Background Noise: Ryan Adams and the Cardinals @ The Shubert
February 28, 2009
Adams and the Cardinals (photo from Frontier Touring)
And now for something a little different. If you have been following my contributions to the site in the past two months you will have noted I have been doing mostly album reviews. I was racking my brain for something current to review and honestly I had nothing. Instead of doing yet another review of an album that has been out for years (actually the one I was going to do would have put us in decades territory) I decided to switch things up and do a live show review, a week after I saw the show.
Last Friday I saw Ryan Adams and the Cardinals at the beautiful Shubert Theater in scenic New Haven, CT. I have seen the band a couple of times now and know plenty of others who have seen them at different shows. I’ve scoured archive.org for great shows and hit fan sites for torrents of videos and rare unreleased EPs (it’s Adams the man is constantly recording and often releasing it.) In my travels I have learned one thing for certain. It’s a hit or miss. Live, albums, and rare stuff with Adams you never know what you will get. I have seen shows that were quiet intimate affairs to rocking arena-esque gigs. His shows are as schizophrenic as his personality.
So I’m always a little weary to go see him. This one being New Haven meant no traveling really. I also tend to enjoy the city and the company I was going with. So I went and we were lucky to catch a good show. Let me discuss the music first.
“I See Monsters” opened the show. It’s a favorite of mine. On “Love Is Hell” the song is quiet and contemplative. I’m always a little taken back to see it as an opener due to its chillness. This show was no different. But as the song progressed so did the volume and pure aggression. By the end it was loud and fun. I was pretty sure I was in for a great night. The next highlight for me was “Let It Ride.” Ryan Adams had me with “Heartbreaker” but it was “Cold Roses” and the Cardinals that really won me over. This song is one of the many highlights of that album. It’s also a song I have never heard the same twice. That’s a good thing and this version had a nice steady beat and some serious pedal steel. I dug it and it was just what I was in the mood for.
Just before The Cardinals released “Jacksonville ” a man named Neal Casal took over guitar duties from Adams studio guitarist. The guy is a singer/songwriter and isn’t much different from Adams. He’s got a pretty okay catalogue of his own material and they aren’t afraid to bust it out. I always look forward to a Neal song so I was pretty excited to get two. I recommend “Freeway to the Canyon” for a good time. Ryan really comes through on guitar on this track and its cool to see him step out of the limelight.
For me the show kind of fell off the tracks a little towards the end. I like “Rescue Blues” and was pumped to hear it. I’ve always caught it with Ryan on piano and the band quietly playing along. This time Ryan stepped off guitar and just sang. He also yelled at the sound guy between verses. It was strange. Graboff, the pedal steelist, stepped up on guitar for this song and it honestly wasn’t bad, it was just quite different. “La Cienga Just Smiled” came shortly after and after a seemingly good start Ryan started screaming off stage and made loud sound come out of his guitar then walked off. The band tried to cover but gave up and Neal started apologizing. Then Adams came out and after a little too much banter the song was restarted.
From here on out the songs got jammier. With The Cardinals as your backing band this is a good thing. “Goodnight Rose” and “Easy Plateu” both had interesting breakdowns. The best part of all this was the transition from Easy to “Bartering Lines.” Ever since I saw the band in Boston back in September I have been looking for good live versions of this song. The Cardinals really step it up and change the song. The end result is beautiful. I’ll post a video below.
You can’t talk about a Ryan Adams show without mentioning the crowd interaction. I have never been to a show where he ignored the crowd or limited interaction with it. Jeff Tweedy balances this quite well, Adams does not. There were arguements, put downs, and lots of what did he say to other band members. While most of the interactions are funny when you are there and entertaining while he consistently tunes his shit, it gets old on the audience tapes. Skip these if you give the show a spin.
And if you want to hear the show just go to the link at the bottom of the article. One thing Ryan Adams is really cool about is audience taping. Nearly every show has a really solid sounding bootleg on archive.org (a great source for legal music if you didn’t know). A lot of these shows are what I believe to be called matrix recordings. Correct me if I’m wrong but that’s a mix of some dudes (never seen a lady taper) audience recording and the soundboard. Yes, Adams lets folks plug right into the board. The product is a lot of really really good sounding bootlegs. This particular show will be linked to at the very bottom of this post. Safari 4 and WordPress aren’t getting along to well so a nice embedded link isn’t happening.
Also in a week I will be going down to Virginia to see Phish. Expect an early Background Noise followed by a live report from Hampton, VA where the reunion is goin down.
I, Shaun
A little bit about myself too. I’m Shaun. I’ve been listening to music for most of my life but it took a really tramatic event to really push me into sound. Since about my junior year of high school I have been immersing myself in music and by the time I left college I was listening to jazz, bluegrass, rock, and really just whatever I could get my hands on. I love hearing about new music and discussing what I do like with everyone else. For a year I ran the music section of a book store and it really helped expose me to new stuff. It was by far the best job I have ever and will ever have.
Going to shows is what keeps me energized. If I go too long without seeing music live I feel like I start having withdrawls. I’ve seen hundreds of shows throughout the east coast and seen hundreds of bands ranging from household names like the Rolling Stones and U2 to local stuff like Quark and No Banjo. I love it all and listen to everything with the same approach. If it makes me smile and dance it’s good.
If you like what I’m selling I encourage you to keep reading. I don’t think its much of a stretch to say each of the writers here shares the same philosophy of music that I do. You can follow this blog on various social networking sites like Facebook. You can also follow me personally on twitter, which I will link to below. Stay classy internets.
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Ryan Adams and the Cardinals @ The Shubert
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