I have seen Steve Earle a number of times and he is always, always good. This was a solo acoustic show and was Townes-Van-Zandt themed following the album of Van Zandt songs that Steve had recently released. It also included a range of Steve Earle's best songs so it couldn't really miss. In fact it was a masterclass in singing and acoustic guitar playing building on superb songwriting.
The support was Joe Pug a young singer songwriter who had obviously spent some time listening to Bob Dylan but he was pleasant enough
Steve started with a couple of run-of- the-mill Van Zandt songs before hitting us with "Pancho and Lefty". This is one of the best songs ever. Enough said.
The early part of the show featured a number of Van Zandt songs including the bluesy "Brand New Companion" and "Colorado Girl". He also did "Mr Mudd and Mr Gold".
Throughout the gig Steve in his inimitable and eloquent way weaved a narrative around his relationship to Townes Van Zandt including being roundly heckled by his hero at a very early stage in his career. He inevitably strayed into politics including advising everyone "not to throw the baby out with the bathwater" at our next UK election and warning Barack Obama to make sure he got out of Iraq as he had promised to do. He is never shy about voicing his opinions and they are always enjoyable.
He always seems to play "Goodbye" which is just about my favourite Steve Earle song and to hear it in an acoustic gig was a treat. I realise why it has a special place for him as he told us that it was the first song that he wrote after going straight. He also gave us another heartfelt tune of his - "Jerusalem". Another song of his that was perfect for the solo acoustic format was "My Old Friend the Blues" which came across with real feeling. Near the end there was a beautiful rendition of "Fort Worth Blues".
To start the encore Steve played maybe the only song not written by him or Townes and something that I was hoping he would play but not expecting he would - the theme song from "The Wire". He followed that with "Copperhead Road".
A great way to finish and I can't wait for the next edition of this gig when we see him in November.
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Fleet Foxes 11/9/09
This was a difficult gig to get to, logistically-speaking. However the effort was worth it both for the Fleet Foxes and the excellent support "Blitzen Trapper". There are some support acts that you know you are going to like three bars into the first song and they were definitely one of them. The played a sort of electric indie folk with added attitude and did it very well. There were two good guitar players but they were never showy and the band did great vocals as well. On just one or two occasions I got a hint of the Grateful Dead - pretty good going for a support band.
Various members of the Foxes joined in some of their songs and the others also stayed in the wings watching the show.
Lead singer Robin Pecknold made a number of Roy Harper references during the gig starting with saying how great it was to play in Manchester the birthplace of Roy Harper and at one opint offering to buy any original Harper vinyl.
Live the Foxes sound was harsher, deeper and denser than the album and that added something important for me. As you would expect the vocals are just brilliant throughout. Pecknold spent lots of time medicating his throat with various herbal teas and there was some banter about that from the audience. Someone also requested "Freebird" during one of the pauses between tracks and the band enjoyed that request.
He played solo for a number of tracks and took this to an extreme at the begininng of the encore when he stepped to the front of the stage and sang and played with no amplification. The Manchester Apollo is a big old Odeon and the mostly standing crowd were not particularly quiet so I think that took some real nerve. It worked and there was a strict slience during the track.
Although the audience was a little on the noisy side the tracks that reduced them to silence and produced an amazing reaction that left Robin looking puzzled, was when he first performed solo.
Tracks that really stood out for me included "Your Protector" and "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" but basically that is just personal preference - the delivery of all the songs was pretty much faultless and was different in feel to the album.
It is always the sign of a great gig that it stays in your head for a while. This is still there despite having seen Steve Earle a few days later.
Various members of the Foxes joined in some of their songs and the others also stayed in the wings watching the show.
Lead singer Robin Pecknold made a number of Roy Harper references during the gig starting with saying how great it was to play in Manchester the birthplace of Roy Harper and at one opint offering to buy any original Harper vinyl.
Live the Foxes sound was harsher, deeper and denser than the album and that added something important for me. As you would expect the vocals are just brilliant throughout. Pecknold spent lots of time medicating his throat with various herbal teas and there was some banter about that from the audience. Someone also requested "Freebird" during one of the pauses between tracks and the band enjoyed that request.
He played solo for a number of tracks and took this to an extreme at the begininng of the encore when he stepped to the front of the stage and sang and played with no amplification. The Manchester Apollo is a big old Odeon and the mostly standing crowd were not particularly quiet so I think that took some real nerve. It worked and there was a strict slience during the track.
Although the audience was a little on the noisy side the tracks that reduced them to silence and produced an amazing reaction that left Robin looking puzzled, was when he first performed solo.
Tracks that really stood out for me included "Your Protector" and "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" but basically that is just personal preference - the delivery of all the songs was pretty much faultless and was different in feel to the album.
It is always the sign of a great gig that it stays in your head for a while. This is still there despite having seen Steve Earle a few days later.
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