa hat.

At the Pogues show in March, I had an unpleasant encounter with a drunken guy dressed as Santa Claus. Happily, I did not have to shove this particular Santa.