Elvis Costello interview

Legendary singer-songwriter and adopted scouser, Elvis Costello, is returning to Liverpool to perform at the Olympia with long-time collaborator Steve Nieve.

Elvis explains why the famous old theatre will always hold a place in his heart and shares details of the special finale he has planned for the eagerly anticipated show

Words | Lawrence Saunders

You’re coming towards the end of a co-headlining US summer tour with Daryl Hall – 40 years on from your collaboration on Goodbye Cruel World’s ‘The Only Flame in Town’. What’s it been like linking up with Daryl again?

On a tour like this you rarely see the other act. We have to hit the road for the next town before Daryl hits ‘Maneater’. Some of these shows are three or four hundred miles apart! Of course, Mr. Hall was good enough to sing on ‘Only Flame’ – originally a ballad that we unsuccessfully tried to turn into a peppy dance number. That was 40 years ago, appearing together in the video clip, a surrealist classic in which young women entered a competition to ‘Win A Date With The Attractions’ and Daryl and I were just innocent bystanders.

In September, you will be here in Liverpool with Steve Nieve to play the Olympia. The last time you performed in Liverpool was in 2022 at the Philharmonic Hall. Even though you were born in London, do you see Liverpool as a ‘hometown’ show?

I tell people I was born in London and borne north on a donkey to be christened in the church of The Holy Cross in Birkenhead. The suburbs west of London are not a place to which I can really feel any sense of belonging.

Merseyside is definitely my place of family origin; my ma was from the Liverpool 8 end of Smithdown Road and my dad’s first family home – later remodeled by the Luftwaffe – was 50 yards from the docks on Cathcart Street, Birkenhead. My best childhood memories are of holidays spent at my nana’s house in the north end. My mother and I moved to West Derby in 1970 but when it came time to make music I had to leave home again and I suppose I’ve just kept going.

Truthfully, my last appearance in Liverpool was a mess. I think it was too soon after my mother’s passing and just wanted too much from the show. I lost my bearings and my judgement. Rather than it being some kind of joyful wake, it was the worst show I’ve played in the city since that dodgy folk club spot in 1971.

But that’s all over now, Steve Nieve and I have a great set in mind and something special planned for the finale. An ensemble of saxophones and brass – both students and graduates of LIPA – will play arrangements I’ve written for the occasion, including a version of ‘Shipbuilding’ in which all seven players will be featured, as John Lennon said: “Lastly through hog’s head of real fire”.

You’ve played the Olympia before of course, but as a massive Beatles’ fan do you still get a kick out of performing there, given the Fab Four graced the same stage in 1962 when it was known as the Locarno Ballroom?

The Olympia is already a special place to me as it was the last place my ma saw me play – in March 2020 – in the last days before we all went into hiding. Lillian had danced at the Locarno in the late ’40s, when The Beatles were just kids. Against all advice she insisted on attending the show in her wheelchair and with the help of her carers had a rare old time. I only saw her face-to-face once after that night.

It is always good to know what ghosts may lurk in any venue. In the case of the Olympia, I believe it might be Houdini and a couple of elephants.

Do you still have family here on Merseyside?

I have a few cousins scattered about. Vicky, the cellist from The Mono LPs is the great-great-great-grand-niece of my grandmother, Ada Mutch.

As well as your gig at the Olympia, September will finally see the world premiere of A Face in the Crowd at the Young Vic Theatre – a show which you contributed music and lyrics for. How excited are you to see your songs brought to life on stage?

I’ve been making calculations about these songs by bouncing them off the back walls of concert halls for the last seven years while we were developing the show in New York City, only for it to reach the stage in London at a breathless pace. The theme of the show is right there in the title. It’s about what lurks within the dark heart of the crowd and the monsters that they may summon up. Budd Schulberg wrote this story in the 1950s about how television could warp public perceptions and desire. It’s not a satire of current events, unless you are determined to see it that way.

You’ve never been one to shy away from politics in your music – right from your very first single ‘Less than Zero’ through to the Armed Forces album and beyond. I’m interested to get your thoughts on the rise of populism, both in the USA and across Europe.

I don’t have anything unprecedented to say. People want what they think they want. Changing the colour of your tie or rosette doesn’t transform your soul or save your skin. My friend John’s grandfather wrote a speech for the movie Citizen Kane that comes to mind all the time these days.

When the married Charles Foster Kane is revealed to be having an affair, his political rival, Jim Gettys threatens to discredit him if he does not withdraw from the election for governor. When Kane pridefully declines, Gettys says: “You’re the greatest fool I’ve ever known, Kane. If it was anybody else, I’d say what’s going to happen to you would be a lesson to you. Only you’re going to need more than one lesson. And you’re going to get more than one lesson.” Right about now, I’d say: “We are all Kane”.

Given we are fast approaching the start of the new Premier League season, I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to get your thoughts on Liverpool FC. Do you think Arne Slot is the right man to continue LFC’s success?

My powers of clairvoyance and precognition seem to have dimmed but I hope the new fellow gets a fair shake.

Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve play the Liverpool Olympia on 11 September

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