Elvis Costello didn’t just play a concert at Massey Hall on Friday night — he turned the historic Toronto room into a time machine. The sold-out crowd was pulled back through the early chapters of his career on the Radio Soul! tour, with songs spanning from 1977’s My Aim Is True to 1986’s Blood & Chocolate.
“We love you all individually and as a group,” said Costello, in a sharp navy suit, beige fedora, blue-tinted shades and metallic shoes.
He alluded to the storied venue more than once during the night.
“You know, I told my friends I was coming here tonight to Massey Hall and they said, ‘have you got a plastic saxophone?’” he joked.
“I know you have all the big acts here… the Australian Pink Floyd, but even Michael Bublé can’t deal with these kind of grand thrills,” he added, picking up a small light prop and displaying it to the crowd.
“Many, many people have played here in this beautiful theatre. My wife (Canadian jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall) and my sons came here when they were really young, she was playing the songs from Glad Rag Doll. My boys were up in the balcony there.”
Costello delivered a comedic flair throughout the show, engaging in cheeky banter with the audience, even testing out an old English joke.
“They must have had some comedians here before me, surely,” he said, before launching into: “I say, I say, I say, my dog has no nose.” The crowd joined in on cue — “How does he smell?” — to which Costello shot back, “Terrible,” drawing a roar of laughter across Massey Hall.
During one of his instrument swaps, he poked fun at his friend Bob Dylan by nodding to an A-list actor who portrayed Dylan in a recent film.
“I learned how to use this one from one of the old time folk singers, a fella named Timothée Chalamet,” Costello said, pulling more laughs.
“So he didn’t win the Oscar? You know why, don’t you? He was playing the wrong fucking folk singer. Give him a couple of years and a couple cases of gin. We’ll get him the big glasses. Then he’ll win the fucking Oscar.”
The night wasn’t just laughs. Introducing “Deportee,” he laced in pointed asides about modern politics — from ICE in the U.S. to Russia’s war in Ukraine — underscoring how his songs can still sting decades later.
Costello wasn’t carrying the weight alone. The Imposters — Steve Nieve (keys), Pete Thomas (drums), Davey Faragher (bass) — plus touring guitarist Charlie Sexton gave the material muscle and agility, swinging from piano-led ballads to punk-fueled bangers without losing momentum. Massey Hall’s pristine acoustics amplified every shift in tempo, from the tenderness of “Alison” to the relentless drive of “Pump It Up.”
“For any songwriter, it has to be a compliment if people want to hear songs written up to 50 years ago,” Costello said before the tour. “Among them, Radio Soul, the first draft of what eventually became Radio Radio. You can expect the unexpected and the faithful in equal measure.
“Don’t forget this show is ‘Performed by Elvis Costello & The Imposters,’ 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. The Imposters are a living, breathing, swooning, kicking and screaming rock and roll band who can turn their hands to a pretty ballad when the opportunity arises.”
“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,” he added. “You could say time is running out but only time will tell.”
At Massey Hall, Costello and the band made full use of the stage, shifting seamlessly from sit-down, piano-infused ballads to stand-up, guitar-driven punk blasts. The changing tempos were expertly woven together, creating a satisfying, layered sonic experience.
Toronto got the only Canadian stop on this leg of Radio Soul! — a reminder that nostalgia doesn’t have to be polite. It can still punch, snarl, and crack a joke when you least expect it.
