Ryan Adams' show at the GPAC (Germantown Performing Arts Center)
2 Comments Published by Jason on Friday, July 13, 2007 at 7/13/2007 12:10:00 AM.
Until last night I'd never gone to a Ryan Adams' concert. As much as I love his music, I never had the desire to gamble my $30 ($60 with my wife) to see if I'd experience Ryan Adams, the vastly talented songwriter and captivating performer, or Ryan Adams, the petulant SOB who'd lumber drunk through a set or storm off the stage in a tantrum twenty minutes into the show. But with the positive reviews for his current tour and the fact that he's sober now, I decided to take the risk this time around.
Adams and his band, the Cardinals, took the stage around 8:30 (the show was scheduled to begin at 8:00). Wasting no more time, Adams offered a "good evening" to the crowd as he and the band settled onto their stools, and they struck into "Please Do Not Let Me Go," one of his finest bittersweet ballads, that showcased Adams' clear, impassioned tenor (all the more impressive given the theater's wonderful acoustics) and the Cardinals' impeccable musicianship.
Being an acoustic show, the set list favored slower material, mostly from his three 2005 releases and his new album, Easy Tiger, but Adams and the band performed each song with tireless precision and intensity. From the raw emotion of "The Sun Also Sets" to the tender melody of "Wildflowers," nearly every song from the evening was stunning. Even the five songs culled from 2005's spare and meandering 29 sounded fresh and compelling in their concise, reworked versions. The highlight of the evening was Adams' fiery rendition of "Peaceful Valley" on which the Cardinals nailed the multi-part a capella harmonies during the chorus.
For what would be the final song, Adams came to the front of the stage to sing "Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard," offering one last powerful performance. Adams gave a wave to the crowd after he finished the song and left the stage along with the band to the crowd's enthusiastic applause.
The houselights stayed down for over five minutes, and the audience continued cheering, anxious for an encore. There wasn't one, though, and the reaction of fans sitting in my vicinity ranged from satisfaction, to anger, to disbelief. As my wife and I made our way out of the theater, one college-age girl told us, "Don't go yet. He played 24 songs last night in Louisville. He's got to play an encore!" As much as we wanted to hear an encore ourselves, with the houselights up and "Rock the Casbah" playing, it was clear Adams was calling it a night. That girl may still be standing in the balcony as I type this.
Admittedly, the ending of the show was a bit peculiar. If the houselights had come up right after the band left the stage or if Adams had verbally bid a "goodnight," we still would've been disappointed there wasn't an encore--everyone wants more terrific music after all--but I think fewer people would've been annoyed.
With Ryan Adams' infamous erraticism, there's no telling why he didn't come back for an encore. Although he didn't say much during the show--well, nearly anything--he seemed in a good mood and he certainly poured himself into the performance. Several times during the show, he motioned to his sound guy to adjust the monitors, so maybe he had gotten perturbed about that and didn't figure the problem would ever be fixed to his satisfaction. Who knows? It could be he simply had decided ahead of time he wasn't playing an encore.
Still, even though I'm disappointed we missed out on an encore (I envy anyone who attended the Louisville show), the 18 songs Adams did play were incredible, so I suspect I'll be willing to roll the dice again if he comes around on a tour in the fall.
Set List
Please Do Not Let Me Go
Dear John
Let It Ride
The Sun Also Sets
Goodnight Rose
Night Birds
Blue Hotel
Starlight Diner
Two
Oh My God, Whatever, Etc.
Blue Sky Blues
Wildflowers
I Taught Myself How to Grow Old
Elizabeth, You Were Born to Play the Part
Carolina Rain
Peaceful Valley
Magnolia Mountain
Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard
Adams and his band, the Cardinals, took the stage around 8:30 (the show was scheduled to begin at 8:00). Wasting no more time, Adams offered a "good evening" to the crowd as he and the band settled onto their stools, and they struck into "Please Do Not Let Me Go," one of his finest bittersweet ballads, that showcased Adams' clear, impassioned tenor (all the more impressive given the theater's wonderful acoustics) and the Cardinals' impeccable musicianship.
