Steve Earle – The Roundhouse, London
My brother Andy is staying with us at the moment, and he’s a massive Steve Earle fan (I fell away about 3 or 4 albums back) which inspired me to get us tickets to his show at The Roundhouse.
I’ve mentioned this venue before, but it really is a great way to see a bigger show. Feels very intimate for the 1000+ crowd, sound is great, and it’s very hard to find somewhere you cannot see the stage from.
Steve is running with the full bearded look these days. He’s also starting to go pretty bald on top, and put on a little weight – so he comes across as a dead ringer for poet Allen Ginsberg.
Wasn’t sure what to expect from this Steve Earle show – but things started off incredible well with 30-odd minutes of solo acoustic Steve going through highlights from his extensive back catalogue.
I really enjoyed opener “Steve’s Last Ramble”, “Goodbye”, “The Devil’s Right Hand”, “South Nashville Blues” and “Billy Austin”. It was also great to see him reach back 20 plus years to his debut album ‘Guitar Town’ for “Someday” and “My Old Friend The Blues”.
After warming the crowd up and wining us over with a few old favorites – Steve was then joined by a DJ who provided rhythm tracks (I believe “beats” may be what the kids are calling it these days) and some samples and effects for material from his latest album, the Grammy winning ‘Washington Square Serenade’.
I’m not hugely familiar with the new record, but standouts for me were “Satellite Radio” and “Steve’s Hammer (For Pete)”. “Transcendental Blues” also benefited from the DJ providing sitar-type effects. Steve’s current wife (and tonight’s support act – who we missed most of apart from an ok set-closing cover of “A Change Is Gonna Come”) joined from the duet “Days Aren't Long Enough” and hung around to provided hand-claps and backing vocals for “City Of Immigrants”. The main set closed with a great, effects heavy cover of Tom Waits “Way Down In The Hole”.
Returning quickly for a solo acoustic encore, Steve was more talkative than I’d seen him previously, and spent a long time dedicating “Little Rock & Roller" to his father and other family members. This launched into a crowd pleasing “Copperhead Road”. After a short break, Steve returned for a quick second and final encore of “Christmas in Washington”.
I’ve mentioned this venue before, but it really is a great way to see a bigger show. Feels very intimate for the 1000+ crowd, sound is great, and it’s very hard to find somewhere you cannot see the stage from.
Steve is running with the full bearded look these days. He’s also starting to go pretty bald on top, and put on a little weight – so he comes across as a dead ringer for poet Allen Ginsberg.
Wasn’t sure what to expect from this Steve Earle show – but things started off incredible well with 30-odd minutes of solo acoustic Steve going through highlights from his extensive back catalogue.
I really enjoyed opener “Steve’s Last Ramble”, “Goodbye”, “The Devil’s Right Hand”, “South Nashville Blues” and “Billy Austin”. It was also great to see him reach back 20 plus years to his debut album ‘Guitar Town’ for “Someday” and “My Old Friend The Blues”.
After warming the crowd up and wining us over with a few old favorites – Steve was then joined by a DJ who provided rhythm tracks (I believe “beats” may be what the kids are calling it these days) and some samples and effects for material from his latest album, the Grammy winning ‘Washington Square Serenade’.
I’m not hugely familiar with the new record, but standouts for me were “Satellite Radio” and “Steve’s Hammer (For Pete)”. “Transcendental Blues” also benefited from the DJ providing sitar-type effects. Steve’s current wife (and tonight’s support act – who we missed most of apart from an ok set-closing cover of “A Change Is Gonna Come”) joined from the duet “Days Aren't Long Enough” and hung around to provided hand-claps and backing vocals for “City Of Immigrants”. The main set closed with a great, effects heavy cover of Tom Waits “Way Down In The Hole”.
Returning quickly for a solo acoustic encore, Steve was more talkative than I’d seen him previously, and spent a long time dedicating “Little Rock & Roller" to his father and other family members. This launched into a crowd pleasing “Copperhead Road”. After a short break, Steve returned for a quick second and final encore of “Christmas in Washington”.
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