I've become totally in love with Elvis Costello's music in the last three months (have pretty much never heard anything by him prior to that), and have recently found out that he'll be stopping here in Vancouver for a show on July 21.

Excellent, excellent news.

One thing I'm a little let down by, though, is the fact that I understand this will be more of an acoustic thing, with just Elvis and Steve, guitar and piano.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it'll be an excellent show and I'm totally looking forward to it, but as someone who's just getting into Costello's music, I'm a bit dissappointed I won't get the "whole band experience" (hehe, especially as a bass-player who's infatuated with the bass-lines in a number of songs, I was really hoping to get to hear them live ).

Anyway, I guess my point/question is, has anyone here been to one of these kinds of EC shows, and what are they like?

Thanks!

I haven't been to one of these shows, but I did go see him with the Imposters last fall in Eugene (Attractions' Nieve, Pete Thomas plus bass player whose name escapes me now) and it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen - nearly 3 hours long, utterly mind-blowing run through three decades' worth of songs. I'd recommend seeing him live no matter what the situation, he seems to b just getting better with age. Nieve particularly blew me away on keyboards and a handful of other instruments - he even played a theremin at one point!

I saw Elvis with Steve Nieve a couple ofsummers ago. It was as you suspected. A good show, but not quite the "angry young man" feel that I was hoping for. Go see him none-the-less, it is better than the bulk of other artists out there.

I saw Elvis and Steve about 3 years ago, and it stands as the highlight of my concertgoing life. Now, I'm a lifelong EC fan, it's true, but really it was simply amazing. You don't need loud guitars to get raw emotion across. The opener of 'Alibi Factory' (which I have some live boots of and MUCh prefer to the version that ended up on WIWC) was seething, and he did a BLISTERING version of "I Want You". And when he came to the lip of the stage and sang "Couldn'T Call it Unexpected #4" (my favorite song) without his mic, it made me cry.
I'd love to see the Attractions again, but with Bruce and EC on the outs (for good this time, apparently) I'll never get to see it. Still, don't underestimate it because it's not 'rock format'. It was incredibly moving.

I saw the same tour with Elvis and Steve Nieve, and it was a great show. The full band shows I've seen have great also, but one shouldn't pass up an opportunity to see the man live regardless of setting.

As for EC and the Attractions, when they toured supporting Brutal Youth, I remember someone throwing a bunch of index cards with song requests on them on stage early in the show. EC picked them up after the song they were doing, looked at them, and told us "Someone has just asked us to play a bunch of songs we don't ****in' know!" which of course got a boisterous response.

Thanks for the responses!

Yeah, I understand that The Attractions are pretty much no more, but I guess my 'concern' (if I can really even call it that), is that, for my first time ever seeing EC in concert, I think I would've preferred to see the 'full-band' thing, I guess with his new-ish band, The Imposters.

But anyway, like I said I'm still looking forward to this, and you guys have all assured me that it will indeed be a great show

Another Nieve acoustic tour?

Having seen them during the "Lonely World' tour a couple years ago (on both swings through Detroit), I'm pretty excited to hear this.

That explains the smaller venue, this time around.