Elvis Costello kicked off his 10-night sequence at New York’s Gramercy Theatre on Thursday evening (Feb 9) by paying paid tribute to his expensive pal and collaborator Burt Bacharach a day after the beloved pop composer handed away at 94 on account of pure causes.
“It’s been a tricky day,” Costello informed the sold-out crowd concerning the lack of his musical compatriot earlier than masking three of Bacharach’s most beloved hits in line with Selection. “You recognize, a extremely nice man left us yesterday. And other people say, when any person reaches a fantastic age, they are saying, ‘effectively, it was a superb ending,’… it’s by no means time to say goodbye to any person should you love ‘em. And I’m not ashamed to say I did love this man. And for every thing he gave me, Mr. Burt Bacharach.”
Costello then went on to carry out a delicate, acoustic cowl “Child It’s You” — which he mentioned he discovered after listening to the Beatles’ 1963 cowl — in addition to one in every of Bacharach and lyricist Hal David’s indelible collaborations with Dionne Warwick, “Anybody Who Had a Coronary heart” and a young, solo piano tackle the 1961 Drifters tune “Please Keep.”
And whereas the theme of evening one in every of Costello’s Gramercy run was songs he wrote earlier than the 1977 launch of his debut album, My Purpose Is True, he promised that when his longtime bandmate Steve Nieve joins him later within the run they might sort out a number of the songs that Costello wrote with Bacharach for the movie Grace of My Coronary heart and their 1998 joint album, Painted From Reminiscence.
A four-CD field set of Costello and Bacharach’s recorded works, The Songs of Bacharach and Costello, is due out on March 3.
Watch video of the performances beneath.
