American singer/songwriter Steve Earle hit Melbourne last night playing at the Forum Theatre in a rare seated mode.
The diverse mix of audience members shouted out their favourite Earle songs to an unfazed, beardy performer who’s set list spanned enough of his 22-year career to keep most people happy anyway.There were three distinct styles of performance during this set. For the most part, the show consisted of just Earle and an acoustic guitar, at other times he was joined by his wife (and support act) Allison Moorer and occasionally he was backed by DJ Neil McDonald who dropped hip hop influenced beats behind the troubadour’s acoustic show.
At the risk of sounding like the kind of person who would accused Dylan of selling out for going electric, McDonald, while a gutsy move and an admirable step into the unknown, really took away from the soul of these beautiful songs.
Seeing Earle on stage armed with nothing but six strings and a piece of wood playing songs like ‘Can’t Remember If We Said Goodbye’ or even his 1988 hit ‘Copperhead Road’ is a magical experience, but hearing soulful songs like these backed by a pre-programmed beat and a fat guy standing there for three minutes after pressing play miming along to the words is something I struggled to get behind. Where does one draw the line with pre-recorded music in a live performance? This DJ wasn’t exactly Terminator X.
McDonald was present mainly during songs from his last album ‘Washington Square Serenade’, including songs like the Brazilian influenced ‘We’re All Immigrants’ (which included an appearance by Allison Moorer) and his cover of a Tom Waits’ ‘Way Down In The Hole’.
All in all, there were too many spectacular moments in this show to be bogged down with semantics. One punter shouted out during the tirade of requests, “Play what ya fuckin’ like, Steve!” And he had a point, when Earle did that, he was at his best.
