With the country still in the midst of lockdown and no sign of any live music in the foreseeable future if at all this year I thought I would take the opportunity to look back in the archives, sounds posh I know but it’s just an spreadsheet, and revisit gigs I attended on this day down the years.
May is typically a very busy month for gig being part of the usual album release cycle and but there is just the one for my trip down memory lane for you down the years today
1996, Steve Earle, Shepherds Bush Empire, London
For ten years between 86 and 96 I was obsessed with Steve Earle and those albums during that time are some of the finest country rock albums you will hear. John and I probably saw Earle more than any other artist around that time until 03. My memories of those early gigs were the racks of guitars that Earle and the Dukes had at the side of the stage often changing guitar multiple times in the same song.
This gig would have been in support of the ‘I feel Alright’ album and looking at setlist around that time obviously draws heavily from that. It also takes select tracks from the previous albums going back to ‘Guitar Town’. My other memories of these gigs in the nineties are the long sets ala Springsteen and indeed Earle often covered ‘State Trooper’ in his shows around this time.
Great stuff and those memories of those early shows remain strong to this day.
That’s it for today’s trip down memory lane. Here’s hoping we can get to some form of normality soon. Support your small local venues and smaller artists in these difficult times, stay safe and keep on rockin y’all