When one of your favorite artist goes on tour after self-imposed multi-year sabbatical, tendency is to write a glowing review. As I sit down to write this, I'm not sure how it's going to turn out.
Thursday night's Ryan Adams show at The Orpheum in Boston wasn't without it's struggles, both engineering and atomosphere related, but one thing that it did showcase perfectly was the growth of an artist a human being.
There's no doubt that Adams was pushing the buttons of the locals to begin with by not allowing drinks into the auditorium seats and the press by not allowing anyone to take pictures (hence the fantastic illustration above by Jeffrey H. Hayes) but whatever, it's Ryan Adams, one of the greatests singer-songwriters of our generation according to many. Apparently the audience felt the same way, as it was hard to spot an empty seat in the house. Once everyone was seated, that is.
Of course, it wouldn't be a Ryan Adams show without a bit of attitude and it was the fact that not everyone was seated and quiet for the first number that gave him his first chance to let off a little passive-agressive steam. Who it was aimed at, though, we can't be sure. Noting that the first five songs of a show are the toughest to pull off, and the fact that he felt some people may not have heard the whole the opening number ("Oh My Sweet Carolina") because of all the noise at the back, he chose to repeat his first song again as his sixth. Nice of him to take some of the blame off of the audience, as there were also the beginnings of some sound engineering issues during those first five numbers. Perhaps he was simply hoping to move past it all by starting the show over.
It was only a few songs later, however, when things intesified. Serious feedback started to become an issue during "Everybody Knows" and the beginning of "Firecracker," prompting the one-man show to make a few trips to the side of the stage to try and get a handle on things. At this point, the frustration was purely focused on the sound crew.
Maybe the angst was catchy, since it was around this point I really wished musical audiences at shows with assigned seating would take a cue from hockey fans. Really, wait for a break in the show. Unless you're going to pee your pants, there's really no reason to stand up and cause a mini-wave in the audience in the middle of a song. Ok, rant over.
Thankfully, getting frustrated with the Bostonian audience wasn't enough to stop Ryan from paying tribute to the local music scene. He showed his reverence by listing off some of the "coolest bands ever" before launching into piano-only version of the Galaxy 500 classic, Blue Thunder. If it weren't for some "science fiction chords," we may have heard some Dinosaur Jr. that night as well. Damn it.
After completing a spectacular one and half hour set, Adams then took a short break before kicking off his encore with hard rock fav "Round and Round" by RATT. A solo acoustic version of the song that was so good, even hard core RATT fans have been blown away by it. After patiently prodding the audience to stop being themselves, he closed out the show with the trio of "Houses on the Hill," "When Will You Come Back Home," and personal favorite "16 Days." My night was completely complete.
So it may not be a glowing review, but maybe it's because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and it never did. As he himself admitted, if all this had happened six years ago or so, he probably would've kicked a hole in a speaker, yelled at the audience and just walked off stage. Part of me probably wanted that to happen. As this evening showed, Ryan has reached a new level when it comes to being tolerant. If what you're looking for is an evening of top-notch acoustic entertainment from a singer-songwriter at the top of the genre, you best find a way to get to one of his remaining tour dates.
Set List:
Oh My Sweet Carolina
Ashes & Fire
If I Am A Stranger
Dirty Rain
My Winding Wheel
Oh My Sweet Carolina (in case you missed the first one... )
Sylvia Plath
Invisible Riverside
Everybody Knows
Firecracker
Let it Ride
Dear Chicago
Blue Thunder (Galaxie 500 cover)
Chains of Love
Please Do Not Let Me Go
Lucky Now
Two
Crossed-Out Name
New York, New York
Avenues
Come Pick Me Up
Encore:
Round and Round (RATT cover)
Houses on the Hill
When Will You Come Back Home
16 Days
