“It’s good to be home,” was a phrase Costello kept using last Monday, reminding us that he now calls Vancouver his home. He even incorporated the city of Vancouver into the song “Sulphur To Sugarcane” for this concert at the Malkin Bowl. Elvis brought his backing band, the Sugarcanes, along for this tour, which six piece band with no drums or keys. With the seated, outdoor summer show without any sort of percussion, you’d think that it’d be a laid back concert, but that was far from the case. Costello and his fellow musicians brought an overall feel of intensity and grit that went over well with the grey-haired audience.

The audience was split into two sections, those who were seated and those who layed on the hill on blankets. There wasn’t a bad seat in the Malkin Bowl, as Costello played songs from his entire career. The most prominent were from his most recent album, “Secret, Profane & Sugarcane”, but Costello also went deep into his catalogue, pulling out songs like Alison, King of America, Everday I Write The Book, and the prolific What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love & Understanding? But he didn’t stop there; he began to pull out covers of Happy by The Rolling Stones, Friend Of The Devil by The Grateful Dead and He’ll Have To Go by Jim Reeves.

The now 55 year old celebrated his birthday last week, but at Monday’s concert was joking around about his impending birthday. He shared the fact that he shares his birthday with Ivan The Terrible, Sean Connery and in his own words “regrettably” Billy Ray Cyrus. A little later on in the night, he also took a shot at Celion Dion, much to the delight of the crowd. His band came out for two encores, both of which consisted of 3 songs each time. A mob came out of their seats and ran to the base of the stage. Every song till the end of the night got a standing ovation from the eager crowd, who didn’t want this night to end. Some people found themselves clapping for almost 10 minutes before realizing that the evening of music was complete. A steady stream went from that place, as the stage lights faded to black on a perfect evening.