Elvis Costello & the Imposters Made Memories at the Fillmore Miami Beach

Elvis Costello & the Imposters stepped onstage at the Fillmore Miami Beach at 8:15 p.m. on Saturday night, looking like a cross between a carnival barker and a ragtime-era entertainer in a white dress shirt, black vest and tie, wine-dark trousers, and shoes with toes pointy enough to dispatch a cockroach in a motel-room corner. He launched straight into a frenzied rendition of "Mystery Dance," a cut from My Aim Is True, his 1977 debut.

Two and a half hours later, following an impassioned, politically charged "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," a stagehand delivered a properly poured pint of Guinness stout, which Costello proceeded to down to cheers from the crowd before bidding farewell to Miami and — for now, at least — the Radio Soul! Tour.

If you're keeping score at home, that'd be 28 songs, culled from the English rocker's first decade's worth of albums, with neither intermission nor encore break. It helps, of course, that Costello's early repertoire includes plenty of entries that barely exceed the two-minute mark (if that). But still.

The vocals occasionally got lost in the sound mix, and some songs fared better than others straight out of the metaphorical cedar chest. But there were superlatives aplenty, beginning with "Less Than Zero," an early set entry Costello introduced with a dig at the current U.S. president, pointing out that back in 1976, he'd figured that writing a song about a 1930s fascist would be just the ticket for a wannabe rock star: "Who knew it would be back in fashion?"
Another highlight: "The Greatest Love," a song Costello co-wrote with the immortal Allen Touissant that appeared on the Treme soundtrack and has been performed live only a few times. At 70, Costello's vocal range, which once allowed him to smoothly slide into enviable upper registers and falsetto, ain't what it used to be. But on this song, for which Costello put down the guitar in favor of a Fender Rhodes hidden far back at stage left, was a treat, pure and simple. That was followed by "Opportunity," off 1980's Get Happy!! Back-to-back brilliance.

The show was heavy on patter, a feature the loquacious Costello clearly relishes; witness the anecdotes about his granddad, who censored the Sunday paper by cutting out the juicy bits and "believed that women, as well as children, should be seen and not heard." We also learned that his mother, Lillian, who died in 2021, was born on July 12. An acoustic set found Costello settling in on a stool with his pointy-shoed feet propped on an old-school amp and the Imposters clustered nearby. "Deportee," a deep cut introduced with a long anecdote that started out like a guy-walks-into-a-bar joke but was clearly meant as a salvo aimed at the current U.S. presidential administration's brutal dehumanization of immigrants. That was followed by "Living in Paradise," which segued directly into a sweetly rendered version of the Van Morrison classic "Domino."
When rockers of a certain age dust off the hits of their youth for our enjoyment, it's tempting to carp that the songs don't sound the way they used to. Is it reasonable for audiences for whom the songs have been trapped for nearly half a century in the amber of vinyl, CD, streaming service, or memory to expect the artist to bust out a clone of the original like it's 1977? Perhaps we all ought to look in the mirror.

As for me, the amber of my own memory encapsulates a road trip from my hometown of St. Louis to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1980 to see Muddy Waters perform. I was on a blues bender at the time, thanks in part to a massive weeks-long ten-for-$10 record sale at a local Target store (of all places) that included tons of cutouts from the legendary Chess Records label. I could listen to those records all I wanted, as I still can (and do!). What I couldn't do was see Muddy Waters perform live in Chicago in the 1950s, '60s, or '70s. But in that moment, I had the chance to see him as he was, and I'm still grateful to my teenage self for taking it.
Quite late in the proceedings on Saturday night, a woman near the front of the not-nearly full concert hall yelled out, "I love you!"

"I love you too!" Costello yelled back. "We love all of you, individually!"

And isn't that what we came for?

Before we get to the setlist: For those who like to play along at home, we cast our preshow bread upon the waters, proffering five songs that hadn't seen the light of a setlist during the two-month run of the Radio Soul! Tour. Let the record show that "Secondary Modern" somehow snuck its way in. Thank you, and you're welcome.
Elvis Costello & the Imposters:
Elvis Costello: lead vocals, guitar, Fender Rhodes keyboard
Steve Nieve: keyboards, melodica, accordion, backing vocals
Charlie Sexton: guitar, backing vocals
Davey Faragher: bass, backing vocals
Pete Thomas: drums

Setlist
- Mystery Dance
- Watching the Detectives
- Green Shirt
- Less Than Zero
- Secondary Modern
- Accidents Will Happen
- Lipstick Vogue
- Fish ’n’ Chip Paper
- The Greatest Love
- Opportunity
- Uncomplicated / Shotgun
- No Dancing
- King Horse
- Poisoned Rose
- Deportee
- Living in Paradise / Domino
- Brilliant Mistake
- (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
- Clubland
- Everyday I Write the Book
- Wonder Woman
- I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down
- High Fidelity
- Alison / I'm Gonna Make You Love Me
- (I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea
- Radio, Radio
- Pump It Up
- (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding