steve earle in Liverpool. August 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The word legend is, at times, overused. It is the way of the English language that almost anything or anybody can have the word placed before it and that is perfectly acceptable. For what else is the fluidity of the sematic if not for marking out certain well used phrases if it has a sense of positivity attached to it?

However when it comes to the musician Steve Earle, legend is pretty much the best and only adjective in which to place before the man’s life, ability and lyrical prowess and as he smiled, with a sense of slight embarrassment at the adulation he was receiving in one of his favourite cities, at the crowd that had made their way to the Galleria, music, the odd small verbal nod to his past and the sense of belonging filled the stage. It wouldn’t have been a surprise to find a small gathering outside on the pavements that surround the Echo Arena straining at the bit and sinking into the musical abundance that filtered through the various corridors and passageways that enclose the gem that is the Auditorium.

Many acts come to Liverpool and place somewhere into the set a Beatles track, they don’t have to but it is a nice and honourable nod but also it is an acknowledgement to the capital of British music that the thank you is there. Steve Earle was no different, a man of the people always knows where to say his thanks after all but surprisingly he played You’ve Got to Hide Your love Away right at the start of his set as if the acknowledgement was more important than his own set. Either way, the ice, if ever it was there in the room, was broken and the assembled crowd gathered Steve Earle even closer to their collective and ready to beat hearts.

The man who openly admits his elder hippy status took the crowd on a journey through time, his time, precious, filled with reasons on why he still alive and has lived more than most and with a set list absolutely bursting at the seams, that journey was life-affirming and exhilarating. From Girl On The Mountain, My Friend The Blues, I Ain’t Ever Satisfied, Every Part Of Me, Valentine’s Day, Fort Worth Blues, the gorgeous Galway Girl, The Devil’s Right Hand and the much loved Copperhead Road, Steve Earle was on tremendous form, the glint in his eye sparkling like a rare diamond placed daintily on the dress of Scarlet O’Hara was unmistakeable, however there was also the much loved dry humour that deflected but also alluded to the errors we can all make, such is humanity, such is the life of the superb Steve Earle.

August always seems to be on the quiet side in the city but Steve Earle, on a day when clouds threated rain and to wash the Bank Holiday spirit that is brewing away, brightened the lives of all inside the venue. A great night of music, pathos and bliss going hand in hand, perhaps in only the way that Steve Earle can do.

Ian D. Hall