The old missus and I went to see Elvis Costello at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall a couple of nights ago. It was an odd performance.
In the first half, the Symphony performed Costello’s first full-length orchestral work, Il Sogno, while Costello sat listening in the audience.
In the second half, Costello took the stage to sing a selection of downbeat, brainy tunes, mixing classical with jazz and not much pop. Backed by the San Francisco symphony, Costello’s loungey songs were dour, yet he was very droll between. He’s obviously a musical genius, but it’s like reading late Anthony Burgess — a lot of work and not much fun.
I’ve never been a Costello fan, and towards the end I was willing it to be over, but his last piece came so close to being one of the greatest concert moments I’ve ever experienced, it nearly salvaged what came before. But the audience ruined it.
For the last song, Costello dispensed with his microphone, and the effect of his unamplified voice in that large auditorium was astonishing and magical. Everyone craned forward to hear, and the hushed atmosphere raised the hairs on my neck. As the song reached its climax, Costello tried to get the audience to join him singing the last bars, a “hum, de hum” refrain repeated three or four times.
The first time the audience hesitated, and the second time it almost caught. It was a fantastic moment — hundreds of people so nearly raising the roof with a lovely vocal. But unfortunately it faltered, and after a third failed attempt Costello gave up, turning instead to the orchestra to raise a rumpus.
It was a great shame, and a little depressing. He came so close, but the stuffy old octogenarians wrecked it. I wonder if he had better luck at other venues?
Costello’s orchestral tour continues. See his website for details:
Honolulu, Hawaii, March 31 and April 01; Austin, Texas, April 11; Houston, Texas, April 13; Chicago, April 18; North Bethesda, April 20; Baltimore, April 21 and 22; Boston, May 10; Brooklyn, May 12; Atlanta, May 13; Tokyo, June 02; Manchester, TN, June 16; Los Angeles, June 18, 2006.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
