After bearing witness to his boot-worthy performance at Golden Plains, there was a general buzz about Justin Townes Earle’s sideshow at the Forum. The beat poetry style of his lyrics garners the confidence of a friend to describe him as this generation’s Bob Dylan. When a handsome male performer removes his shirt during a show, and the rapturous applause isn’t limited to the ladies in the crowd, you know the music is decent.
Support tonight comes from Sydney local Lanie Lane and Chicagoan Joe Pug. I catch Pug as he is a couple of songs in. Nobody’s Man appears to be a love letter to the emancipated life, with repeated refrains of ‘I’d rather be nobody’s man than somebody’s child’, which works well as he stands solo on the large stage. He garners rapturous applause following Speak Plainly, Diana to which he seems genuinely appreciative. He proclaims a strange love of our cheap Asian food and the ‘big steaming piles of meat’ that can be found here.
In recent tours to Australia, Earle has played Melbourne club shows at the Toff In Town and the Corner Hotel, so he appeared legitimately pleased to be gracing the stage of one of the finest venues in Melbourne. For this string of shows he is joined only by his fiddle player Josh Hedley, who I daresay makes me want to pick up a violin again. His set is littered with personal anecdotes and subtle digs at his father, fellow musician Steve Earle. ‘I got one thing figured out that he didn’t. I don’t marry every woman that I fuck’ – in reference to the fact that his fathers’ marriages rival the amount of husbands Elizabeth Taylor collected – was preceded by Woody Guthrie cover I Don’t Know.
The crowd laps up his ode-to-his-mother Mama’s Eyes the lyrics of which delve into his difficult early relationship with his father. One More Night In Brooklyn tells of a lady Earle was living with who was ‘pretty terrible as well’. He describes to the audience his weakness for women – clearly evidenced in his songs – and fried chicken; ‘I can’t decide which one I love more’. Ain’t Waitin’ (I ain’t waitin’ on nothin’/I just got nowhere to go) and Christchurch Woman (I’m waitin’ for a Christchurch woman in the rain) are amusingly played side-by-side. After Wanderin’ – which appears to have been written about the trials of the touring lifestyle – he complains about the quality of cocaine in this country ‘Whatever you think you’ve got down here, it ain’t cocaine’ and pleading for something decent, prompting an enthusiastic audience member to call out the address of an apparent place where said good stuff can be found. Let it be known that I did note this address.
Apparently disregard the name of Someday I’ll Be Forgiven For This, as while introducing the song Earle proclaims he still hates the bitch that it is about. Upbeat tune Halfway To Jackson has people jivin’ before breaking a few girls’ hearts as he enlightens us to the fact that Midnight At The Movies is a little less sweet than it appears. Bringing his supports on stage with him for the last song of the set for Harlem River Blues – an irresistible tune about repenting for your sins set up with ‘If you’ve been particularly sinful, you might not come back up’ – initiating the entire theatre to sing along. The three song encore includes the Boss’ Racing In The Street and is rounded out by a Replacements cover (and sing-along) and I sure know I Can’t Hardly Wait for his next tour.
– Isabel McCrann
