The Circuit

by Steven Gaydos
When music fans say this has been a "rocky" Berlin Film Fest, they mean it in the nicest way. With Patti Smith, Neil Young and the Rolling Stones all in the German capital tubthumbing (in time, one assumes) their respective docu films, it's been a beggar's banquet of great music and genial meet n' greets. But while those vet pop acts were delivering the hits on celluloid, alt-country great Steve Earle rolled into Berlin sans reel, but ready to rock for real.

Only minutes from the Fest center, Earle (pictured with Variety's Steven Gaydos) and wife/supporting act Allison Moorer, lit up the s.r.o crowd at Berlin's cozy Columbia Club. One of many intimate stops on a Euro tour that puts Earle in front of his rabid continental fans, the Earle/Moorer show was a powerful reminder that while a fellow Texan named Bush may have diminished America's standing overseas, cultural ambassadors like Earle make a direct connection to Europeans that is powerful, passionate and positive.

Chatting with Earle backstage before the show, he had only one complaint about the German fan base and that was that "in some towns there will be some idiot selling Confederate flags. I have to make sure and run their asses off, cos I'm just not going to play with that kind of crap going on."

Earle and Moorer (pictured) were also disappointed that their Euro commitments would keep them from attending this month's Grammy ceremony, where they're up for their duet "Days Aren't Long Enough." Earle ended up winning in the folk category for his acclaimed "Washington Square Serenade" CD, his second consecutive Grammy.

When the subject of the Amy Winehouse rehab/visa travails controversy came up, Earle, a long-time outspoken advocate for treatment programs for musicians, was adamant in his concern about the troubled Brit chanteuse. "The woman is dying. It's that simple and very very sad."

Earle took that compassionate and committed stance onstage and ripped through a boisterous set of 25 songs, but before that Moorer delivered a brief, yet thoroughly convincing set that included revelatory versions of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" and Sam Cooke's "Change Gonna Come." Highlights of the Earle set included "Devil's Right Hand," "Billy Austin" and "Sparkle and Shine," which was his intro to Moorer to join him onstage.

There's no way to know if the Teutonic crowd was getting all the nuances of Earle's finely-crafted turns of lyric, or if they grasped the humor of his dedication of "Someday" to "Whatever her name was, wherever the hell she is," but the deafening applause and shouts of "YOU GO STEVE" indicated that nothing was getting lost in transation.

Photos by Brian Gott.