Double Dose of Frustrating Brilliance

It’s time for a review of the 2 Ryan Adams shows I went to over the weekend. This is as much for my own documentation as it is to let you, Gentle Viewers, know how they were.

Excitement mixed with frustration is the best way to describe both nights. There were moments of sheer beauty and candid brilliance, but one had to be very patient for these moments, for they happened so sporadically.

First was Seattle, at the Moore Theatre. It’s a fairly large old concert hall, with a floor filled with chairs, and two balconies about, reaching very high. We were only in the first balcony but the piano and chair with guitar seemed small. But I liked the ambience and mis-en-scene of the place, which felt like I was about to a watch an opera, or a one-man play with very limited props.

I had heard of opener Jesse Malin, before, but only because I know he was friends with and had his first album produced by Ryan. Well, that and LeAnne, Aaron, and I saw him back when he fronted a punk band, DGeneration, which opened for The Offspring and Living End. Back then he was a snotty punk upstart whom howled fiercely with the whole microphone stuffed into his mouth. But now he strode upon stage confidently, strapped with an acoustic guitar and blasted his way through an energetic set of about 6 or 7 folk/punk songs with humorous anecdotes about his vegetarianism and other things. I also loved the song in his set where he challenged the usually apathetic Seattle crowd to clap along to his song “Ridin’ on the Subway” by saying, “Let’s see how many of you are too fucking indie to clap your hands!” Surprisingly, the whole place clapped beginning to end much to his delight. The highlight of his performance was his cover of The Flaming Lips’ song “Yoshimi Vs. The Pink Robots.” It’s so satisfying when people cover brilliant songs by contemporary artists.

Shortly after Ryan came shuffling out of the dark, lit cigarette in his mouth, bottle of wine in his hand. After a moment or two of settling in he sat at the piano and played the last track off of Heartbreaker, “Sweet Lil’ Gal,” followed by “Call Me On Your Way Back Home” and one of the standouts on Love Is Hell, “Please Do Not Let Me Go.”

The night was filled with songs of lost love and remorse, almost weaving into a pattern or theme, as I’m sure Ryan intended, or at least what was chiefly on his mind. New songs included “Blue Hotel,” “Two” and “Don’t Get Sentimental On Me.”

However, the concert did not flow as smoothly as the listing of songs in this review. Between almost every song there was around 5 minutes of shuffling around, talking to himself, talking to people offstage, and bantering with the audience. Some which was funny, but some of which was just plain tedious. He even tried to play “La Cienga Just Smiled” and forgot the words and had to be reminded by an audience member in front. One could really tell, even from far away in the balcony just how nervous he was. In the last quarter of the show he even walked offstage, saying he had to get a shot of cortisone for his wrist so he could continue the show. At this point some people around me became weary of all the pauses and delays and started getting up and walking out. Ouch. As frustrated as I could get and I would never walk out on a show, or even a movie for that matter. I paid good money for it, and I’m going to see it through, for good or for bad.

Overall, it was a worthwhile performance. The moments when he concentrated were pure brilliance and worth every penny of admission. Afterwards I thought to myself, “This was just first-night jitters, everything will be go smoothly tomorrow night.” Afterall, that’s how it went last summer when I saw him. He was quiet and focused in Houston, and in Austin he relaxed and put on a romping performance. Little did I know how inaccurate my hopes would become…

By the time we got back to Portland there was just enough time to return the rental car on time. The place was downtown so after dropping off the car we walked down to the Roseland to see if there was already a line. And there was. So, we figured with little else to do with not much money and no transportation, sure, why not wait. Kim went to the ATM and to Powell’s Books to get some books to study for her exams. TWICE while she was gone Ryan walked by with a tall lady with orange-ish-yellow hair looking spacey and not paying much attention to the crowd already waiting outside to see him. Time moved by slowly.

At 7 they let us in, and much to our excitement, we got FRONT ROW SEATS!! It was very exciting sitting directly up front, for I have done it so rarely in my entire extensive concert going. We chatted a bit with the people around us, finding out that most of the people up front where pretty big fans, so that was comforting. One lady even got my email and is going to send me pics from the show! Very nice of her. One guy was pretty nice to talk to, and then left to go have some drinks at the bar.

8 on the dot and Jesse comes out and treats us to almost the same set as last night, but with different stories about each song, and the inclusion of a new song, “Little Star.” I enjoy his music more and more with each listen. The guy whom was nice and polite but excited before the show had become drunk before Jesse came on (and perhaps took who knows what in the bathroom) because he had become a loud, obnoxious fan-monster, shouting song titles and lame comments of praise between every song, as loud as he could, in addition to conversation VERY loudly with his wife during the songs. But Jesse played another great set nonetheless.

We waited an even longer amount of time before Ryan appeared on stage, dressed more casually than the night before, but a bit more off-kilter (even admitting at one point that he was really high). When he finally started he fumbled through pretty much the same set as the night before, yet leaving out standouts from the night before including “A Kiss Before I Go” and “Nightbirds” but did get the new half-baked song “Everything Dies” and learn that the song “Blue Hotel” was written for Willie Nelson for the new album they collaborated on, which is very exciting.

The pauses and fumbling were even more frustrating than the night before, and went on for even longer. The audience didn’t help matters either, screaming out song titles throughout the whole set, even after Ryan made a remark about it, saying he didn’t appreciate it. Some people just don’t get, especially the fucked up dude next to Kim, who kept screaming for songs up until the end of the show. Women in the audience were just as bad too, yelling things like, “You’re So Hot Ryan!” and other inane shit. All of this caused Ryan to mumble to himself and walk off the stage and talk to people behind the scenes about “breaking the fourth wall” all sardonically and shit. ARGH. Neither him nor the audience really understood it was a vicious cycle. He acts unprofessional and unprepared, then the audience isn’t going to act professional either and they will continually tear each other down. But despite this you could really tell he loved playing in Portland and the Roseland.

The highlights of the evening came with surprise guest-appearances, which kept Ryan focused on the task at hand, because a when you’re playing with someone else, it’s not good to break the rhythm to talk and walk around and shit. Jesse came out and they performed “Solitaire” together, which was fantastic. Their voices really go together well, and I would really enjoy hearing a full-on collaboration between the two in the future, maybe like Jack White and Brendan Benson of The Raconteurs.

The real surprise was when he called to Phil from the side and asked if he wanted to come play, and Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh came out and jammed with Ryan for what seemed like a long time, doing “Stella Blues,” “Wharf Rat,” and closing the night with “Magnolia Mountain.” After a while they really locked in and gave a stellar performance and Phil provided some wonderful backing vocals to the songs. I don’t know if the whole audience really realized what was going, but those that did were ecstatic about it. This happened last year when I saw him in Austin, Phil came out then and played “Wharf Rat” with Ryan on that occasion too. This acoustic one was much more intimate and enjoyable. It was a magnificent way to close the set, and redeemed the more or less poor concert that had been taking place previously.

So overall, it was an interesting experience seeing solo acoustic Ryan. I guess I wasn’t fully prepared for his onstage behavior, since when I saw him with the Cardinals he seemed so much more focused. It makes me think that it really helps him as a live performer to be playing with other people, because it keeps him concentrating and at top quality.

But would I go see him again? In a heartbeat. He’s one of the greatest songwriters of our generation, and I think time will prove me right.