ELVIS COSTELLO & THE IMPOSTERS WITH CHARLIE SEXTON + CHRIS DIFFORD – BRIGHTON DOME 12.6.26
Tonight, at Brighton Dome Concert Hall, is the opening night for the UK leg of Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Charlie Sexton ‘Radio Soul!: The Early Songs of Elvis Costello’ tour, having already entertained crowds in Sweden (Lund and Stockholm), Norway (Oslo) and Germany (Hamburg) over the past week. From here they will be heading off to Birmingham, London, and York before performing at the Hampton Court Palace Festival, after which they move onto London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, Portsmouth, and Chelmsford, with another eight dates happening after that. Clearly, this 71-year-old Paddington-born (as Declan Patrick MacManus) icon is still very much in demand on the gig circuit and loved by his hordes of fans despite the fact that he hasn’t actually had a UK Top 40 single this millennium, his last being his homage to Charles Aznavour’s ‘She’ in 1999.
Costello is arguably famed for his early work including hit singles ‘Watching The Detectives’ (No.15 1977), ‘(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea’ (No.16 1978), ‘Pump It Up’ (No.24 1978), ‘Radio Radio’ (No.29 1978), ‘Oliver’s Army’ (No.2 1979), ‘Accidents Will Happen’ (No.28 1979), ‘I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down’ (No.4 1980), and ‘Good Year For The Roses’ (No.6 1981). Although it must be said that Costello’s solid body of work isn’t just with his singles releases, as a vast majority of his 33 studio albums have secured solid UK Album Chart placings when released, with no less than a third of these cracking the Top 10, with a trio of these rising to the No.2 slot. This then highlights the fact that in his circa 56 years in the music business he has yet to crack the No.1 spot in the UK. Although in the US Alternative Airplay music chart his 1989 ‘Veronica’ and 1991 ‘The Other Side Of Summer’ singles did both hit the top spot. But as millions of music lovers around the world are aware that the chart positions are just folly, and it’s the quality of output that truly matters!
As the ‘Radio Soul!: The Early Songs of Elvis Costello’ suggests, tonight’s show features numbers drawn from record releases from ‘My Aim Is True’ in 1977 to ‘Blood & Chocolate’ in 1986, along with other surprises along the way. The musicians on stage are Elvis Costello (lead vocals, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, grand piano), Steve Nieve (two banks of keyboards, melodica, grand piano, drum, backing vocals), Davey Faragher (bass guitar, crossbow style double bass, backing vocals), Pete Thomas (drums, keys), and Charlie Sexton (electric guitar, acoustic guitars, backing vocals). We are in their company for 109 minutes from 8:53pm until 10:42pm and we are rewarded two dozen choice cuts, although both ‘Shipbuilding’ and ‘Radio Radio’ are sadly not included in the performance.
Costello is wearing his trademark sunglasses and hat this evening and the quintet kick things straight off with a couple of fast rockin’ tunes. The first of these is ‘Mystery Dance’ with the standout line being “He’ll say “Well I’ve been around and I still don’t know””, and they segue straight into the equally speedy 1978 Elvis Costello & The Attractions ‘Lipstick Vogue’ tune. After which they segue straight into an extended version of the reggae/ska beat laden ‘Watching The Detectives’, which was one of the set highlights for your truly. Costello then introduces the band and informs us that tonight is the first leg of the UK tour. They then blast into a couple of Elvis Costello & The Attractions numbers, the former being 1978’s ‘Little Triggers’…“Little triggers that you pull with your tongue; Little triggers, I don’t want to be hung up”. The grand piano is brought into use for the first time this evening and I get a David Bowie vibe going down. The latter track is 1981’s ‘Watch Your Step’ which sees Costello flitting between microphones. He has a trio of them at the front of the stage, with each offering a different output, but all witness the trademark Costello twang. The beat of this track actually reminded me of The Crystals ‘Then He Kissed Me’ hit from 18 years earlier.
Costello then switches to an acoustic guitar and performs an unnamed solo tune that was a prototype for ‘Accidents Will Happen’. It’s an interesting piece of Costello history which contained the line “I can’t help myself”, which on record he sang as part of his rendition of the Burt Bacharach, Mack David & Barney Williams ‘Baby It’s You’ tune. This being his busking moment, until his chums then join in for ‘Accidents Will Happen’ proper, which to my ears at times appears that the quintet are at times a little out of sync, which is a shame. It’s not the only time this evening either! Moving on….and things get nice’n’funky with the arrival of another Attractions number in ‘Opportunity’. The bass guitar leads the way and it has the vibe of The Blockheads meets disco era Blondie. “Please don`t turn around” is the standout line, but Costello’s vocals here are at odds with the music itself as in fighting for control.
