Elvis Costello & The Imposters have rolled out a 15-city North American summer run with Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets serving as the opening act for most of the gigs. Nicole Atkins will do the honors on two early stops on the tour, which kicks off on August 6th in Huber Heights, Ohio at Rose Music Center at The Height and runs through September 3rd when the trek winds down in Las Vegas at the Theater at Virgin Hotels.
Variety reported longtime Bob Dylan guitarist Charlie Sexton will once again be playing as part of the Imposters. Sexton was first enlisted by Costello when keyboardist Stevie Nieve was unable to make some shows last time out after contracting Covid. Tickets go on sale this Friday (February 18th) at 10 a.m. local time, with more ticketing information available at elviscostello.com.
Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe go back nearly 50 years, with Lowe producing such Costello classics as My Aim Is True (1977), This Year's Model (1978), Armed Forces (1979), Get Happy!! (1980), Trust (1981), Blood & Chocolate (1986), and Brutal Youth (1994).
Not too long ago, Elvis Costello told us how he cones about creating his nightly setlists: “We're playing just everything I feel like playing. There's a pretty broad scope to things — some nights we play a lot of very well-known songs, some nights we don't play any, because that's the mood that I'm in, and I feel that's what we need to do.”
We asked Nick Lowe — a man often regarded as a “songwriter's songwriter” — if when he's stumbled upon a melody, it stays with him until it can be crafted into a song: “That is pretty much how it is, yes. Occasionally I'll regret not having a little Dictaphone, or something I could've hummed something into — because it will not come back, and I know that something's been good. But in general, if you get a germ of an idea, it will come back.”
JUST ANNOUNCED: Elvis Costello & The Imposters / Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets North American tour dates (subject to change):
August 6 – Huber Heights, OH – Rose Music Center at The Heights (Nicole Atkins opening)
August 8 – Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
August 9 – Buffalo, NY – Artpark Amphitheater (Nicole Atkins opening)
August 11 – New York, NY – The Rooftop at Pier 17
August 12 – Bensalem, PA – Xcite Center at Parx Casino (Elvis Costello only)
August 13 – Ledyard, CT – Foxwoods Resort Casino (Elvis Costello only)
August 15 – Boston, MA – Leader Bank Pavilion
August 16 – Northampton, MA – The Pines Theater
August 18 – Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap
August 23 – Denver, CO – Levitt Pavilion
August 25 – Salt Lake City, UT – Sandy Amphitheater
August 28 – Thousand Oaks, CA – Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
August 30 – Anaheim, CA – City National Grove of Anaheim
September 2 – Paso Robles, CA – Vina Robles Amphitheatre
September 3 – Las Vegas, NV – The Theater at Virgin Hotels