Star Tribune photo by Leah Millis

Other Elvis Costello concerts have been more musically satisfying, more carefully orchestrated and more intensely passionate. But none was more smile-inducing than Wednesday's at the State Theatre.

As I discussed in my review, Costello had fun with whomever came onstage to spin his rock roulette wheel. There were two women, best friends since high school who had been listening to Elvis for 30 years; a young woman and her grandmother; a series of married couples, etc.

Always a quick wit, Costello made fun of himself (he said when he first came to the States he tried to sound like a cross between John Lennon and Johnny Rotten; he probably should have made fun of his plaid sportcoat and the too-small gold-lame jacket), joked about giving equal time to Minneapolis and St.Paul, and hurled some political zingers, telling one wheel spinner that the world's last five minutes of entertainment was in her hands because the Rapture is coming. Said Elvis: "The goal here is that they take Glenn Beck and Michele Bachmann first."

Reprising a tour concept from 1986 (that never came to the Twin Cities), Costello's Spectacular Spinning Wheel — which was almost three times taller than Elvis — featured 40 spaces. There were 32 specific songs, three jokers (spinner's choice) and five topics (such as "time," for songs with time in the title, and "joanna," which Elvis said is Cockney slang for piano, hence it was pianist Steve Nieve's choice).

Here is an attempt at a set list for a performance that was nine minutes short of three hours:

I Hope You're Happy Now/ Heart of the City/ Mystery Dance/ Uncomplicated/ Radio Radio/ Watching the Detectives/ Shipbuilding/ God's Comic/ Clown Time Is Over/ Next Time Round/ Man Out of Time/ Veronica/ Stations of the Cross/ ??? bluesy recitation about Louisiana / This Wheel's on Fire (the Band/Bob Dylan) >The River in Reverse/ So Like Candy/ Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Animals) ENCORE A Slow Drag with Josephine/ Jimmie Standing in the Rain/ Pump It Up (unrecognizable bluesy piano version)> Busted (Ray Charles) ENCORE 2 All Grown Up/ You Tripped at Every Step/ Chelsea/ Beyond Belief/ Turpentine/ Everyday I Write the Book/ Purple Rain (Prince) / Alison>Tracks of My Tears (Smokey Robinson)>Your Cheatin' Heart (Hank Williams)>Somewhere Over the Rainbow/ Peace Love and Understanding