Elvis Costello to Play Capitol Center For The Arts Saturday, 6/28

Elvis Costello will take the stage solo at the Capitol Center for the Arts on Saturday, June 28 to perform songs from his entire career.

When Elvis Costello's first record was released in 1977, his bristling cynicism and anger linked him with the punk and new-wave explosion. Though the main connection he had with the punks was his unbridled passion, he tore through rock's back pages taking whatever he wanted, as well as borrowing from country, Tin Pan Alley, pop, reggae, and other genres. Over his career, that musical eclecticism distinguished him through his fiercely literate lyrics and richly diverse music.

Elvis Costello was born Declan Patrick MacManus in London, England and raised in Liverpool. The son of British band leader Ross MacManus, Costello took his pseudonym from Elvis Presley and his father's stage name (Day Costello). He began performing professionally in 1969 and was a musician and/or singer in many bands around London before forming a moderately successful pub-rock band called "Flip City" in the mid-1970s. Working full time as a computer operator, he landed his first record deal with Stiff Records in 1977 and recorded his first album "My Aim Is True" while on vacation. The album was a smash hit in England and landed Costello a worldwide distribution deal with Columbia records. Forming his backup group, "The Attractions," for his second album, Costello went on to record several popular and influential albums over the next decade. Today, he is regarded as one of the most influential and popular singer/songwriters in modern music.

For the last several years, Elvis Costello has been playing about a month of solo dates in the U.S. a year, region by region. They are some of the most adventurous and lauded performances of his career -- the last run in November 2013 was called "remarkable" (Esquire) and "exhilarating" (American Songwriter) -- and they reflect the musician's astonishing breadth of material.

In Los Angeles in 2012, the OC Register called Costello's solo show "spellbinding" and said that Costello's set list "touched on cornerstone numbers and obscurities of his own, but...also dipped back to pre-Elvis, pre-Beatles, pre-the-other-Elvis and prewar tunes that illustrated his familial roots in the riches of both the Great American Songbook and England's dance hall and music theater traditions."

In November, 2013, the DCist pointed out that "It'd be tough to name another songwriter who has produced as much original material over the last 35 years, and it's impossible to name another who mines his back catalog as equitably onstage. Most artists have only a handful of songs they'll ever play from any particular album. With Elvis, any tune he's ever released is fair game." The Washington Post wrote that "Costello showed that real rockers don't need amplification or sound processors to rock out."

Tickets available at the box office, located at 44 South Main Street, Concord NH, via phone at 603-225-1111 and online at ccanh.com. Tickets: $82.50 Gold Circle; $69.50 Orchestra/Mezzanine/Balcony; $34.50 Rear Balcony. Presented in association with Kirschner Concerts, Heartbreak LLC, and 9.25, The River.