A glance down the set list from the third show in the Tokyo run has to suggest one of three things. Or two, with a proviso for a third. Perhaps we'll get a little additional light cast on these things at the fourth show, when the venue changes to Osaka's Zepp Namba.
It's hard, having seen all three shows, to avoid the conclusion that the Spinning Songbook concept hasn't played out as well as it was supposed to in these parts. With no Wheel action between the end of the first set and the Hammer of Song segment that opened the second encore, that's a fairly obvious conclusion.
Last night, on the other hand, was going out live to air on Japanese Pay TV, so it's just possible the decision was made to keep the rest of the show within what you might call normal parameters rather than bring in the risk factors that come into play where the Wheel and the selection of audience members to spin it are concerned. Don't want to upstage the star of the show, do we?
There was a degree of what might have been with the couple Josephine hauled up on stage for the Hammer of Song. Where just about everybody else, either singly or jointly, had been female, here we had a bloke who looked like a character. Pork pie hat, white coat, Spinning Songbook T-shirt, girlfriend sporting the same shirt. You'd look at him and label him obvious fan with possible oddball tendencies.
After the jokey preliminaries with the girlfriend and the fake hammer, the guy gets the real one, hits the bell and, given his choice from the Wheel, selects the Joker, which equates to a choice of any song on the Wheel.
Which, of course, he’d already qualified for through the Hammer.
The selection turned out to be Every Day I Write the Book, and through the track the two off them end in the Go-Go Cage, encouraged into Philly Soul/Motown moves by Josephine and Dixie de La Fontaine.
Then they spend the rest of the set with visible applause and reaction from Fan boy, in a fairly stark contrast to just about everyone else who had been hauled up on stage over the three days.
Actually, all the Hammer of Song people have had a bit of character about them.
Unlike the previous two nights, we actually ended up with four segments: the main Spinning Songbook set following the full five song Overture, where the highlight was an impromptu God Give Me Strength called from the middle of the audience (Mr Nieve. God Give Me Strength if you please). It wasn't much visually if you were up in the balcony, but the vocal was belted out with appropriate intensity, and the whole thing must have looked fantastic on television. But even in the balcony, you still wanted to be there as the heart and soul got poured into the performance.
Almost as good was an impassioned I Want You, delivered as the result of the final spin.
Chelsea, Walk Us Uptown and Pump It Up rounded the set off, and it's starting to look like Elvis has found another default show closer.
Otherwise he'd have saved PiU for the end of the third encore wouldn't he?
Or maybe not. The idea may have been to get the punters, who tended (as previously noted) to be rather reserved in the yelling and foot stomping departments, delivering an appropriate response in the Encore Stakes.
While I'd reckoned on what followed as the First Encore, the Costello site divides the Elvis and Steve mini-set off as an Interlude, with the full band selection from Accidents to My New Haunt as the Encore. Same horse, different jockey. What was interesting, in this regard, was the absence of the semi-acoustic bracket with Slow Drag for Josephine and Jimmie Standing In the Rain, which in turn raises the question of the TV broadcast, and what it was supposed to achieve.
It would have been interesting to have been a fly on the wall when these matters were being sorted.
In any case, regardless of whether the Wheel did what it was supposed to, and the policies involved with selecting the spinners, it was obvious from the start that the band was on last night. There was just that little bit of extra oomph, the sort of thing you expect when there's an occasion that needs to be risen to.
As far as the set list was concerned you'd have to reckon it had been deliberately shaped to present most of the facets of the Elvis back catalogue, though the Americana element was conspicuous by its absence, and the current album got a substantial work over though, of course, it's not an Imposters project.
What will be most interesting is the question of whether the show ends up appearing in DVD or some other form. There's a Spinning Songbook package out in the market, there's no certainty the market can handle two of 'em, but one thing's certain.
If and when it does appear, I'll be in for a copy.
The show rocked mightily when it needed to rock, rolled through a fair selection of the Costello style palette and underlined the notion that the Wise Up Ghost material isn't as far removed from the rest of the man's catalogue as some might think.
So, with a show to go, we'll see what happens in Osaka, where we'll be away from the need to sort things out for theTV special.
I Hope You're Happy Now
Heart of the City
Uncomplicated
Mystery Dance
Radio Radio
Spin 1: So Like Candy
Come the Meantimes
Double Spin
Spin 2: Tokyo Storm Warning (played after Girl jackpot)
Spin 3: Girl jackpot
This Year's Girl
Party Girl
Girls Talk
Tokyo Storm Warning
Spin 4: She (ended in the crowd)
God Give Me Strength (sung entirely off stage)
Spin 5: I Want You
Chelsea
Walk us UpTown
Pump it Up
Encore 1:
I Still Have That Other Girl
Smile
Shot With his Own Gun
Accidents Will Happen
Less Than Zero
Cinco Minutos Con Vos
Shipbuilding
Bedlam
Tripwire > Peace Love & Understanding (Slow)
My New Haunt
Encore 2:
Hammer of Song: Every Day I Write The Book
I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down
High Fidelity
Watching the Detectives
Sugar Won't Work
Peace Love & Understanding (fast)
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