Elvis Costello, showman and rocker

 The crowd at Interlochen Tuesday night had a wonderful time being entertained by Napoleon Dynamite.

Unfortunately, Elvis Costello was unable to make the second part of the show, but Dynamite, the emcee for the evening, kept things sailing along, singing many Costello hits with backing from the Imposters. Dynamite’s witty stage banter, the forays into the crowd, his dancing girls, and the Spectacular Spinning Songbook more than made up for Costello’s absence.

Okay, Costello wasn’t absent – he was, in fact, the aforementioned Dynamite. But anyone expecting the angry young man from This Year’s Model or Armed Forces was in for a shock. This was the Costello who once subbed for an ailing David Letterman on The Late Show – funny, amenable, but just as ready to rock.

Of course, with the spectacle that is the stage set, anyone who wasn’t aware had to be wondering. The 20-foot-high Spectacular Spinning Songbook, looking for all the world like the wheel from Wheel of Fortune all dressed up for the carnival, dominated the right half of the stage. Then there was the go-go dancer cage stage left, complete with go-go dancer. Steve Nieve’s keyboards were obscured by the glitzy piano bar, complete with red and blue drinks, and a TV set apparently tuned permanently to The Outer Limits.

The audience contestants, guided expertly on- and off-stage by a woman who doubled as extra dancer and bouncer, spun the wheel, prompting Dynamite, er, Costello and the band to wail away. Songs including “Heart of the City,” “Alison,” “Watching the Detectives,” “I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea,” a medley including “This Year’s Girl” and the Beatles’ “Girl” (on which it must be admitted Costello sang dreadfully out of tune), “The Other Side of Summer,” and others zipped by too fast.

In fact, the pace was so quick, Costello’s road crew had difficulty keeping up with him. He switched guitars for nearly every song, singing as the roadies would run onstage, guitar in hand, plug it in and hand it to him.

The band was in lockstep throughout. Longtime drummer Pete Thomas remains a basher of the first degree, while Davey Faragher on bass and vocals kept things moving. Nieve was all over his keyboards, including not only the Farfisa organ sound from the band’s first albums (which cut through everything), but also melodica, accordion, even the spooky sound of the theremin.

For his encore, Costello soloed on “A Slow Drag with Josephine” from last year’s National Ransom, before he brought up sisters Megan and Rebecca Lovell of opening act Larkin Poe on lap steel and mandolin, respectively. Both also added backing vocals to tunes from his rootsy Secret, Profane & Sugarcane recording, and stuck around for a rollicking “What’s So Funny ’Bout Peace, Love and Understanding” that finally closed the show.

The dancers onstage and off, and the rest of the crowd as well, had a marvelous time. And when you combine spectacle, charisma, great songs and righteous rock and roll, that only makes sense.