Elvis Costello & The Imposters Relive Their Past

Current tour weighted towards oldest material, but other things sneak in

For a tour name, “Soul Radio: The Early Songs of Elvis Costello” has just the kind of promise promoters like to sell.

Like the alien in Woody Allen’s “Stardust Memories” who expressed preference for “the early, funny” films, here’s a concert swing dedicated to that skinny, stark, bespectacled figure who emerged in 1977, knock-kneed and full of angst, bursting with anger and zippy tunes, with a driving sound that fit with the punk emerging all around him.

And that’s the Elvis that casual fans seem to have held in their heart, hoping that whatever artistic foray he’d stuff in the middle of his shows over the decades, he’d always return to the likes of “Pump It Up” and “Radio, Radio.”

The latter song is what the tour was named after, or at least an early version of it, when it was called “Radio Soul.” The phrase was hardly descriptive of his recent show at the Warner Theatre in D.C., though, little of which actually made it to commercial radio and even less touching on soul, save for his reliable cover of Sam & Dave’s “”I Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down.”

Songs from his first 11 albums were to be the focus — that is to say, the first third of a 33-studio album career so far. And Costello at 71 was loaded and ready to go to deliver.

With two of the Attractions who backed him in the day — ace keyboardist Steve Nieve and explosive drummer Pete Thomas — as well as bassist Davey Faragher who, once of Cracker, has been with Costello for two dozen years; and Austin guitarist Charlie Sexton, who adds more color with his guitar than stinging leads — they were billed as the Imposters.

And the early gems came spilling out as promised: fully half of My Aim is True, starting with “Mystery Dance” and “Watching the Detectives” and saving “Alison” for later; the best known songs from the next two albums, This Year’s Model and Armed Forces, each got a few songs in, but there seemed a tendency to stay with things from Get Happy!!! and especially Trust, where the cuts got deep, with “Lover’s Walk” to “Fish n’ Chips Paper.”

Even when he was dishing the hits, or what served as them, the nattily-dressed Costello followed the lead of another artist who’s turned out a similar amount of songs — in the 600 range — and amassed similar road miles, Bob Dylan.

Like Dylan, Costello would stretch out songs or slow them, add a different inflection to the rhythm or bring something different to choruses once so familiar. It freshened the delivery, made it more interesting for the band, curbed crowd singalongs and only occasionally led to those moments where you figure out what song he’s actually doing from recognizing the lyrics.

This approach came from tight rehearsal of the solid band, but also from working the songs throughout the tour, of which D.C. was practically in the middle. Compared to somewhat ragged delivery during live summer shows, his voice was smoother, particularly on ballads.

Never one to adhere to all the rules, Costello threw in the yet unrecorded title song from his current West End musical, “A Face in the Crowd” during a tasty mid-show acoustic set. He also added a stirring number he wrote with Allen Toussaint that wasn’t even on their album together, “The Greatest Love.” And he re-introduced a timely demo that Christy Moore had turned into a ballad, “Deportee” that Costello seems to regret turning into a rocker, “The Deportees Club,” for 1984’s Goodbye Cruel World). (Both tracks were part of a six-disc boxed set that came out last year, King of America & Other Realms Super Deluxe).

It was likely the fraught political moment prodded him to include “American Gangster Time” from the 2008 Momofuku (his, er, 24th). He admitted he had written too many songs to predict the current era but opted for one, “Green Shirt” early in the set to cover it (“Better send a begging letter to the big investigation / Who put these fingerprints on my imagination?”).

On a stage strewn with instruments, Nieve moved from keyboard to keyboard to accordion to melodica. Costello switched to acoustic guitar, with Faragher on standup bass during the tasty acoustic set, where the suits and hats suddenly seemed fitting to the old timey approach. On a few songs, Costello took up keyboards that brought him far upstage and away from the audience. All in service of the songs.

For the final barrage, returning to electric instruments, the familiar songs built to the inevitable “Pump It Up” and timeless “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding.” But, perhaps remembering a memorable stop at the Warner 47 years ago so frantic it was released as a live album 30 years later, he threw in a rare cover to close, Larry Williams’ “Slow Down.”

But he was just as likely conjuring memory of the more famous fellow Liverpudlians who gave it flight in 1964.

Here’s the setlist:

Mystery Dance

Watching the Detectives

Green Shirt

Waiting for the End of the World

Less Than Zero

No Dancing

Lovers Walk

American Gangster Time

Man Out of Time

Motel Matches

Fish n/ Chip Paper

The Greatest Love

Deportee

Brilliant Mistake

A Face in the Crowd

Almost Blue

Clubland / Ghost Town

Everyday I Write the Book

Radio Radio.

I Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down

High Fidelity

Alison.

(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea

Pump It Up

(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding

Slow Down