Elvis Costello in Dublin review: A faltering voice but still able to deliver 

He might not have hit all his notes but the Iveagh Gardens instalment of the Early Songs tour still offered an incredible roster of tunes, and an enjoyable experience all round 

A file image of Elvis Costello, who played at Iveagh Gardens in Dublin on Sunday. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

Elvis Costello and The Imposters with Charlie Sexton, Iveagh Gardens, Dublin 

★★★☆☆

Elvis Costello has been getting some rough reviews lately but it appears nobody told him, or perhaps they did, and that’s why he came out swinging in the Iveagh Gardens. 

Pointing fingers and possibly taking names, he led his mighty Imposters through a lethal opening barrage of Pump It Up with the tinkling piano of Professor Steve Nieve, Mystery Dance with guesting guitarist Charlie Sexton channelling Eddies Cochran and Van Halen, and a marvellous Watching The Detectives where Costello and Nieve duelled with melodica and twangy Jazzmaster before veering into a killer run at Sonny Boy Williamson’s Help Me.

Yes, the 71-year-old's voice was torn and worn and Less Than Zero gave him trouble, but the merging of Living In Paradise with Van Morrison’s Domino (“We’re gonna hear the band now!”) was a breezy joy. 

Moving to the piano, with drum God Pete Thomas close at hand, he reminisced about recording 1981’s Almost Blue, the record that converted a lot of us to country music. Inspired, Charlie Rich’s Who Will The Next Fool Be, and his own Every Day I Write The Book slowed down to wring every ounce of southern soul out of it, dripped with emotion as he wrestled his battered pipes into line.

Elvis Costello and his band at Iveagh Gardens, Dublin.

Just as we were turning to each other wondering what those foreign papers were on about, Costello gave out a few seemingly unscripted bars of In The Darkest Place from Bacharach-assisted masterpiece Painted From Memory and then took it too far altogether with Burt’s I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself.

A man’s reach should always exceed his grasp but Elvis was pawing for notes no longer there. The King Of America section – Lovable, American Without Tears, and Little Palaces – was, frankly, wince-inducing despite the band giving it everything, especially swinging bassist Davey Faragher.

The crowd took over Alison, and it was lovely, but the opening bars of Good Years For The Roses had me fearing the worst. Somehow he not only pulled it off, squeezing out a barroom broken-hearted blues, but swung into triumphant nods to the other Elvis with choruses of Suspicious Minds and Always On My Mind.

“Not dead yet,” he smirked, and a final, wild sprint including High Fidelity, Oliver’s Army and a great Party Girl where the old pro was canny enough to let Sexton and Faragher take the high “Time” bit, proved it. Elvis howled, shrieked, and hollered through a fantastic I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down slowed down to the pace of Sam & Dave’s original before The Imposters kicked it up a gear. Where did he dig that out of?

A game of three halves then. The voice cracked, fell behind, and pleaded for mercy, but Costello refused to let it off the hook.