Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Ryan Adams drinks Diet Coke, remains coherent and amiable throughout show
The show on Saturday at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center was great. Long show with an intermission and a killer light show. When was the last time you went to a concert with a light show? He used a huge disco ball, a curtain of multi-colored stars, and well aimed directionals.
Lots of stuff from Cold Roses and Easy Tiger, plus a few Demolition and Heartbreaker chestnuts. Nothing acoustic, or at least not solo acoustic. The band was loud and proud the entire time with lots of extended guitar noodling and jaw-dropping harmonizing amongst the entire band. At one point, he went into a pretty funny mock-meltdown that included a stream of consciousness rant that involved the Dark Side of the Moon, Mick Fleetwood and more obscure references. Later, he led the crowd in 'Happy Birthday' to one of the guys in the band. Stellar show. The clip above is from the show, recorded by someone unknown.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I got to see him once in Austin. Phil Lesh got up and did a couple of songs with him. It was kind of a disappointing show in that he stopped for 45 minutes in the middle to deal with technical issues, then didn't do an encore. He was great when he played, but I was left feeling a little unsatisfied. I downloaded a show he did recently at Austin and it was smoking.
I like his new record. I wish he'd do something with Ethan Johns again. He's just an amazingly prolific songwriter (even if a large percentage of it is forgettable). I used to consider him kind of a guilty pleasure until Dave said he liked him. Has anyone ever heard the last Whiskeytown album, 'Pneumonia'? It's amazing.
Oh, and did I mention he's from this lovely little town where I work?
I like all of the Whiskeytown stuff pretty well, especially Pneumonia. I've seen RA twice now and the first show was more like what you described. Now that he (relatively) has his shit together, I think the shows at least are a lot better.
Post a Comment