Performing last night at the Barbican Steve Earle twice ventured onto the terrain of British politics. After thanking the capacity audience for giving him their money he reminded them that not everyone had money to spend on luxuries like concerts. From there it was a short logical leap to people losing their jobs and he predicted that there’ll be a lot more of that to come soon. It’s worse if you’re in the United States. Steve told the audience that almost everyone who now loses their job there is left without health insurance and he got a big round of applause for say his comment “think about that the next time you’re bitching about the NHS”.

He got unusually cryptic, by his standards, towards the end of the set. Having said that he was going to stay as non-political as it was possible for him to be he noted that there “might be big changes here soon”. His advice was “just because you’re pissed off you shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater”. It’s not quite Nostradamus and, if I understood right it was a reference to next year’s election and the probable Tory victory. His comment was fairly well received and it somehow didn’t seem right to shout out “vote for credible left of Labour candidates where you can and Labour where none are standing”. As a heckle it need a bit of refinement.

This show was to promote his current album which is a collection of songs by his friend and teacher Townes Van Zandt, a man of whose life and work I know nothing other than the anecdotes which were peppered throughout last night’s performance. The one about “you knew you were in a bad way when Townes gave you a temperance lecture” gives a flavour. The evening’s disappointment was that despite the Barbican’s superb acoustics and the importance of the lyrics for both musicians it was often hard to make out the words. To this inexpert eye it seemed that you could make out what was being sung when Steve was standing a bit further back from the mike.

On the plus side you have to go some distance to find a more compelling live performer with the ability to hold an audience for almost two hours armed with nothing but his voice and guitar. And it’s some voice, like a bit warm duvet.

Just a word of advice to the support act Rhett. Europeans find it very odd when you tell them en masse how much you love their beautiful country. Best drop that from the between song patter.

One of the features of the Barbican is that after the main event there is often an after show. Last night’s was an eye opening choice and slightly incongruous. The foyer was given over to a fetish evening which kicked off with a fire eating burlesque stripper, not something you see every day. This is one area of human experience which is terra incognita for me but I was impressed by the effort most of its aficionados put into their costumes and make up. Though I’m not sure that the sprinkling of balding middle aged men with their hair pulled back into a Francis Rossi ponytail and dressed in their old biker leathers generate much in the way of sexual frisson. If you are looking for ideas to brighten up your wardrobe can I suggest for the gents a matching zebra pattern Stetson and loin cloth worn with a pair of knee high boots? The man last night carried it off very well. I’m getting mine on Saturday.