Right On Ryan

Ryan Adams rocks hard. Over the weekend Nate came down from Whidbey. Saturday we had a great breakfast at Sunlight Cafe with our buddy Nolan, and his Seattle friends, then spent the afternoon relaxing. Come evening we headed downtown to the Paramount Theatre for the concert. I’d listened to Ryan Adams in high school and recently rediscovered him when I moved out here and Nate played hi new cd. Listening back through the older cds of his that I had made me realize what a strong and prolific songwriter that man is. I also got a hold of a couple of his recent live shows and was impressed by how tight his band sounded.

Cut to the chase, Ryan put on the best live show I have ever seen at a large-sit-down-theater venue. His set list was incredible, each song impeccably picked from a large catalog of work. The range of styles he covered was staggering, from country to rock to soft piano ballads to ambient noise. Over the course of 3 hours he covered a vast amount of tonal and emotional terrain. His stage presence was strange, provocative, and highly entertaining. At one point he said “I like sharing. I think it humanizes the show. People who play music are dorks too, and this stage is only five feet tall.” Refreshing words in an age of over inflated egos. Good music played well and an openness with your audience is bound to lead to awesome live shows, and despite his eccentricities Ryan Adams seems to have figured this out.

A highlight of the night came about three-quarters of the way through the night when Ryan stopped the music and requested that the house lights be turned on. Then he asked the audience to help him make a movie that he planned to post on YouTube. We were instructed to “stand like zombies then raise your hands and make some kind of cool sign…like raise your arms over your head and make an eyeball shape. Then, in total monotone, say ‘Cardinal Powers Activate,’” which in the video is edited to look like the crowd is conjuring the band from a previously empty stage. True to his word Ryan posted the video the next day. It was a riot to watch. A couple of crowd members complained that the interaction was cutting into prime music time, but I dug it. I was impressed to see Ryan jump out of his rock star role and engage his audience so directly in pursuit of a creative collaborative goal.

The man put it best when he said “There was a day and an age when you just went for an entire evening to see the band that you like.” Right on Ryan.