Ryan Adams

Date:  Monday 20th June 2011

Venue:  Barbican

This gig was billed as 'Ryan Adams: an acoustic performance', words which struck fear into my heart.  The last time I saw a Ryan Adams acoustic show was back in 2006 at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.  We made the trip back up to P's hometown especially for the show, thinking it would be great to see him in this special venue even if it entailed a whole weekend on a National Express coach to get there and back.  To say it wasn't worth it was an understatement.  Adams was so drunk he could barely finish a single song, his self indulgent mid-half song ramblings only punctuated by lunges at his glass of red wine.  Despite spending so long getting there, we left before the end.  I think not long after this he renounced the drugs and booze, and we did see him subsequently for a great show at Brixton Academy with the Cardinals, but there remained the chance that it was only playing with a full band that kept the show on track.

Still, plenty of time (and a 2 year career break from the sometimes too-prolific Adams) has passed since then, though Twitter based rumours that he played the whole of Dark Side of the Moon earlier on the tour just shows people are prepared to believe anything.  The feedback from the tour has generally been amazing though, so it seems that sobriety suits him.

Jesse Malin, a friend of Ryan's who was  tipped as the next big singer-songwriter thing quite a few years back, provided the support.  He began very promptly at 7.30 so we missed the start, but as I wasn't totally won over by his singer-on-the-road type tales I wasn't that disappointed.  The songs were mainly off last year's Love It To Life and were perfectly serviceable, but with a fair bit of lyrical cheese thrown in ("Lowlife in a High Rise" being one example).  Malin might be mates with Adams and Springsteen but he unfortunately falls quite a long way short in such company.

No photos of tonight's show were allowed, as per a request from Ryan himself, so I've nothing to illustrate this post.  People were actually taking pictures with shameless abandon by the end, but as we were sitting fairly far back the lack of camera wasn't too upsetting.  Anyway, the stage was sparse, with just a chair, piano, guitar and songbook, waiting for Ryan to choose what to play.  Opener "To Be Young" immediately blew all my worries about tonight out of the window, and was followed by such a beautiful version of "Oh My Sweet Carolina" I thought my heart might actually stop.  Another highlight for me was "Firecracker", and by this point the audience was totally in the palm of his hand.  Adams did have a little bit of fun with this, chastising the crowd for clapping and cheering after the first bar of the next song ("It could be anything - you don't even know.  Actually it's a new song" - cue breaking into faux-metal droning).  Really it was "Winding Wheel", another great moment.  Probably the high point for me was a heartbreakingly slow version of "New York New York" on the piano, with all the bombast stripped away to reveal a fragile and tender love song.  Was that a tear in the corner of my eye?!  Because material from Heartbreaker and Gold came near the beginning of the set, I personally preferred this half of the evening (and I would have been waiting in vain to hear anything off Jacksonville City Nights - am I the only person who thinks this is a brilliant record..?). However the selection of songs from Demolition and Love Is Hell meant the whole of tonight was focused on the earlier part of his career, as befits an acoustic performance, and all the songs were well received.

Ryan made a few comments about the strong tea in his mug and how the drug references of songs like "Two" were being sung firmly in the past tense.  Good luck to him - tonight proves beyond all doubt that he doesn't need any of it, and it seemed clear to everyone just why it was worth waiting for him to turn himself around.

Just one note of criticism - £10 for a new 7 inch single?!  Even I couldn't be persuaded to take a punt on that.

Set list:

1. To Be Young
2. Oh My Sweet Carolina
3. Damn, Sam
4. Everybody Knows
5. If I Am a Stranger
6. Firecracker
7. My Winding Wheel
8. Invisible Riverside
9. New York, New York (piano)
10. Ashes and Fire
11. Let it Ride
12. Desire
13. Rescue Blues (piano)
14. English Girls Approximately
15. Blue Hotel
16. AMY
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17. 16 Days
18. Two
19. This House is Not for Sale
20. Stop (piano)