February 28 2008: Steve Earle, Allison Moorer - Calvin Theatre, Northampton MA

I cut out of internship a few hours early so Caitlin and I could get dinner and then a drink with Alicia and Rob and then see Steve Earle. He played the first half-hour solo acoustic, opening with "Steve's Last Ramble" and "Devil's Right Hand," the latter of which was really fun to hear. But like the show in general, it didn't hold up to the memory of the last (and only other) time I'd seem him play. "Someday" was pretty good, and "Tom Ames' Prayer" was pretty fabulous, and "Billy Austin" was undeniably fabulous. Never heard that song before, and man did it blow me away.

But for the last hour of the set he played his new album. I'm not sure if he played every last song, but he played the ones I like ("Jericho Road," "Oxycontin Blues" and "Red is the Color") and a bunch that I recognized from, but didn't paid much mind to, that one or two times I played the whole record through. And it went on for quite some time so I figure even if he didn't play the whole thing, he may as well have. The effect was the same either way: bunch of pretty good songs with a DJ spinning the rhythm tracks. Guess that's what happens when you start giving a guy Grammys.

But for the encores he played old tunes again, and finished up the show with "Copperhead Road" and "Christmas in Washington." Christ did the old hippies in front of me shit themselves over "Christmas in Washington."

And all in all was a pretty great show, especially those first 30 minutes. Man did those first 30 minutes have some great songs.