Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

After the cancellation of his planned Stonehenge show due to safety reasons, Ryan Adams, with help from The Cardinals, is touring a few smaller venues instead; York being the smallest and most formal (we have seats!) along the way. I am interested to see Adams live, as I have read that he can come across as an arsehole, with inconsistent performances and pretty much acting like a f*cked up diva.

It’s not a good sign when the band are on half an hour late (the house staff have not been made aware of his schedule, and the doors have been open for ninety minutes, with no support act). The stage is particularly dark, with the odd patterned beam hitting the audience in the face now and again. Adams barely stands still, looking a little like he is needing the toilet at times. Not surprising with the amount of pop and water he drinks.



There is little in the way of banter, and apparently the band and Adams have no set list, and just bumble through the songs without telling us what’s coming up, or what we just heard. When the music does start though, the musicianship is amazing; so tight to say there are three guitars (well two and a pedal steel) playing such complicated layers of melodies. The vocal harmonies are spot on, but it’s Adams raspy but note perfect vocals that stand out from everything else. At times sounding like Neil Young, and at others Mark Lanagan, you would like to believe that the lad could be perfect and not conduct the strops we hear about.

But genius talents come at a price. Although now ‘clean’ it is clear that Adams likes to wind people up; I’m not saying intentionally but many a times members of The Cardinals have to tell him to shut up and start playing (since he begins many of the songs with a gentle guitar or piano riff), as he mutters things over the microphone about the castles and dungeons in York. The fact that he goes on and on about dragons (“watch out behind you!”) is a little worrying; I would like to think that this is shyness, but is this a common trait belonging to a performer of this level? There is a clever comment though; “You live in the original York, and we live in the New York!”

While The Cardinal’s Neal Casal is the main provider of vocals on his own ‘Freeway To The Canyon’, it’s Adams who sings the rest, backed by the band. The sound sways from rock to blues to country, with ‘One More Kiss Before I Go’ a real arm swinger. There is a funny moment when a lorry can be heard reversing outside, then when the music is about to start again a motorbike revs up. “Did someone on stage have something terrible to eat?!” Adams jokes.



Many of the tracks are from latest album ‘Easy Tiger’. ‘Halloween Head’ is a grinding, desperate rock song compared to the sad tones of ‘Off Broadway’, and ‘Goodnight Rose’ can only be described as a song illustrating complete chaos. I only recognise one song as an early collaboration between the group; the rousing ‘Games’, with the rest scattered about from Adam’s solo releases (‘Please Do Not Let Me Go’ (‘Love Is Hell’), ‘Shakedown on 9th Street’ (‘Heartbreaker’), the gorgeous ‘When Stars Go Blue’ (‘Gold’), ‘Cold Roses’ (‘Cold Roses’) and ‘Nightbirds’ (‘29’).

Between the crazy talk of dragons and the fight between frontman and band to hold on to some type of professionalism on stage, one audience member shouts “Get on with it”. Not a good move, as this pisses Adams right off “We’re playing to curfew, so kiss my ass!”

One song after this and Adams is off, probably for a cig break (after mentioning that although there is a smoking ban in place smoke machines are still allowed). It is close to curfew now, and (those of us following Adam’s example outside are unaware of his return to the stage) after a few more songs (like ‘Let It Ride’) Adams has left the building. After a little confusion, it becomes clear that there is no encore (or was that the encore?).

I thoroughly enjoyed the music, and with such ranges of emotion in each song, and so many albums (three releases in 2005 alone) to his name the guy is indeed a genius. I only hope his in-between banter improves and he can feel like engaging the crowd more, but if that in any way would interfere with his musical output, then leave it be.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.