pop culture, reviewed

Over the course of the last three days I have seen Ryan Adams and the Cardinals play the following songs.  Merry Christmas to me!

Monday:

Magnolia Mountain
Please Do Not Let Me Go
Dear Chicago
Peaceful Valley
Mockingbird
Tears of Gold
Nightbirds
Cold Roses
New York, New York
Arkham Asylum
Kiss Before I Go
Let it Ride
Bartering Lines >
To Be Young
Blue Hotel
Beautiful Sorta
The End>
Egyptology >
Wharf Rat >
Expressway to Your Skull
Shakedown on 9th Street >
I See Monsters

Tuesday:

What Sin
Nobody Girl
Harder Now That It’s Over
September
Meadowlake Street
Freeway to the Canyon
Trouble on Wheels
Easy Plateau
Firecracker
Goodnight Rose
Trains
Cherry Lane
Dear John
Stella Blue

Wednesday:  

Come Pick Me Up
When the Stars Go Blue
Oh My Sweet Carolina
Love is Hell
This is It
Afraid Not Scared
La Cienega Just Smiled
Hallelujah
Wish You Were Here
Judy Garland
Blue Sky Blues
Games
Winding Wheel
Willow Jane
29
Rescue Blues

 Monday night Ryan was goofy and adorable, in knee-high silver platform boots that made him about six feet tall.  (Those are high platforms, because he’s rather a small man usually.)  The setlist was wonderful, as you can see, but fairly predictable (save for “Bartering Lines,” which isn’t one of the most-played from Heartbreaker).  That’s not at all a criticism; it just meant that I was even more excited to see what would happen on Tuesday and Wednesday, since he had gotten a lot of the usuals out of the way early on. Monday’s highlights:  Seeing Ryan beam at Neal — I think Neal is a very, very good thing for the Cardinals and for Ryan personally — and hearing them perform the beautiful “Blue Hotel.”

Tuesday marked my thirteenth Ryan show and the first I’ve ever gone to see him by myself.  It was also the first time I had heard “Harder Now That It’s Over” since my very first Ryan show in 2001, so that was special.  It’s always a treat to hear “Cherry Lane.”  Highlight, though, was definitely Norah Jones’s duet on “Dear John” — gorgeous. 

By Wednesday I was convinced that it was going to be the best show I had ever seen.  I predicted several songs that they might play first — it never crossed my mind that they would play “Come Pick Me Up,” since Ryan said not three months ago that he would never play that song again, that he wasn’t that person anymore, etc.  Perhaps I should have known that when he started with it that he wasn’t in a good place on Wednesday night.  (Actually, it was pretty clear that something was off when he appeared with the opener, his ex-girlfriend Leona Naess, to sing her first song.  He stood there and barely sang maybe two lines, mostly looking at the floor.)  Anyway, he started with “Come Pick Me Up” and at the time I thought, oh, that crazy Ryan, always changing things up, giving the audience what they want… now I think it was not such an auspicious start.  The setlist, though, was incredible — he got three of the “hits” out of the way right off the bat, then started rocking with “Love is Hell” and “This Is It,” and then pulled out “Afraid Not Scared,” which he has only ever played live twice before.  The song choices just kept getting better and better, and then it just… stopped.  He quit playing at 10:40, a good half hour before he needed to.  The end.  Thanks a lot, Ryan.

I blame myself for the night’s sorry end because after hearing rare treats like “Afraid Not Scared,” “Hallelujah,” “Blue Sky Blues,” and “29,” mixed with favorites like “Come Pick Me Up, “Oh My Sweet Carolina,” and “La Cienega,” I had just texted Jake that it was “maybe the best setlist he has ever played.”  I totally jinxed everyone.  Sorry, guys.

So, I was pretty bummed on Wednesday that an evening of such awesome music ended so abruptly .  I was pretty mad at Ryan and pretty sad about it, but I’m over it now.  I’ve seen him fourteen times and I’ve been disappointed twice — that’s not terrible.  (And unlike the first time he was disappointing, when he was drunk, incoherent, belligerent, and not really playing well, this time the music was great — there just wasn’t enough of it to satisfy me.)  I know that had I seen a show of Wednesday’s quality from another band, I would have been impressed.  My expectations of Ryan, however, are significantly higher than my expectations of any other artist (except for Bruce Springsteen, maybe).  I can get over being let down… but Ryan needs to get over being let down by his audiences as well.  Apparently he was annoyed because people were shouting out song requests (note:  people!  don’t yell out song requests to him!).  As much as those assholes get on my nerves, they are an inevitability.  Until Wednesday, I believed that lately Ryan (sober now for seven months) had found, along with his sobriety, an ability to separate himself from the audience enough that he could soldier on even through a bad mood or an obnoxious crowd.  Apparently I was wrong.

However.  This does not change my devotion to his music or even my affection for  him personally (not that I know him personally, of course).  What I love about Ryan’s music is the brutal honesty, the astonishing vulnerability and openness.  He lays it all out there.  If the price I have to pay to get all that truth and beauty is a guy who is too sensitive to be professional all the time (read: a moody priss), fine.  I’m willing to accept the trade-off.  So be it.

And really… who can look at that cumulative setlist from all three nights at Town Hall and claim to be angry?  Not I.