09 May 2013 (gig)
11 May 2013
‘I’ve got 500 hundred songs in my head,’ quipped Emmylou Harris at one point during the show tonight, as one temporarily evaded her. With so many songs and around 40 years performing, one could forgive her the odd slip. More importantly, Ms Harris’s beautiful voice has weathered wonderfully well. Add old friend and collaborator Rodney Crowell – who was dressed like an extra from Witness - and a backing band of top notch musicians, it was a hot, if not ‘the’ Hot Band.
Coming on with no fanfare they opened with Gram Parsons’s Return of the Grievous Angel and for the next hour or so they went back and forth across their careers. If it was a touch on the mournful at times with the likes of Love Hurts and Tragedy, these were balanced with the more upbeat Heaven Only Knows and a rollicking version of first set closer, Luxury Liner. Rodney Crowell’s voice was pretty much the perfect foil for Emmylou’s, that taken with their natural rapport, and the band’s genera bonhomie meant there was something special in the air tonight.
A short break and the 2nd half opened with a poignant tribute to Kate McGarrigle – Darlin’ Kate. From there, the band concentrated on the new album Old Yellow Moon and live these songs took on an extra dimension. It was subtle as they weren’t re-worked in any way, they just sounded fuller as if they were in their natural environment. The more traditional country twangs of Hanging Up My Heart, sat very comfortably with the more off the wall Black Caffeine. Back When We Were Beautiful was just that, as was Dreaming My Dreams. Fittingly the main set closed with Old Yellow Moon. Two encores: a rowdy Stars on the Water and, not totally unsurprisingly, bookending the show with another Parsons song, Sin City.
