Elvis Costello's set list 9:30 Club, Washington, DC 5.18.07

An amazing, electrified, energetic show at Washington DC's famed 9:30 Club. Elvis poured out 33 songs, mostly from his old vault, in just under two hours. An acoustic version of Alison brought down the house and me nearly to tears. The Washington Post said this:

Costello's willingness to fling open the back pages of his extraordinary songbook is one of the qualities that make him such a superb live performer. Of course, his daring would be in vain if the tunes didn't kill, but aided by the Imposters, Costello drove home the curios and the kinda-hits with such unrelenting kinetic force that you barely had time to remember the chorus of one tune before he counted off the next.

Here's the complete set for you other EC geeks:

1. Welcome to the Working Week
2. Shabby Doll
3. The Beat
4. Lover's Walk
5. Secondary Modern
6. Strict Time
7. Brilliant Mistake
   
8. Country Darkness
9. Temptation
10. Clubland
11. Beyond Belief
12. Kinder Murder
13. Alibi
14. Watching the Detectives
15. American Gangster Time
16. Lipstick Vogue
17. Riot Act
18. I Hope You're Happy Now
19. No Action
20. You Belong to Me
21. Waiting for the End of the World
22. High Fidelity
23. Uncomplicated
24. Radio Radio
25. The Impostor
    
26. Alison
27. Sleep of the Just
28. The River in Reverse
29. Monkey to Man (w/Alan Toussaint)
    
30. Yes We Can Can (Alan Toussaint solo)
31. Hey Bulldog (Beatles cover)
32. Pump it Up
33. (What's So Funny About) Peace, Love & Understanding?

A special message to my no. one-and-a-half fan, DW: I finally posted something. So that set list I kept wasn't a complete waste after all.

Cheers Y'All,

Moe