RYAN ADAMS @ The Cedar Cultural Center, June 18th, 2007

Who knew Ryan Adams liked Pizza Combos so much? The 450 lucky folks who were able to get tickets to Ryan’s sold out show at the Cedar learned that and much more from an absolutely superb show last evening, by far his most focused, consistent show in Minneapolis in years. His recent sobriety has been well documented, but that lifestyle change certainly has improved his voice, which has never sounded better. The lyrics were clearly delivered with the type of feeling and sentimentality that the songs deserve, and the show was an honest portrayal of the type of songwriting genius that Ryan possesses, as opposed to the ramshackle shows he has played here over the years, where the crowd only gets a glimpse of his talent. The Cardinals were also in fine, albeit stripped down form, with the band playing essentially an acoustic backup to Ryan’s vocals. Due to a recent 'skateboarding accident', Ryan is not playing guitar on this tour (just wearing dark sunglasses, even though the stage was nearly black), so it was up to the Cardinals to provide the musical accompaniment to his remarkable songs. With the band handling slide guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, drum and piano duties, Ryan was able to focus on his singing and lyrics, and for me, that was the key aspect of the show. The vocals and lyrics were the focal point, which added to the sentiment of his already emotional songs. The new songs off Easy Tiger, due for release on June 26th, were sublime, and were very well received by the capacity crowd who knew that seeing Ryan in this intimate setting was quite momentous. The setlist was a nice mixture of new and old, with 'Dear John' ‘Nightbirds’ ‘Hollywood Blvd.’ and ‘I See Monsters’ as standout ‘oldies,’ while new tracks ‘Goodnight Rose’ ‘Oh My God, Whatever, Etc…’ and the breathtaking ‘I Taught Myself How To Grow Old,’ gave warning that the new album just might be Ryan’s best yet. With any Ryan Adams show, however, it’s not all about the music. And last night was no exception, although Ryan’s comedic bits added to the show, as opposed to being unnecessarily distracting. Apparently Ryan had quite an ‘intense’ experience with Pizza Combos on the flight to Minneapolis, claiming that the walk from the backstage area was so long that he would need another bag of Combos just to make it back there, so instead of an official encore, the band just stood up and walked around the stage a little bit, and we were ‘supposed to cheer like Danzig just walked onstage’ and they would start playing their ‘encore.’ Also, cries of DJ Reggie (Ryan’s hip-hop online alter-ego) from the crowd was met with ‘Oh snap, that’s like Beetlejuice-don’t say that three times or bad things might happen.’ And when someone in the crowd thanked him for coming to Minneapolis, he replied ‘You couldn’t keep me away, but there were times when you probably should have.’ He definitely played up his ‘adventurous’ performances from the past, joking after a band member made a lewd joke that ‘he’s worked really hard creating this professional personae and he’s ruining his image.’ But all in all it was a majestic, composed, heartfelt performance from one of the truly great songwriters of this, or any, generation. I was truly lucky to be there.

Erik T.

SETLIST:

Goodnight Rose
Dear John
Oh My God, Whatever, Etc...
Halloween Head
Nightbirds
My Winding Wheel
The Sun Also Sets
Let It Ride
Blue Hotel
How Do You Keep Love Alive?
Carolina Rain
Rip Off
Goodnight, Hollywood Blvd.
I Taught Myself How To Grow Old
Elizabeth, You Were Born To Play That Part
Two
Starlite Diner

Encore:
I See Monsters