Photo Credit: Blaine Schultz
Nick Lowe
How often is an opening act responsible for one of the headliner’s biggest hits? Not only that, Nick Lowe also produced a string of Elvis Costello’s earliest (and arguably best) albums, which set his career in motion.
Cognoscenti have long known the joys of Nick Lowe’s vast catalog. Saturday night at Summerfest’s BMO Pavilion Lowe and Los Straitjackets delivered a concise set warming up an already comfortable summer night for marquee act Costello.
For a few years now Lowe has utilized the masked quartet whose mastery of roots and surf sounds provide a sympathetic backing combo to Lowe’s acoustic guitar. Opening with “So It Goes,” the song that put legendary label Stiff Records on the map, Lowe surveyed a good portion of his career. Recent material “Trombone” and Tokyo Bay” were balance by Rockpile-era tunes “Without Love” and the radio hit “Cruel to Be Kind.”
Lowe left the stage for a mid-concert spotlight on the band which allowed them to deliver surf and spaghetti-western nuggets. A cover of The Shocking Blue’s “Venus” even caused a small, well-behaved dance party to break out in front of the stage. Lowe would return and finish with “I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock and Roll,” leaving his plea “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” to Costello.
