Ronstadt, Harris heat up Hard Rock

      The idea of Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris touring together seemed just about perfect. But there's a reason why humans in general, and musicians in particular, rarely achieve perfection: It can be a little dull.
      That's about the only explanation for how the two country-rock icons could team up in front of a band of crack multi-instrumentalists, render every song with exquisite detail and nuance, and still have the evening come off a little more like a recital than the firebrand concerts of their rip-roaring days.
      It almost came as welcome comic relief when Ronstadt offered the crowd a couple of bloopers to lighten the highbrow tone. Midway through the first of two sets, she forgot a verse to "Blue Bayou." Later, she headed for the wings one song early, forgetting there was one more song in the first set.
      But a night that offered more than 30 songs in two sets turned out to be an embarrassment of riches. And the musical fussiness can be written off as a good problem to have, given the generic predictability of most concerts these days.
      The five-piece band brought the duo's new album collaboration, "Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions" to life in a bolder, more confident form than the delicate album arrangments, but sacrificing few of the subtleties.
      The concert included all the album's surprising song choices, from the opening tune -- Andy Prieboy's "Loving the Highway Man" -- to Sinead O'Connor's "This is to Mother You" and Leonard Cohen's "Sisters of Mercy." Perhaps the evening's most touching moment was Harris' lead vocal on "1917," a first-person narrative of a World War I prostitute.
      They rounded out the sets with songs from their separate careers, which Harris told the crowd, are "always paralleling." Despite careful measures to keep things equal in the balance of soung count and lead vocals, it was Harris who seemed to be running the show.
      Still dazzling at age 53, Harris came off like the cool kid that everyone wants to hang out with in high school, with Ronstadt her bashful visiting cousin. When Harris would strum guitar and interact with the boys in the band, Ronstadt -- who is also 53 but looking more matronly than her stage partner -- would take a seat onstage and nod her head appreciatively along with the rest of the audience.
      Ronstadt and her fans are lucky the singer has such a good friend to coax her out of a sour attitude toward live performance that had sidelined her, perhaps permanently, from the stage. She rekindled the powerhouse arena-rock vocals of the old days on "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," but really blew the crowd away with the restrained prettiness of "Heart Like a Wheel," accompanied only by piano.
      That was a rare moment when the five-piece band wasn't swapping instruments like hot potatoes, picking up accordians or mandolins as the songs demanded. Harris' voice shifted gears as required, from Bill Monroe bluegrass anthems to a moody rock song, "Sweet Spot," co-written with Jill Cunniff of Luscious Jackson.
      Fans can only hope the two have enough fun on the tour to do it again -- maybe to come back and really let their hair down in front of the audience the next time.
     
     Who: Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris
     When: Wednesday
     Where: Hard Rock Hotel
     Attendance: 1152
     Rating: A-