Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello plans to dive into his back catalog for his upcoming tour, focusing heavily on his early material for the newly-announced Radio Soul! tour.
The tour, which begins in Seattle, WA on June 12 and runs for 17 dates before wrapping up in Miami Beach, FL on July 12, takes its name from an early version of “Radio Radio”, which Costello had written in 1974 as a member of Flip City. Initially inspired by Bruce Springsteen, the final version was issued on 1978’s This Year’s Model and has since been considered one of Costello’s finest works.
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“For any songwriter, it has to be a compliment if people want to hear songs written up to fifty years ago,” Costello said of decision to focus on his early work, namechecking the draft of “Radio Radio” as an example.
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The scope of the tour will see Costello lifting from his first 11 albums, ranging from 1977’s My Aim is True to 1986’s Blood & Chocolate. This period featured some of Costello’s most enduring tracks, including “Watching the Detectives”, “Pump it Up”, “Everyday I Write the Book” and “Oliver’s Army” to name a few.
For the tour, Costello will be joined by The Imposters, which includes Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas, Davey Faragher and guitarist Charlie Sexton.
“[The Imposters are] an ensemble which includes three people who first recorded this music and two more who bring something entirely new. They are nobody’s tribute band,” Costello said. “The Imposters are a living, breathing, swooning, swinging, kicking and screaming rock and roll band who can turn their hands to a pretty ballad when the opportunity arises.”
“If there is an encore and we play, ‘Farewell, OK’, it probably means some of those ‘Early Songs’ will have been performed in your city for the very last time,” Costello concluded. “I don’t want to go back, I want to bring these songs into the present day, once more, in the event they are ever pushed out of the way by the next number that I write.
“You could say time is running out but only time will tell.”
Elvis Costello 2025 Radio Soul! Tour Dates
June 12, 2025 – Woodland Park Zoo Amphitheatre, Seattle, WA June 13, 2025 – Keller Auditorium, Portland, ORJune 15, 2025 – Venue TBA, Reno, NV June 17, 2025 – The Masonic, San Francisco, CA June 19, 2025 – Hard Rock Live Sacramento, Wheatland, CA June 21, 2025 – Orpheum, Los Angeles, CAJune 24, 2025 – Humphreys Concerts by the Bay, San Diego, CA June 26, 2025 – Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, NV June 28, 2025 – Vilar Performing Arts Center, Beaver Creek, CO June 29, 2025 – Bellco Theatre, Denver, CO July 1, 2025 – Uptown Theater, Kansas City, MO July 3, 2025 – The Factory, St. Louis, MO July 5, 2025 – Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN July 7, 2025 – The Peace Center Concert Hall, Greenville, SC July 9, 2025 – Duke Energy Center for the Arts, St. Petersburg, FL July 10, 2025 – Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, Fort Myers, FL July 12, 2025 – Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theatre, Miami Beach, FL
Elvis Costello and Olivia Rodrigo were both at the 2023 Grammy Awards on Sunday night (Feb. 5), and the rock legend shared the sweet moment he met the pop star.
“Great to finally meet @OliviaRodrigo,” Costello captioned a photo in which the duo pose for a photo, arms around each other and smiling wide.
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Costello has frequently shared his love for Rodrigo’s music, and even defended the 19-year-old singer when the internet pointed out that the “Drivers License” star seemed to have taken some inspiration from his angsty 1978 anthem “Pump It Up.”
The song from Costello’s This Year’s Model album has a driving rhythm that sounds updated by Rodrigo on “Brutal” from her debut album, Sour. When someone tweeted that “first song on the album is a pretty much direct lift from Elvis Costello,” the English icon had the perfect response.
“This is fine by me, Billy,” he responded. “It’s how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did.” Just to put a finer point on it, Costello included the hashtags “#subterreneanhomesickblues” and “#toomuchmonkeybusiness,” in reference to the, respectively, Bob Dylan and Chuck Berry songs that influenced “Pump It Up.”
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