Concert for a Landmine Free World, Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland 2002 Various Artists - Costello, Harris, Earle and Prine | Albums that Should Exist

 Various Artists - Concert for a Landmine Free World, Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland, 1-14-2002

Paul says: I just found this the other day, and I liked it so much that I'm posting it straight away. I've posted a bunch of "Songwriter's Circle" BBC TV shows. This isn't from that show, but it follows the same format: several singer-songwriters sitting next to each other and taking turns singing their songs. In this case, there were four: Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Elvis Costello, and John Prine.

The concert was one of six concerts in Europe in 2002, all called "Concert for a Landmine Free World." This, in turn, was just one of several concert tours for that cause, which took place from at least 1997 to 2017. Most of them have been helmed by Emmylou Harris. However, I can't find much information about these tours. There was one official album containing some highlights from a 1999 tour, but it's very hard to find. Other than that, there are only a small number of bootlegs, and they generally are audience boots with sound quality too poor for my standards. 

This one concert is an exception though. This recording has been called a soundboard boot. I doubt that though, because one often hears clapping between songs from what sounds like people extremely close to the recording spot. I think it's more likely that it's just a very, very, very well recorded audience boot. Not all audience boots are the same. Every now and then, you can find one that sounds as good or better than a typical soundboard, if superior recording equipment was used, and the location was ideal, and the people nearby were quiet, and so forth. But whatever the case, this sounds good enough to be an official live album, so don't worry about the quality.

Of the six concerts in 2002, five of them also had Nanci Griffith in it. For some reason, in seems she couldn't attend this one. That's a bummer, but on the plus side it means we got even more songs from the remaining four stars, who in my opinion are all major musical talents. For the most part, each of them just sang and played guitar on their own songs. But later in the show, Emmylou Harris, who is kind of the queen of harmony vocalizing in the music world, sang backing vocals on some songs. And everyone joined in on two songs ("God's Comic" and "Paradise").    

This album is two hours long exactly. 

01 talk (Emmylou Harris)
02 Red Dirt Girl (Emmylou Harris)
03 talk (Steve Earle)
04 Now She's Gone (Steve Earle)
05 talk (Elvis Costello)
06 Our Little Angel (Elvis Costello)
07 talk (John Prine)
08 Souvenirs (John Prine)
09 talk (Emmylou Harris)
10 Bang the Drum Slowly (Emmylou Harris)
11 talk (Steve Earle)
12 Hometown Blues (Steve Earle)
13 talk (Elvis Costello)
14 Please (Elvis Costello)
15 That's the Way that the World Goes Round (John Prine)
16 talk (Emmylou Harris)
17 Michelangelo (Emmylou Harris)
18 talk (Elvis Costello)
19 God's Comic (Elvis Costello with Everyone)
20 Goodbye (Steve Earle & Emmylou Harris)
21 talk (Elvis Costello)
22 Shipbuilding (Elvis Costello)
23 talk (John Prine)
24 talk (John Prine)
25 The Other Side of Town (John Prine)
26 talk (Emmylou Harris)
27 Hour of Gold (Emmylou Harris)
28 talk (Steve Earle)
29 Tom Ames' Prayer (Steve Earle)
30 talk (Elvis Costello)
31 Alibi (Elvis Costello)
32 Sam Stone (John Prine with Emmylou Harris)
33 talk (Emmylou Harris & Elvis Costello)
34 Sleepless Nights (Emmylou Harris & Elvis Costello)
35 talk (Steve Earle)
36 Galway Girl (Steve Earle)
37 talk (John Prine)
38 Speed of the Sound of Loneliness (John Prine with Emmylou Harris)
39 talk (Emmylou Harris)
40 talk (Steve Earle)
41 Fort Worth Blues (Steve Earle with Emmylou Harris)
42 talk (Emmylou Harris)
43 Paradise (John Prine with Everyone)

I love the Point in Dublin and its in house concerts were (are?) legendary and it was a long concert with John Prine that was my first experience of Lyle Lovett who John had do a spot mid-set to give his band an interval. Lyle and his cellist John Hagen (superb!) did something like 9 songs together (7 I checked!) and I was mesmerised! Someone who looked like a Texan urban cowboy singing about having his horse onboard a boat (sic) and I was gone!

Concert for a Landmine Free World

a bit more info: 

The legendary Emmylou Harris organized this concert with the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation. WQED produced this Emmy Award-winning feature when musicians Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Griffin. Steve Earle, Nanci Griffith, Bruce Cockburn and Harris appeared at Soldiers and Sailors Hall in Pittsburgh. This feature is part of a WQED project, "The Vietnam War: Pittsburgh Stories

The complete Dublin Concert 2002 Dublin (The Point) - Concert For a Landmine Free World

Emmylou Harris

Steve Earle

Elvis Costello

John Prine

 introduction by Emmylou Harris

 Red Dirt Girl - Emmylou Harris

 Now She's Gone - Steve Earle

 Our Little Angel - Elvis Costello

 Souvenirs - John Prine

 Bang the Drum Slowly - Emmylou Harris

 Hometown Blues - Steve Earle

 Please - Elvis Costello

 That's the Way That the World Goes Round - John Prine

 Michelangelo - Emmylou Harris

 God's Comic - Elvis Costello

 Goodbye - Steve Earle & Emmylou Harris

 Shipbuilding - Elvis Costello

 The Other Side of Town - John Prine

 Hour of Gold - Emmylou Harris

 Tom Ames' Prayer - Steve Earle

 Alibi - Elvis Costello

 Sam Stone - John Prine

 Sleepless Nights - Elvis Costello & Emmylou Harris

 Galway Girl - Steve Earle

 Speed of the Sound of Loneliness - John Prine

 Fort Worth Blues - Steve Earle

 Paradise - John Prine

Largely because of the mention of Nanci Griffith and her not being able to be here and therefore edited out of the photo Paul uses here, we will celebrate John and Nanci with this perennial treat

John Prine & Nanci Griffith - The Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness (live) 

- Town And Country - 1990