The Attractions 1981 ‘Lovers Walk’ is given an outing and it feels as though I’m waiting for him to sing “Tequila” as in The Champs 1958 hit. Costello really gets to grips with his guitar during this tune and he’s clearly well into it. After this, Costello switches to grand piano, Faragher switches from bass guitar to crossbow shaped double bass, and Thomas comes down from his drumkit to near the front of the stage and takes care of a single drum and cymbal combination. The quintet are huddled together on the left hand side of the stage as we view it. They perform their bluesy rendition of Charlie Rich’s ‘Who Will The Next Fool Be’ which begins with “Woman, when you get rid of me…”. Thankfully the band are all back in sync now and singing off the same songsheet. They remain in the same places and formation for the Bowie crooning-esque ‘Almost Blue’.
Costello is back on acoustic guitar for 1977’s ‘(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes’, which opens with “Oh, I used to be disgusted; And now I try to be amused…”. The tune reminds me of Bob Dylan and there’s some notable double bass action from Faragher and a melodica is utilized by Nieve. Keeping with the “red” theme, they launch into 1981’s country music filled ‘A Good Year For The Roses’. The Everley Brothers are namechecked by Costello next as they get into The Attractions ‘Lovable’, with Sexton joining Costello on acoustic guitar. It reminded me of the Stray Cats 1981 ‘Runaway Boys’, and it’s a rockin’ set highlight for not only myself but many in the packed audience, judging by the hearty applause at the end. The Doors spring to mind on the next tune, ‘Honey, Are You Straight Or Are You Blind?’, which for yours truly was even better than the previous number. The cats were really swinging here, especially Nieve on his Farfisa sounding organ.
The grand piano opens up the famed Sam & Dave ‘I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down’ cover…“I’m the living result; I’m a man who’s been hurt a little too much…”, although for two-thirds the way through the song, it’s barely recognisable as the hit single. It’s a bluesy gospel take, which thankfully does revert to the recognised version for the final third. I would have preferred the recorded version to be honest. The quintet segued straight into The Attractions ‘High Fidelity’ from 1980, which thankfully had much more “oomph”. The “oomph” factor continued straight into 1977’s (almost) glam rocker ‘Less Than Zero’ and then the famed ‘Oliver’s Army’ with its signature keys riffage, although again their musicians seemed to be disjointed again on this hit. But nevertheless it earned the loudest roars from the packed crowd to date, with some even offering standing ovations.
The rockin’ gave way to the slow ‘Alison’, which sadly didn’t deliver for me and they segued into ‘Everyday I Write The Book’, which didn’t excite me either. Things picked up with the arrival of 1978’s ‘(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea’ which was an extended offering with added cameos for each musician as they are introduced again: “Professor Steve Nieve from Paris France” and so on. At this juncture, a vast majority of the punters sitting downstairs got up from the seats and clapped along. The excellent ‘Pump It Up’ followed and just sneaked it as “best song in set” for me! They segued into the Brinsley Schwarz’s ‘(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding’ as their closing number, with the standout line being “Just makes me wanna cry”. There was clearly not going to be a false encore and the quintet skipped off stage to Andy Stewart’s ) ‘Donald Where’s Your Troosers?’. This evening was amazingly my debut encounter with Elvis Costello and overall I would suggest that it was a mixed bag with some hits and some misses. It was also a shame that no professional photographers were allowed to attend this evening, as the excellent photos would have enriched this review.
Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Charlie Sexton:
Elvis Costello – lead vocals, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, grand piano
Steve Nieve – keyboards, melodica, grand piano, drum, backing vocals
Pete Thomas – drums, keys
Davey Faragher – bass guitar, crossbow style double bass, backing vocals
Charlie Sexton – electric guitar, acoustic guitars, backing vocals
Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Charlie Sexton setlist:
‘Mystery Dance’ (Elvis Costello song)
‘Lipstick Vogue’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover)
‘Watching The Detectives’ (Elvis Costello song)
‘Little Triggers’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover)
‘Watch Your Step’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover)
“(Unknown)” (EC solo, announced as a prototype for ‘Accidents Will Happen’)
‘Accidents Will Happen’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover)
‘Opportunity’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover)
‘Lovers Walk’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover)
‘Who Will The Next Fool Be’ (Charlie Rich cover)
‘Almost Blue’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover)
‘(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes’ (Elvis Costello song)
‘A Good Year For The Roses’ (George Jones cover)
‘Lovable’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover)
‘Honey, Are You Straight Or Are You Blind?’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover)
‘I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down’ (Sam & Dave cover)
‘High Fidelity’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover)
‘Less Than Zero’ (Elvis Costello song)
‘Oliver’s Army’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover)
‘Alison’ (Elvis Costello song)
‘Everyday I Write The Book’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover)
‘(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover) (with band introductions)
‘Pump It Up’ (Elvis Costello & The Attractions cover)
‘(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding’ (Brinsley Schwarz cover)
(Outro tune) ‘Donald Where’s Your Troosers?’ (by Andy Stewart)
Chris Difford is best known as a founding member of Squeeze, and for his songwriting partnership with band co-founder Glenn Tilbrook. Together they have penned such classics as ‘Up The Junction’, ‘Cool For Cats’ and ‘Labelled With Love’, ‘Tempted’ and many others. The pair have released fifteen studio albums together as Squeeze, and an album in 1984 as Difford & Tilbrook. Difford is a Grammy nominated and double Ivor Novello Award winning lyricist who has brought us characters and sketches from everyday life, and has successfully turned the mundane into the beautiful, the urbane into the exquisite, for 50 years.
