John Hiatt, live at the Academy

Despite being constantly underrated and consistently left in the background throughout his thirty-five year solo career, John Hiatt doesn’t let it show one bit. The singer and guitarist’s albums have largely sputtered in obscurity while others create hit records by covering his songs (see Raitt, Bonnie and Clapton, Eric). But for someone known mostly as a songwriter, Hiatt puts on a damn good show.

Playing to a packed Academy floor where the average age of each white-haired head was very close to his own 58 years, Hiatt and his three-member combo - Doug Lancio on lead guitar, Patrick O’Hearn on bass and Ken Blevins on drums – wound their way through the myriad of styles and genres that make up his wide-ranging catalogue. A song such as ‘Your Dad Did’ displayed a gritty edge against an old country backdrop, while ‘Alone In The Dark’ layered some howling slide from Lancio over a repeating bassline from O’Hearn as Hiatt crooned out the sad vocals. ‘Crossing Muddy Waters’ showcased Hiatt’s acoustic guitar picking skills, as the thumping bluegrass number pushed along.

Hiatt and the combo were in high spirits all night, with this Dublin show being their last of a four week tour. Hiatt played on the crowd’s emotions by thanking them for coming out in the midst of such rough economic times, and even poked fun at the recent ‘life-changing’ announcement by Apple that the Beatles’ catalogue would now be available on iTunes (“I thought they’d be releasing a full-body entertainment suit for about €30,” he joked).

But it was some of the material from Hiatt’s newest album, The Open Road, released this March, that really stole the show. The lyrical brightness of the title track proved that Hiatt can still write at the level that made his songs so in-demand over the past few decades, while the stomping ‘My Baby’ provided amusing interplay between Hiatt and Lancio (“My baby’s too young for you, Doug,” Hiatt quipped at the song’s conclusion). One of the most captivating songs of the night was the simplistic, low-down blues of ‘Like A Freight Train,’ with light guitar touches filling in the space between Hiatt’s clear, soulful vocals. When the song was at its lowest ebb with just a lonely guitar line on top of sparse drums, the crowd stood silently rapturous, with Hiatt spinning an evocative web of regret over it all.

From there Lancio broke out a mandolin for a carefree romp through ‘Cry Love,’ after which the set list became a bit of a greatest hits line-up. Apart from the unabashed country of ‘Drive South’ and the full-audience singalong of ‘Slow Turning,’ the show dragged a bit during that portion, lacking the edgy energy and raw excitement that a lot of the newer songs possessed. But the last song of the set, a lightning-quick romp through ‘Tennessee Plates,’ pulled everyone back in.

As good as the entire show was, the band topped it all with an encore of ‘Have A Little Faith’ and ‘Riding With The King.’ The first song was pure, vintage Hiatt, soulful and poignant for the times; it’s small wonder that is the song that eventually put him on the map. The latter closed the show with a rollicking, powerful guitar solo from Lancio, his best work of the night by far, ending on a drawn out vocal improv from Hiatt that showed off how powerful his pipes still are. With Hiatt still putting out quality fresh material, his shows can only get better in the coming years. Come back soon, John.