PHOTOS: CHAD ELDER | We attended night 1 of 2 of Ryan Adams’ Los Angeles shows at the Wiltern—technically a hometown show for the New Yorker via North Carolinian who resides here in LA and set up his PaxAm music making shop at the famous Sunset Sound here in town.
I’ll take a few obligatory sentences to briefly touch on Ryan Adams’ prolific, and what some would call, tumultuous career. Adams has grown up as an artist and person in the public eye, lauded as the next big thing from a very early age and watched with scrutiny by the industry and media under a microscope through business battles, drug addiction, and personal and artistic struggles.
With his newest self-titled album, Adams has come to a point of zen where all the dots connect. Adams has become the Tom Petty of this generation, the triple threat—masterful songwriter, monster player, and master showman—and in my opinion made the record that Tom Petty should have. We’ll pause for blasphemy.
Ryan Adams has also been known for being unpredictable—some of his darker, personal demon-filled shows were either a disaster or incredible, and it seems it’s now that the fury, fire, and hot temper has been channeled into the music.
Ryan and company—a four piece that includes Mike Viola who regularly works with Adams at his PaxAm studio—launched into the first single and a rocker from the new self-titled record, “Give Me Something Good,” followed by a Cardinals song, and another rocker (and my personal favorite from the new record), “Stay With Me.”
The set evolved toward some of the more lower key, singer-songwriter compositions which are Adams’ staples—and fan favorites—including “Dirty Rain” (from Ashes & Fire) “New York, New York” (from Gold), and “When the Stars Go Blue” (which was a hit for Tim McGraw). Rare is it when a crowd (especially those at the bar) are silent and I think a true testament to the power of a great song when the assembled, with over 2,000 versions of stimulation around them, is completely silent and for a rare moment the collective of over 1,000+ souls takes the time to actually really…listen.
During “Lucky Now,” which Adams performed solo stage left under the wash of some brilliant lighting, every girl reached for her boyfriend to pull him closer to her and closer to the stage (clearly this was “their song”) and even the bartenders stood still.
I’m going to take a brief pause to talk a bit about the vibe—this show was brilliantly lit, and purposefully the band members’ faces were never fully illuminated. There was no star, they were a unit. There was also no flash photography allowed, so there were fewer phones in the air and more people experiencing the actual music—hence the hush over the crowd during some of the more stripped down songs. Something so simple, yet it made such a large impact.
Adams and cohorts later broke into some Grateful Dead-esque jams during “Mountain Magnolia” and “Cold Roses.” Clearly they’re fans of playing—and playing together—and took the time to take some looong liberties with songs. Adams covered Jenny Lewis’ “She’s Not Me,” a standout from her Voyager album which Adams produced, and was joined on stage by the songstress for a gorgeous version of “Oh My Sweet Carolina.”
Surprising technical problems during the show bore witness to the short-tempered Adams of old. The PA in the venue went out due to a processor failure which set Adams off into a bit of a tirade on the world’s reliance on all things “digital,” and that perhaps just sending an email may have been what caused the processor’s demise. Not an unfounded frustration.
Adams channeled that frustration into one of the band’s newer, punk laden songs, which the audience and Adams both knew still sounded less than stellar sans PA—causing Adams to abruptly end the show about 15 minutes early—clearly annoyed. The anti-climatic end dispersed nearly a third of the crowd, but Adams returned with Lewis by his side, harmonica on and acoustic guitar in hand, as the duo launched into possibly Ryan’s most heartbreaking song—and one of this gal’s all time favorite songs—“Come Pick Me Up.” The audience was silent aside from those whispering the lyrics and everyone melted…just a little. This is what feeling magic is like.
Although this is the logical place for the review to end, I want to touch on a bit of what separates the pros and the amateurs, because it’s a large gap.
pro·fes·sion·al | prəˈfeSH(ə)n(ə)l/
adjective
(of a person) engaged in a specified activity as one’s main paid occupation rather than as a pastime.
A blown PA is a huge issue. This means the music is not being amplified. Playing to 2,000 people paying over $50 per ticket and not being able to finish the show due to an equipment meltdown is not something that should happen at a venue of this size and stature. Returning to the stage and performing one of the most heartbreaking songs perhaps of the past 20 years actually made the audience forget about the issue. (I saw the Beastie Boys at the Greek here in LA and the power went out on Mix Master Mike, so the trio beat boxed the next few songs not missing a beat to where the audience forgot rather quickly that there was no music or beats accompanying those guys.)
These are the things that make the masters—professionals—shine, and it’s what you do and how you react to the speed bumps—with a great song—under any circumstance.
