Pitchfork

[Posted Wednesday, September 10th, 2003 03:30:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Proving for once and for all just how out-of-it the record industry is when it comes to digital music, we have some details about the "Internet-only" title track to Elvis Costello's new North. According to a Billboard report, fans will only be able to access the track from Costello's official site-- but only with a personal identification number provided with the CD. Never mind the fact that that song's been available for months now to anyone with Kazaa and their mom's old Compaq 286-- are you supposed to then copy your official CD and append this track via your home burner, or are you supposed to listen to the whole album start-to-finish, then jam over to the PC and boot up to listen to the coda on WinAmp? The logic eludes us.

But just to show you that the record biz is just as paranoid as ever about whether or not people will actually buy their albums in stores, Deutsche Grammophon is also tacking a DVD onto the first 100,000 copies of North (just like the ones now available with pretty much every new CD released this year). The DVD will also include a live performance of "North" and a video for "Fallen," the first single from North.

With the album hitting stores on September 23rd, Costello will be hitting Town Hall in New York on both the 22nd and 24th, supported solely by Attractions keyboardist and generally rockin' guy Steve Nieve. On the 23rd, he'll be doing a private performance at the New York branch of the Museum of Television and Radio, which will be also be beamed live to the L.A. branch and to participating Virgin Megastores. The show will be taped for later airing on the popular World Cafe program on NPR. Updated tour dates:

09-20 Irvine, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (w/ Neil Young)
09-22 New York, NY - Town Hall
09-23 New York, NY - The Late Show with David Letterman
09-24 New York, NY - Town Hall
10-01 Tokyo, Japan - Metropolitan Art Space
10-02 Tokyo, Japan - Metropolitan Art Space
10-04 Osaka, Japan - Sankei Hall
10-07 Glasgow, Scotland - Royal Concert Hall
10-08 Newcastle, England - Newcastle Opera House
10-10 Manchester, England - Bridgewater Hall
10-11 London, England - Royal Festival Hall
10-13 Rotterdam, Netherlands - De Doelen
10-14 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Pepsi Stage
10-17 Offenbach, Germany - Capitol
10-19 Rome, Italy - Parco Della Musica
10-20 Milan, Italy - Manzoni Theatre
10-22 Hamburg, Germany - Schauspielhaus
10-23 Cologne, Germany - Tanzbrunnen
10-25 Berlin, Germany - Universitat Der Kunste
10-26 Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royale
10-27 Paris, France - Casino
10-29 Madrid, Spain - Palacio de Congresos
10-30 Granada, Spain - Palacio De Congresos
11-01 Copenhagen, Denmark - Ringsted Theatre
11-02 Oslo, Norway - Oslo Konserthuset
11-03 Stockholm, Sweden - Cirkus Djurgarden
11-07 Birmingham, England - Symphony Hall