At Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie.
As the most tenuous of all 'fans' of Ryan Adams, I have gradually started to enjoy his music, mostly after the consistent praise of Priest. His version of Wonderwall is a good song, but my affection for the original has kept it from being in my listening rotation. With "Two", I started to appreciate his voice, musical style and lyrics. So I decided to give him and his band, The Cardinals, a chance in concert. I wasn't disappointed. Click below for best show banter ever and a misplacement of concert Karma:
After buying my tickets early, I lucked into the 4th row of the center section(first misapplication of concert karma - misapplied because I am not a big enough fan to appreciate it). With no opener and a start time of 8:30, the band came out on time to a 2/3 full house (the 3rd deck was not used). Their stage configuration is indicative of Adams' insistence that they be considered as a band, not just Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. Their is no clear 'front man', and the band is positioned (and never moves) from a crescent formation. Have no doubt, though, who is in charge. Adams' significant charisma was on display all night through his strong and soulful voice and instrumentation, but mostly through the 20+ minutes of stage and crowd banter. He and the band engaged the audience more as a buddy at dinner than adoring fans, which was refreshing. Genuinely funny and self-aware, he and the band had the crowd (including me) in stitches most of the night.
The second misapplication of concert karma was the length of the set. After starting at 8:35, they played until 11:25 with only a 3 minute break before the first encore. With only a passing familiarity with the group's material, I still thoroughly enjoyed the show, and would be able to pick out about 10 that I would buy (I am still sorting through the setlist (see below)). I didn't care too much for the louder stuff, but love anything showcasing his voice and guitar playing. Bride and I were glad we went and left as fans. More pics below the setlist.
1. Cobwebs
2. Come Pick Me Up (electric w/ harmonica)
3. Everybody Knows
3. Wonderwall
4. Magick
5. Let It Ride
6. Desire
7. Fix It
9. Natural Ghost
10. Sun Also Sets
11. Goodnight Rose
12. Dear John
13. Crossed Out Name
14. Stars Go Blue
15. Sink Ships
16. La Cienega
17. Peaceful Valley
18. Cold Roses
19. Off Broadway
20. Shakedown
21. A Kiss Before I Go
22. The End
23. Bartering Lines
24. Rescue Blues
25. Stop
Encore
26. Freeway to the Canyon
27. Evergreen
28. Beautiful Sorta
Sunday, October 12, 2008
The Cardinals Concert - October 11, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Glad to hear you enjoyed this outing. I actually had a last second chance to catch him on Friday here, but he canceled the show due to the flu (as he had the first show on this tour), so you actually got the first peak. I don't recognize a number of these songs. With a new CD at the end of the month, I'm sure they're new (Cobweb, Magick, Everybody Knows (Unless this is a Leonard Cohen cover, in which case I'm still pretty jealous), Natural Ghost, etc.... I think I mentioned in my review that when I saw him at Cain's he did an opening bit by himself as an out-of-work comedian doing music to pay the bills. One of the funniest things I've ever heard.
Priest got me hooked on his music a few years back, but it wasn't until this year that I was able to see him in concert.
Both times he was in good form. The first time was at The Paramount in Seattle and was just a Cardinals show. He was sick then too. (I think this was about a week after the Cain's show). He stopped playing for about 10 minutes to shoot a YouTube video of the audience.
The second time was at WaMu in Seattle opening for Oasis. A much shorter set was played, but he was still very funny and played some new stuff off of Cardinology that comes out on the 28th.
I know a few people are leary to see him because of the jerk he used to be...but they're missing out on the great show that he's become.
On a side note you can link to
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=ryan%20adams%20AND%20collection%3Aetree
to download past concerts of Ryan Adams..and quite possibly find the concert you went to.
I really haven't paid attention to him since that song he did with Sting and Rod Stewart for that Three Musketeers movie.
I saw the cardinals open for oasis in Montreal and i must say that I really wanted to catch him as the headline because, with the british brothers, he was more subdued than I have heard him to be. That being said, the set was solid and I appreciate you appreciating him. Yea you!
Post a Comment