Over his long career, Elvis Costello has proven to be one of the most eclectic artists in popular music. While he started out on the bleeding edge of punk, he’s also ventured in country/Americana, and he’s made records with pop composer Burt Bacharach, New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint, and the hip-hop group The Roots.
But it’s his early songs — the focus of his current tour, which recently stopped at the Warner Theatre for a two-hour set — that are still the most beloved.
Though Costello didn’t address the current US administration directly by name, it was clear that he wanted to send a message. At Warner Theatre on Sept. 29, he walked on stage with his band, The Imposters, to Heaven 17’s “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thing.” He wrote “Less Than Zero,” he said, about “an old fascist I saw on TV.” (That man was Oswald Mosley, and, in going down a rabbit hole, I learned about the Battle of Cable Street, in which an antifascist coalition blocked Mosley and his followers from marching through London’s largely Jewish East End. The anti-fascists chanted, “They shall not pass,” and if that sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because J.R.R. Tolkien has Gandalf repeatedly declare, “You shall not pass!” when he faces down the Balrog in The Lord of the Rings. I can’t say that Tolkien consciously meant this as a reference, but he definitely would’ve been aware of the event.)
Costello returned to the theme with “American Gangster Time” (which included a snipped of “I Fought The Law”) and his penultimate song of the evening, Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding.”
Watch the official music video for “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding” by Elvis Costello & The Attractions on YouTube:
Costello’s fine, dry British was on display throughout the even. When he first addressed the crowd, he said, “It’s the first night of the tour in DC. It’s also the last night.” When he switched to acoustic guitar, he quipped that he was introduced to the capo by Timothee Chalamet. Elvis suggested that Chalamet didn’t win the Oscar for best Actor because he “played the wrong songwriter,” and while he’s too handsome to play him now, he might age into the role. Somewhat more seriously, he said many of his songs had a “Nostradamus-like quality,” in that they seem to have foreshadowed real-world developments: “Waiting for the End of the World” speaks to our times now perhaps even more than when he wrote and it recorded it.
Remarkably, some of the people who’ve played with Costello are still in his band today: keyboardist Steve Nieve and drummer Pete Thomas. The most recent addition to the band is guitarist Charlie Sexton, who previously played with Bob Dylan.
Digging right, Costello kicked things off with “Mystery Dance,” followed by “Watching The Detectives,” and “Green Shirt.” After “Less Than Zero,” he played “No Dancing” and “Lovers Walk;” following “American Gangster Time,” he rounded out the initial, electric portion of the evening with “Man Out of Time,” “Motel Matches,” “Fish ‘n’ Chip Paper,” and, in a deviation from the focus on his early songs, “The Greatest Love,” a song he wrote with Toussaint.
The acoustic mini-set started with “Deportee,” which is an original Costello composition, not the Woody Guthrie protest song. Tempting fate, he performed “Brilliant Mistake,” then “A Face in the Crowd,” “Almost Blue,” and “Clubland / Ghost Down.”
Costello and his band went back to rocking out, playing favorites like “Everyday I Write the Book,” “Radio, Radio,” which got him banned from Saturday Night Live, “High Fidelity,” which may been the inspiration for Nick Hornby’s novel and the subsequent film adaptation starring John Cusack, “Alison,” “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea,” and “Pump It Up.” He covered Sam & Dave’s “I Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down,” finishing the show with “Slow Down.”
Costello and his band were in fine form and energetic, and the audience was really into the show, singing along with many of the choruses. As Costello noted, he first came to the Warner Theatre some 48 years ago; for many in the audience, Elvis has been with them most of their lives, and this show was a reminder of why he’s beloved.
Here are some photos of Elvis Costello performing live at Warner Theatre on Sept. 29, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Steve Satzberg.
