Costello turns his back on Britain

Expat singer Elvis Costello has launched a furious attack on Britain, saying, "I don't dig it, they don't dig me." The singer-songwriter emerged as one of the greatest talents of the post-punk era for his willingness to tell it like it is. But 25 years after emigrating to the US, it doesn't look like fans in England will see him again.
Interviewed in the music magazine Mojo, the 53-year-old singer says that one of his last gigs in the UK, at Glastonbury in 2005, was so "fucking dreadful" that he will almost certainly never play in his native country again. "I don't care if I ever play England again. That gig made up my mind I wouldn't come back. I don't get along with it. We lost touch."
Costello also castigated British music fans for their ageism. "A lot of good new bands still come out of England but I just don't feel part of it. British music fans don't have the same attitude to age as they do in America, where young people come to check out, say Willie Nelson. They feel some connection with him and find a role for that music in their lives", he said.
Costello is known to be far more content in his adopted homeland, where he lives in New York with his third wife, the jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall. He recently played at Hillary Clinton's 60th birthday party, singing Happy Birthday, Mrs President. Revelations of the Clintons' love of Costello's music led to speculation that they may have named their daughter, Chelsea, after Costello's hit, (I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea.