Elvis Costello Announces The Return Of The Spectacular Spinn

[verbal gymnastics]

I think it will be a commercial decision as to where the tour goes.

It must be a pretty expensive show to run.

[johnfoyle]

Anyone hoping Elvis will delve into the more obscure parts of his back catalogue for this tour will take heart after examining the poster-




At No.26 is Puppet Girl , not done 'live' since 1995-

http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/inde ... uppet_Girl

This is, presuming, the poster shows the newly reconstituted wheel. If it doesn't , I'd be getting shirty and wondering if the Trades Descriptions Act. has a U.S. equivalent.

There doesn't seem to be a photo of the 1986 Wheel on the 'net - time to delve into the cuttings folders...

[And No Coffee Table]

A 1986 version is on the wiki site:


But it wasn't the same for every show, was it? bronxapostle saw a different version:
http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB2 ... f=2&t=6660

[johnfoyle]

The wiki photo tells the tale ; these are from E.C.I.S.'s of the time-


LA , Oct. '86


London, Nov. '86

[Otis Westinghouse]

Turpentine, God Give Me Strength, Little Triggers all in there among more obvious stuff as well as Puppet Girl. This looks promising. He simply has to bring it to the UK. His stock was still reasonably high at the time of the original tour, and this could be a good crowd-puller, not that he a problem selling tickets here.

What song would you most like to see on it? I guess mine would be Sleep of the Just, though I think I saw him perform that one time. Or maybe My Three Sons, especially if my wife was beside me, cos, like, we have three sons. And My Dark Life. And Hoover Factory. And...

[Ypsilanti]

Shy though I am, I think I might be emboldened to spin the wheel at the Beacon should such an opportunity present itself. The 'Spinning Songbook" is HUGE to me--the stuff of legend. I am super-excited about this!!!! Those of you who saw it the first time...how are the "spinners" chosen? Will I need to flash my boobs, or anything? Because I might be willing...

[Jeremy Dylan]

No word as to whether the Oz dates will be done in SS fashion or not. I have mixed feelings about the whole enterprise - while it would be lovely to hear them play Little Triggers, Ghost Train, Wave A White Flag, Button My Lip or what have you, it could easily lead to a set list that lacks any cohesion of song to song flow, especially the time wasted in between songs waiting for the next song to be chosen, where there instead could be other songs being played.

[Poor Deportee]

ARGH! I have the distinct feeling that Elvis has a hate on for playing in Canada despite the song North and it's aspirations of proving his love.

YAH! Come on, Elvis, at least do the HOMETOWN SHOW - Vancouver!!!

(Given that we're getting set to surrender still more sovereignty to the USA via a 'border perimeter' agreement, perhaps EC feels that Oakland is interchangeable with vancouver - but I digress)

[johnfoyle]

Elvis' Facebook page has highlighted this -

http://fairfieldweekly.com/blog/the-blo ... all-033594

[bronxapostle]

WOW!!!!!!! top ticket for Wellmont....$125!!!!!!!!!!! i remember being SHOCKED for New Year's Eve 1981 The Palladium NYC: $29.50. ASTRONOMICAL!!!!!!!

[verbal gymnastics]

Is there a season ticket available? Back in 1986 you could buy a 3 night one.

I'm not surprised that the top ticket is about £100 but it does make you wonder...

Hopefully the price will put off the people who only go along to EC's shows and drunkenly sing Oliver's Army.

[sulky lad]

Or Dark End Of the Street !!

[Who Shot Sam?]

No info yet on the NY shows?

[docinwestchester]

No info yet on the NY shows?

The Wellmont presale closed in 1 minute. By the time I got the security code entered correctly, it was over.

[woz]

Same thing happened to me for the L.A. show. Keep trying as tickets come up after people fail to buy them in the 6 minutes they are alloted. I still was not able to get price level 1 tickets, but did ok. It's an odd system, but after 10 mintues or so I was able to get tickets. Good luck.

[Lester Burnham]

Got two tickets for the Tower Theatre show, wahey!

[Jeremy Dylan]

I'm now putting my request in for EC to add a Nashville date for any day between June 3 and 17.

[verbal gymnastics]

Or Dark End Of the Street !!

I wasn't drunk. However in fairness it wouldn't have made any difference if I was

Now please let this rest in peace!

I tell you what Jeremy, a Spectacular Spinning Country Songbook in Nashville would be pretty, er, spectacular.

[sulky lad]

VG wrote

I tell you what Jeremy, a Spectacular Spinning Country Songbook in Nashville would be pretty, er, spectacular.

What a brilliant idea !
And maybe a "London" new wave wheel and a New Orleans blues wheel. I'm sure there's be no trouble filling the wheel with country songs and covers

[handwashings]

You'd never know it from the EC website but pre-sale tickets apparently go/went on sale today for the New York, Oakland, Reno, PA and LA shows if you have an American Express card.

I found the details (and passwords) here:
http://presalecentral.net/

[Who Shot Sam?]

Just saw the tweet from MSG, who run the Beacon. Thank you for the code!

Row A, Seat 17 in Orchestra. Could not be happier!

[the_platypus]

No word as to whether the Oz dates will be done in SS fashion or not.

Chat with Davey on Facebook this morning--

Me:
Mr. Faragher-- so sorry to be a pest. I just had a quick question.
Do you know whether the South American / Australian shows will be "Spinning Songbook"? Or will they have a setlist? Either is awesome of course.

Davey:
Hey Jorge, I don't know for sure but I would think we wouldn't have the wheel with us when we come. I think we start that in May.

Me:
Awesome
That's cool. Looking forward to it

Davey:
me too! should be great!

[sweetest punch]

A second date (May 12) at The Wiltern (LA) is announced: http://mickieszoo.blogspot.com/2011/02/ ... -date.html
This is confirmed here: http://www.livenation.com/event/0900463 ... orcatid=60

[Jeremy Dylan]

No word as to whether the Oz dates will be done in SS fashion or not.

Chat with Davey on Facebook this morning--

Me:
Mr. Faragher-- so sorry to be a pest. I just had a quick question.
Do you know whether the South American / Australian shows will be "Spinning Songbook"? Or will they have a setlist? Either is awesome of course.

Davey:
Hey Jorge, I don't know for sure but I would think we wouldn't have the wheel with us when we come. I think we start that in May.

Me:
Awesome
That's cool. Looking forward to it

Davey:
me too! should be great!

Thank you sir. Good news to my eyes.

[migdd]

Agree with you, Jeremy. I saw Elvis and the not-so-Spectacular Spinning Songbook back in 1989 (?) during the solo tour that immediately preceded the release of Spike (at Duke University in North Carolina - Nick Lowe was the opener!) I was really excited to finally see the wheel in all its glory and for the first one or two spins, it was a bit fun. But it eventually dragged the timing of the show down to a crawl. He could have kept the momentum going with another half dozen songs in the time it took to spin the wheel a few times. Maybe the whole scenario works better with a band to keep the energy level cranked up, I don't know. This was the only Elvis show, of dozens that I've been fortunate enough to have attended, that I actually found my mind wandering a bit.