Steve Earle - Hardcore Troubadore

I've been a fan of Steve Earle's since the late 80s but never seen him live before so it was with some excitement that I headed to The Philharmonic Hall tonight with my gig-going chums Carol and Alan. And Mr Earle didn't disappoint!

He and his brilliant band The Dukes played a rip-roaring, foot-stomping, two-hour set featuring old favourites and great new material from their current album, The Low Highway - including this one! And, in a nod to our Liverpool location, a Beatles cover - Cry Baby Cry from The White Album - which went down well with the assembled Scousers!

The Texan, Earle - not only an accomplished songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor (including turns in The Wire and Treme) and author ('I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive' and 'Doghouse Roses') - was an entertaining Master of Ceremonies and lived up to his reputation as one of the USA's most socially conscious/left wing musicians with some judicious comments about the state of the world and of his home country in particular - "We've got to learn that it's not possible to take over the world and lower taxes at the same time!"

A triumph!

Any other fans out there might be interested to know that the setlist included:

The Low Highway
21st Century Blues
Calico County
Taneytown
Hard Core Troubadour
I Thought You Should Know
That All You Got?
Love's Gonna Blow My Way
After Mardi Gras
Pocket Full Of Rain
This City
You're Still Standin' There
Invisible
Burnin' It Down
Guitar Town
Copperhead Road
Warren Hellman's Banjo
Little Emperor
Dominick Street/The Galway Girl
Remember Me
My Old Friend The Blues
I Ain't Ever Satisfied
Cry Baby Cry
Nothin' But You
Continental Trailways Blues
The Revolution Starts... Now

Plus two or three others that I've forgotten...

Have a wonderful weekend my friends!