Setlist Anticipation – A condition where one becomes slightly preoccupied with the desire for an artist to play a particular song at a concert or event you attend.

Will he do “Into the Mystic”? (yes he did, first Van pilgrimage Fort Lauderdale) “Tangled Up and Blue”? first gig, no… second nah… a decade later at the third…BINGO! (thanks Bob).

A Set Ant© condition could be mild or very intense. If you have only a rare chance to see someone then the condition can become heightened… internal monologue running…”There must be only 10 minutes to go and they still haven’t played …”

So it is luxuriously liberating to attend concert by an act you care about and not experience a bout of Set Ant© at some point in the evening. Maybe this may comes with seeing an artist play many times… or you simply become enraptured in a performance.

Watching Elvis Costello solo the other night I found myself not being inflicted with any condition other than sustained bliss. Much is written about his songwriting prowess, but he is also a master of the cover. He rolled out George Jones (Roses), Van (Jackie Wilson Said), Bruce (Brilliant Disguise), Charles Aznavour (She) even his take on Ron Sexsmith’s version EC (Everyday I Write the Book).

This was my fourth visit to Elvisdom, each trip being radically different, from angry young man pumping it up, Garage Band Rocker, New Orleans sideman to Dylan tinged Song & Dance Man. “Alison” sounded sweet at all.

But who cared what he and his guitar played next? With such a deep and diverse back catalogue to call upon and his ability to reinvent songs best go with the flow for 130 odd minutes.

 

Elvis & Me…
1980 Sweetwaters… Elvis Costello and the Attractions.

2003 Tokyo… Elvis Costello and the Imposters.

2006 Cape Cod… Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint.

2009 Sydney… Elvis Costello Solo.