I would consider myself a fairly big fan of Ryan Adams’ music, but I was always reluctant to go see one of his shows on account of his inconsistency as a live performer. I’ve read reviews that ranged from “sublime” to “absolute train wreck” and figured I’d save my cash for more dependable live acts. Recently Adams dropped Easy Tiger, which is what I consider to be one of his finer albums, and he also became sober. He was apparently headed for Gram Parsons-ville and decided to change his lifestyle, which is definitely a good thing. Anyways, word on the street was that his live performances had come full circle and I figured now was the time to see him in concert. It was a good decision.
There was no opening act and Adams and his backing band The Cardinals took the stage at about 8:05pm and did not stop playing for about 2.5 hours. The first set was well balanced between slower country-ish numbers and full on rock songs but the intensity level never wavered. Adams’ voice was absolutely stunning in just about every song and his backing band so tight and powerful that I didn’t want the songs to end. They never changed their instruments once and Adam’s played an electric guitar the entire night, until he sat behind the piano for a few solo songs in the first encore. Highlights for me included an epic version of “Magnolia Mountain” and a jaw dropping solo version of “Sylvia Plath”. Between songs Adams cracked up the crowd with some of the most random stage banter I’ve ever heard including a bit on Starbucks and a long bit on Bon Jovi and costume changes at Giants stadium??? The crowd ate everything up and the band came back out for 4 encores… 4!! The last encore came after the lights had gone up and the house music had started playing… people we’re heading out in the aisles!
All to say, it was a pretty memorable evening of amazing music. A sober Ryan Adams is an incredibly talented, engaging performer and I hope he stays that way. Go see him if you can.
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Check out the link below to listen to an MP3 of an acoustic version of “Mr. Philosopher,” a track from Ben Jelen’s new CD ex-sensitive.
“Mr. Philosopher” (acoustic) MP3:
Ben Jelen’s sophomore CD ex-sensitive is now available in stores through Linda Perry’s Custard label. Jelen is the first artist release for 2007 from Custard, home to multi-platinum selling “You’re Beautiful” singer James Blunt. Jelen recorded the tracks for the album with producer/label head Linda Perry whom also mixed the majority of the songs in addition to two mixes from famed producer Bill Bottrell (Shelby Lynne, Tom Petty, Rosanne Cash, Elton John). Ben recently played the Troo Music stage at Bonnaroo, the Virgin Festival and opened for Pete Yorn on his most recent tour.
Official site:
http://www.benjelen.com
MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/benjelen
