Elvis Costello Extends Retrospective “Radio Soul!” Tour, Promising Last Chance to Hear the Classics
Photo Credit: Bahram Foroughi
Elvis Costello has extended his upcoming “Radio Soul!: The Early Songs of Elvis Costello” tour with a batch of 22 more dates. Starting on June 12, the iconic singer-songwriter will return to his roots nearly five decades since his outset, reviving and reworking selections spanning from 1977’s My Aim is True to 1986’s Blood & Chocolate alongside The Imposters with Charlie Sexton. With the newly tacked-on fall encore, he’ll give the classics a final day in the sun before shifting his focus to new material.
“For any songwriter, it has to be a compliment if people want to hear songs written up to fifty years ago,” Costello reflected on the upcoming run. “Among them, ‘Radio Soul,’ the first draft of what eventually became ‘Radio Radio.’”
After coasting through 16 stops across the U.S. before a finale at Miami Beach’s Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theatre on July 12, Costello will hit the road again once the dog days have passed. From a Sept. 18 kickoff at Bethlehem, Pa.’s Wind Creek Event Center, he’ll launch a reprise largely focused on the East Coast and Midwest, including high-profile stops at Atlantic City, N.J.’s Borgata Event Center, Boston’s MGM Music Hall at Fenway, Washington, D.C.’s Warner Theatre, Royal Oak, Mich.’s Royal Oak Music Theatre, Chicago’s Chicago Theater, Minneapolis’ Northrop and an Oct. 22 tour closer at Omaha, Neb.’s Steelhouse Omaha.
“You can expect the unexpected and the faithful in equal measure,” Costello noted of the setlist, which promises deep cuts and surprises alongside the essentials that have remained in his repertoire to this day. “Don’t forget this show is “Performed by Elvis Costello & The Imposters,” an ensemble which includes three people who first recorded this music and two more who bring something entirely new. They are nobody’s tribute band.”
The bandleader will be supported by longtime Attractions bandmates Pete Thomas and Steve Nieve (the latter of whom joined Costello for a duo tour in the spring), as well as Cracker’s Davey Faragher and storied guitarist Charlie Sexton. “The Imposters are a living, breathing, swooning, swinging, kicking and screaming rock and roll band who can turn their hands to a pretty ballad when the opportunity arises,” Costello emphasized.
Tickets for Costello’s new “Radio Soul!” tour dates are available now through an artist presale, with all remaining stock opening for a general on-sale this Friday, April 25 at 10 a.m. local. The tour may be fans’ final chance to catch the classics of Costello’s first decade live, as the tireless innovator continues to expand his canon year after year. For tickets and more information, visit elviscostello.com.
“If there is an encore and we play, “Farewell, OK”, it probably means some of those “Early Songs” will have been performed in your city for the very last time,” the artist shared in closing. “I don’t want to go back, I want to bring these songs into the present day, once more, in the event they are ever pushed out of the way by the next number that I write.
“You could say time is running out but only time will tell. Don’t be late, the band hits at eight.”
