It’s no secret, that us here at the Schmarm love Ryan Adams and would basically give up each of our first borns to spend 5 minutes in his presence…but until then we’re lucky enough to have been able to catch him last Wednesday night at his sold out performance with backing band, The Cardinals at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
Now I’d seen Adams a couple times before, once last summer at the Hollywood Bowl with Willie Nelson and Neko case where he gave a great but far too short of a performance. The first time however, was in Portland, OR at Roseland Theater and it might still be the most torturous show I have ever been too. Adams was clearly high and being an acoustic sit down show with no one else to pick up the slack he fumbled through each song (while smoking an entire pack of cigarettes) for an hour and a half and then invited Grateful Dead alumni Phil Lesh on stage for an agonizing 20 minute jam that went nowhere.
So to say the least my hopes were a little mixed about this performance, but knowing that Adams had cleaned up and had been sober for quite some time I was anxious to see if that would indeed result in a great performance. I was not disappointed and in fact if anything, Adams and his Cardinals far exceeded any expectations I may have had…it was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to. UCLA’s Royce Hall is a gorgeous enough of a venue to make up for the fact that it’s all the way in West LA (Echo Park holla!) and the sound was nothing short of perfect. The first set of the night totaled 16 tracks that included Oasis cover “Wonderall”, a revved up version of “Shakedown on 9th Street”, fan favorite “Come Pick Me Up” and an improvised metal song “Sicophagus”.
After a brief 20 minute or so intermission, Adams took the stage alone and greeted his fans back to their seats with an “intermission song” that was the highlight of Adams humorous banter that night, where in this song he talks about someone getting “poop shy” when attempting to go to the bathroom during the break. Set two took full force when the Cardinals joined Adams for “Mockingbird” which was followed by a livelier rendition of “Dear Chicago”. Cardinal’s guitarist Neil Cassal took the spotlight for his own song “Freeway to the Canyon” and the Adams-centric audience ate it up. Other standouts of set two included “A Kiss Before I Go” and “Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard” before closing with a rock n rolled “Bartering Lines”.
So almost 3 hours since first sitting down a very happy audience begrudgingly tried for an “encore” before the house lights came on and we took the hint. With a catalog as vast as Adams, it’d be impossible to hear every song you would like to BUT Ryan Adams and the Cardinals still delivered a show that pleased everyone. Here’s hoping that all future tours they do are in this type of format.
Set List:
- Peaceful Valley
- Beautiful Sorta
- Rescue Blue
- There It Is
- Why Do They Leave
- Wonderwall
- Everybody Knows
- Elizabeth, You Were Born to Play That Part
- Shakedown on 9th Street
- Please Do Not Let Me Go
- Oh My God, Whatever, etc.
- Sicophagus
- Goodnight Rose
- Come Pick Me Up
- Oh My Sweet Sweet Carolina
- I See Monsters
- ****INTERMISSION****
- Intermission Song
- Mockingbird
- Dear Chicago
- Rip Off
- Freeway to the Canyon
- Off Broadway
- Kiss Before I Go
- Two
- Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard
- Easy Plateau
- Bartering Lines
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