Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and Amos Lee Live

On Friday, Oct. 19, homecoming weekend for Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana was kicked off in a big fashion. IU's Assembly Hall, home to the Hoosiers basketball team, put on a fantastic concert with Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and Amos Lee on the bill.

Singer-songwriter and guitarist, Amos Lee along with Fred Berman on drums and bassist Jaron Olevsky started things off at Assembly Hall. Their mix of blues, soul, fusion, jazz and folk came across loud and clear to the large crowd shuffling in. Amos Lee sang and played with authority along with his band and the sound was lively, original and refreshing to say the least.

Amos Lee has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman, Total Request Live and Austin City Limits. Some of the songs have appeared on episodes of: House, Grey's Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, ER, Six Degrees and in the 2005 movie, Just Like Heaven. Their 2006 album, Supply and Demand jumped to #16 on the Billboard 200. Amos Lee has arrived and is an artist to watch out for, job well done in IU town!

Next on the line-up was music great, Elvis Costello playing solo. Elvis Costello decided to play minus his group, The Attractions, this time around. Costello and The Attractions were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003, so the question is why go solo?

Not sure how to answer his reasoning for not having his backing band, but can say Elvis Costello put on one hell of a performance as just one. Some of the songs performed were: "Allison", "Veronica", "Red Shoes" (and had some pretty snazzy shoes himself) and his first recorded single, "Less Than Zero b/w "Radio Sweetheart" (single mix) out in 1977. He also played a song that included references to the ongoing war in Iraq and all of the brave soldiers and definitely hit a sensitive and touching chord with the audience.