Gig review: John Hiatt, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh

By DAVID POLLOCK
Published on 19/07/2012 00:25

MUSIC

Looking somewhat like Leonard Cohen in his smart tan jacket and fedora, the Indianapolis-born John Hiatt is a slightly lower order of songwriting icon than the Canadian. Yet there were clearly fans here whose admiration bordered on the devotional, and the singer/guitarist – who’s 60 next month – appeared genuinely disappointed that he wasn’t able to divine the barrage of shouted requests thrown at him through the night.

“We’ve just spent weeks with two Georgian bus drivers,” he smirked, “and now you come at me with the way you talk.”

It’s clearly not a set which displeased the diehards, though, being a full 90 minutes of rich and capably played country rockers drawn from his four-decade career.

Among the highlights were the wistful Dust Down a Country Road and Crossing, Muddy Waters’ lovelorn bluegrass, or the crisp slide guitar meander of Drive South and Perfectly Good Guitar’s deft lyricism. Hiatt and band also tried out a raw version of Lipstick on one audience member’s insistence, although perhaps he regretted it when everyone else dived in on the act.

While the almost Caribbean Cry Love had been an odd change of pace, the country funk of Thing Called Love – made famous by Bonnie Raitt – and Memphis in the Meantime’s fast railroad boogie brought the set to an upbeat conclusion, before a first-rate encore of Have a Little Faith in Me and the raw, BB King-covered blues of Riding With the King.

Rating: ****