Elvis Costello and the Imposters brought a carnival sideshow’s worth of stage props and assistants, pro and amateur, to colourful life Thursday night in Toronto as part of the second leg of this year’s well-received Spectacular Spinning Songbook tour. The show resurrected the whacky concept Costello legendarily brought to concert-goers initially in 1986, in which audience members are selected to spin a roulette-style wheel of songs.
The wheel dominated the stage to the right of the band, and featured an intoxicating array of titles from throughout Costello’s near-35-year catalogue, plus a sprinkling of fan-pleasing covers (“And Your Bird Can Sing”!) and some special bonus categories. To the left of the stage, a red and gold go-go cage awaited anyone daring enough to step inside.
On with the show!