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FROM THE OUTSIDE LOOKING
IN
ACL FESTIVAL 2004 - SUNDAY WITH ELVIS COSTELLO
September 2004 - Austin, Texas -
Sunday was a fight to the finish. A long weekend of biking back
and forth across town, dealing with crowds, the heat, the sun, lack of
water and more sun and heat made the last day of the festival feel like
a marathon finish. But with Elvis Costello taking the stage at
4:30, I just had to suck it up and deal with everything.
There was definitely an older crowd for the show,
with a lot more folks standing in my usual stomping grounds outside the
fences and behind the stage. As the sound check went on, I found
some water and prevented my body from going into a massively dehydrated
state. Refreshed, and with my bike stowed away in the limitless
bike parking provided by the festival, I wasn't exactly ready to rock,
instead, I was willing to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
Elvis and the band came out promptly, and took the
stage with a loud, "How-ar-ya?" before breaking into 'Accidents will
Happen'. Immediately, there was an air of professionalism that
Elvis and his band mates just seeped that seemed lost on the younger
generation of punks. It seemed like an old school affair, with
some thanks you's, classy showmanship, old school banter, "here's
another one for ya" and he ran through some old songs, jumped into some
newer ones that moved from punkier slots to bluesy numbers without fail.
The crowd dug it, with a bunch of the old timers hanging out by the
fence in front of me dancing like no man should dance. Ever.
As the set continued, Elvis, who sounded
incredible live, rambled on, through more new stuff before finally
settling into his groove again and brought out some older material, and
walking off stage to great applause. The encore started with a
slowed down version of 'Allison', which morphed into a staccato version
of 'Suspicious Minds', and with the crowd now rising to a fevered pitch,
ended his set with a pumped up version of 'Pump it Up'. This
included an old school band introduction, with the obligatory around the
world abbreviated solos and brief moment in the sun for the hard working
men behind Elvis, before continuing on to bring the show to a crescendo.
Once it was over, so was I, headed up Barton Springs Road, wanting to
get home to take a much needed nap.
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