Graeme Thomson

Elvis Costello remains the most fascinating songwriter Britain has produced in the past 50 years

His gig at Theatre Royal, Glasgow, was a night for the diehards, happy to forgive the vocal frailties and eccentric arrangements, for the many outstanding moments

Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve performing in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2023. Photo: Iwi Onodera / Redferns 
issue 14 September 2024

Song for song, line by line, blow for blow, Elvis Costello remains the most consistently fascinating songwriter Britain has produced in the past 50 years – an opinion which seems these days to be mostly confined to a smallish section of an ageing demographic.

Certainly, Costello’s music has, as far as I can tell, proved largely resistant to TikTokification, even if Olivia Rodrigo did ‘pay homage’ (nicked, with the author’s approval) to the riff to ‘Pump It Up’ for her song ‘Brutal’.

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