December last year witnessed Difford release his ‘50 Years’ solo album, which is the latest of a long line of solo releases, with previous long-players including ‘Pants’ (2018), ‘Let’s Be Combe Avenue (Demos, 1972’) (2017), ‘Fancy Pants’ (2016), ‘Cashmere If You Can’ (2011), ‘The Temptation Of Chris’ (2008), and ‘I Didn’t Get Where I Am’ (2002).
This evening is not anything new for Difford as he performed 30 solo shows in 2025, and this year he was the main support to Christopher Cross in May, and will be performing further live shows with Squeeze throughout the rest of this year, including a date at the Brighton Centre on Saturday 6th December, with support coming from Billy Bragg – Tickets HERE.
Tonight Difford is joined by Melvin Duffy on slide guitar and guitar and we are in the duo’s company for 46 minutes from 7:40pm until 8:26pm. During that period they offload 11 stripped back tunes, 8 of which being Squeeze numbers, as well as many comedic moments from Difford, which clearly lightens the mood of the evening. They start with ‘Take Me I’m Yours’ and you can see why Difford has been chosen as Costello’s support as musically it’s a fine fit and from the very beginning you can see that there are many Squeeze fans present. Difford states “It’s to be out of the care home” which is greeted by many laughs. He then recounts the time in history when the tune was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales and that Queen were in the studio next door recording ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and that they went on to play Wembley Stadium whilst Squeeze were playing at Oxford Arms in Deptford three times a week, cue song two ‘Deptford’. And so the mock self-mickey taking continued throughout.
The popular ‘Up The Junction’ was next and followed by the first song that Difford ever wrote, this being ‘It’s Over’, which finally saw the light of day as the Squeeze fifth and final single from their tenth album, ‘Some Fantastic Place’ which had been issued in 1993. The ‘Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)’ hit was up next and went down very well. Difford then talks about the cheap airplane flights back in the day care of entrepreneur Freddie Laker and they perform ‘Freddie And The Dreamers’. After Squeeze’s ‘Is That Love’, we get ‘Cowboys Are My Weakness’, and then Squeeze’s ‘Labelled With Love’, which made No.4 in 1981. At this juncture Difford then recounted how Squeeze’s ‘Cool For Cats’ was kept off the No.1 slot by Art Garfunkel with “a song about rabbits” (8th April 1979) and then again for ‘Up The Junction’ by Tubeway Army aka Gary Numan (1st July 1979). He then jokingly expressed his love for Garfunkel and Numan….not! Earlier on in the performance Difford also mentioned about playing ‘Top Of The Pops’ back in the day and looking forward to meeting Legs & Co. but their attention was with Brighton “burger van” import David Van Day. Difford mentioned seeing the Boomtown Rats and The Clash at ‘Top Of The Pops’ but he was mistaken, as I know that The Clash never played the show! But I guess we have to let him off as Squeeze have played on the show an impressive 20 times from 6th April 1978 to 2nd October 2005.
Tonight’s penultimate offering was Squeeze’s ‘Tempted’ which was penned by Difford in a taxi to Heathrow Airport and it was then transformed into a blue-eyed soul masterpiece thanks to Squeeze keyboardist Paul Carrack and the producer who was none other than Elvis Costello. Difford and Duffy signed off with ‘Cool For Cats’ which many in the crowd quietly sang along to. If the music composing ever does dry up for Difford, then his future is secured as a standup comedian!
PS: for the record Squeeze never had a UK No.1 single or album either! Just No.2’s.
Chris Difford:
Chris Difford – vocals, guitar
Melvin Duffy – slide guitar, guitar, keys
Chris Difford setlist:
‘Take Me I’m Yours’ (Squeeze song)
‘Deptford’
‘Up The Junction’ (Squeeze song)
‘It’s Over’ (Squeeze song)
‘Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)’ (Squeeze song)
‘Freddie And The Dreamers’
‘Is That Love’ (Squeeze song)
‘Cowboys Are My Weakness’
‘Labelled With Love’ (Squeeze song)
‘Tempted’ (Squeeze song)
‘Cool For Cats’ (Squeeze song)
