Welcome Back Ryan!

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals
Gem Theatre, Detroit
June 20, 2007

It was pure pleasure to Ryan Adams live again, playing Detroit again for the first time in years. Like an old friend you've heard bad things about I didn't know what to expect but he and his current band, the Cardinals, put on a good, if mellow, show. (You know when you see the drum kit and there's no drum higher than a knee and there's no electric guitar in sight it's not gonna rock too hard.) They played 2 hours of mostly newer material with a few favorites given the Cardinals treatment sprinkled in. Ryan, newly sober, was in excellent voice. Except for some brief scampering when he was mocking a roadie creeping out on stage he stayed seated on his stool, pigeon toed like he stands. Though he seemed nervous at first with little or no patter between songs, he gradually warmed up to the enthusiastic crowd who seemed to know even the newest songs-a testament their loyalty and the Internet since the new CD, "Easy Tiger", doesn't come out until Tuesday. The nervousness was confirmed by an aquaintence's preshow conversation with the VP of label promotion who said this mini tour of small venues was designed to be a confidence booster since Ryan is inexperienced at sober live performance. (I only met the man once in an alley in Detroit but I can say he was 4 sheets, no, a whole linen closet to the wind that night.)

By the middle of the show he hit his stride, stopped fidgeting with his shades and came up with some spirited comebacks to the many hecklers and song requests. (Though no one said "Summer of 69"-thank goodness that phase is over.) My favorite was the whispered putdown to a particularly loud fan, "we have to pretend we're not friends now". My only quibble with the whole evening was song selection but that wasn't entirely unexpected. Unless it's a command performance you never get to hear everything you want. My favorites included "Goodnight Hollywood Blvd", "Winding Wheel", "Let It Ride" and the new single, "Two", which at first blush seems like it could stand with his bittersweet best.

Overall, I would say soberiety agrees with the man and the newly added dates I am eyeing hungrily (road trip!) seem to say others feel the same. Welcome back Ryan, I sure missed ya.