Being an acoustic show, the set list favored slower material, mostly from his three 2005 releases and his new album, Easy Tiger, but Adams and the band performed each song with tireless precision and intensity. From the raw emotion of "The Sun Also Sets" to the tender melody of "Wildflowers," nearly every song from the evening was stunning. Even the five songs culled from 2005's spare and meandering 29 sounded fresh and compelling in their concise, reworked versions. The highlight of the evening was Adams' fiery rendition of "Peaceful Valley" on which the Cardinals nailed the multi-part a capella harmonies during the chorus.
For what would be the final song, Adams came to the front of the stage to sing "Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard," offering one last powerful performance. Adams gave a wave to the crowd after he finished the song and left the stage along with the band to the crowd's enthusiastic applause.
The houselights stayed down for over five minutes, and the audience continued cheering, anxious for an encore. There wasn't one, though, and the reaction of fans sitting in my vicinity ranged from satisfaction, to anger, to disbelief. As my wife and I made our way out of the theater, one college-age girl told us, "Don't go yet. He played 24 songs last night in Louisville. He's got to play an encore!" As much as we wanted to hear an encore ourselves, with the houselights up and "Rock the Casbah" playing, it was clear Adams was calling it a night. That girl may still be standing in the balcony as I type this.
Admittedly, the ending of the show was a bit peculiar. If the houselights had come up right after the band left the stage or if Adams had verbally bid a "goodnight," we still would've been disappointed there wasn't an encore--everyone wants more terrific music after all--but I think fewer people would've been annoyed.
With Ryan Adams' infamous erraticism, there's no telling why he didn't come back for an encore. Although he didn't say much during the show--well, nearly anything--he seemed in a good mood and he certainly poured himself into the performance. Several times during the show, he motioned to his sound guy to adjust the monitors, so maybe he had gotten perturbed about that and didn't figure the problem would ever be fixed to his satisfaction. Who knows? It could be he simply had decided ahead of time he wasn't playing an encore.
Still, even though I'm disappointed we missed out on an encore (I envy anyone who attended the Louisville show), the 18 songs Adams did play were incredible, so I suspect I'll be willing to roll the dice again if he comes around on a tour in the fall.
Set List
Please Do Not Let Me Go
Dear John
Let It Ride
The Sun Also Sets
Goodnight Rose
Night Birds
Blue Hotel
Starlight Diner
Two
Oh My God, Whatever, Etc.
Blue Sky Blues
Wildflowers
I Taught Myself How to Grow Old
Elizabeth, You Were Born to Play the Part
Carolina Rain
Peaceful Valley
Magnolia Mountain
Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard
This is a great review of the show, but I think you are too kind! I sat next to you and your wife at the show, and I was one of the angry ones after the show. I defended Ryan Adams to boyfriend to convince him to go to the show. "No, it won't be another drunken rampage." While I was right about that, I still ended up with egg on my face for defending Adams. While I don't expect loads of stage banter (I am there for the music of course), I yearned for the days when he was a drunken ass; at least he acknowleged there was an audience then. He was so mute, I was tempted to yell out a request for "Summer of '69." A simple "thank you" as he left the stage would have gone a long way with me. AND he never even introduced his band, The Cardinals, a huge faux pas in the music town of Memphis.
Even though it was a visually and musically stunning show, I'll save my thirty bucks next time!
Hey, good to speak with you again. I was less irritated about his lack of interaction and the peculiar ending after I read some reviews of past shows on the tour that indicated that's been the case for the bulk of the shows this tour. I thought, "Well, it's still somewhat annoying, but at least our show wasn't the exception." Since he's not always the most concise talker, maybe it was best he didn't say anything. Granted, a "thank you" and some band intros wouldn't have been too hard.
Had we gotten the out-of-his-head drunken idiot Adams, we would've heard plenty of banter but there's a good chance we'd have heard poorer music and less of it.
Have you heard anything about the on-sale date for the Wilco show? I think you said something about July 20th, right? Their website doesn't have any on-sale info yet, and it has the show slated for Snowden in Southaven, although I heard it may be moved to the GPAC.