Steve Earle at the Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall, 25 October 2011
Despite not being in the best of health I dragged myself to the Royal Festival Hall to catch Steve Earle and his band figuring that at least I had a seat and it always ends fairly early there. I'm really glad I did although I didn't make it through the encore but the two hours beforehand was certainly more than worth the effort.
Although I had seen Steve Earle once before playing an acoustic show the big attraction for this one was the fact that he would be backed by his superb group The Dukes which this time featured his country-singing wife Allison Moorer (who happens to be one of my absolute faves). I wondered if she would just be playing and singing back-up, which she did, but thankfully we were also treated to some of her own songs including Broken Girl, the fantastic poppish lead single from her last album Crows, the angsty Getting Somewhere (the studio version of which was incidentally produced by Earle) and a beautifully soulful and passionate version of Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come. For some reason Earle himself didn't play on any of these songs but sat onstage listening holding their young 18-month son John Henry (decked out in huge headphones). Having only heard her acoustic before it was definitely a treat to hear the songs with such an excellent band behind them my only quibble being I would have liked to have heard more of her songs, but then all the hardcore Earle fans (here in full force tonight with bags full of merchandise in their hands) may not have appreciated it as much as me.
We did get to hear Moorer (who looked stunning in a leather waitcoast and floor-length black net skirt - very gothic) and her hubby sing a couple of duets though, including Days Aren't Long Enough and a song that Earle revealed he had written for the second Robert Plant/Alison Krauss album which never happened called Heaven & Hell. It's definitely a shame that Plant/Krauss album was abandoned because the song was absolutely perfect for them but there's no doubt that Earle and Moorer sounded great singing it even though he admitted that it's not the happy, loving song you really want to sing with your wife!
Earle, resplendent in his huge Rick Rubinesque beard (it's kind of funny that he has more hair on his chin than his head these days), was fantastic too of course and it was easy to see why he inspires such devoted followers. Other than being a first-rate songwriter and performer he's just a hugely charismatic guy and funny too, you want to listen to what he has to say, whether it's about politics or banjos it's always interesting. As for the set list, not surprisingly the bulk came from his new album I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive (seven in all) but the rest of the value-for-money 32-song set was a nice balance from throughout his career, the best being a the upbeat fiddle-filled Galway Girl, the rousing City Of Immigrants (before which Earle rightly berated the politics of blaming immigrants for the US's problems) and the tender acoustic number My Old Friend The Blues. After giving Moorer a few numbers to herself, in the spirit of fairness Earle's longtime bass player Kelly Looney (great name) also got to sing a number as did fellow husband and wife team (on guitar and violin respectively) The Mastersons, who sang a spirited country pop number called Crash Test.
The main set ended with the rocking The Revolution Starts Now after which I had to leave sadly. Apparently there were two encores which I'm sure were just as good but really it was a fine number to go out on. Hopefully next time I catch them (and I definitely want to) I'll be in better health because Earle, Moorer and his excellent band were on fire tonight.
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