Ryan Adams at the London Palladium

 
Ryan Adams
Jason Isbell
London Palladium, 30 April 2012

Ryan Adams and I have had something of a chequered history. Like something out of one of his songs, I loved him but he just kept letting me down. In concert at least.
Before this show I had actually seen Ryan live nine times before and aside from the first couple of times, on the whole the shows were mostly memorable for Ryan being either moody, argumentative or completely out of it. Yet I kept going back to see him, so there must have been moments of magic there, certainly the songs were great even if Ryan was often completely contemptuous of his audience. But for some reason, three years after I last saw him (possibly the worst time ever too), hearing Ryan had dumped his awful band The Cardinals and changed his ways, I decided to give him another chance. And I'm really glad I did because this was a really wonderful show.

"Hello. Tonight I hope to make you really sad," Ryan quipped at the start of the show, but while the songs were often full of heartbreak, nothing could be further from the truth. Sitting on the stage that usually hosts the musical The Wizard Of Oz (like most shows, it takes a break on Sunday and Monday nights), I was disappointed to see the yellow brick road was nowhere in sight (I'm not even joking, when I saw Bon Iver play the Victoria Theatre it was amid Wicked's lavish set) but Ryan himself did acknowledge the unusual setting. After opening with a gorgeous Oh My Sweet Carolina, he dedicated the next song Ashes & Fire "to all the people who came to see The Wizard Of Oz and are confused as fuck right now." He had arrived early, he was playing beautifully and he was making genuinely funny jokes. What happened? Obviously his marriage to Mandy Moore and his timeout from the music industry had served him well. It was wonderful to see him connecting with his audience and playing his heart out for them. Maybe Ryan has finally grown up?

The rest of the show was equally as good with a set heavy on his latest album, Ashes & Fire (obviously) and  his solo debut, Heartbreaker, with a fine selection of songs from throughout his career. The crowd cheered and clapped when he adjourned to the piano and began the opening chords to Rescue Blues. "It's not that one" he quipped, but of course it was. The whole show he seemed content with pleasing the audience for once, with sweet and mournful renditions of My Winding Wheel, Please Do Not Let Me Go and Everybody Knows and more upbeat but still beautiful moments, such as If I Am A Stranger and English Girls Approximately, which saw him change from his comfy chair in the middle of the stage to the more rock and roll standing position at the side. He introduced Firecracker as a respite from all the sad tunes, "this ones just about a guy who wants to go out and touch some boobs," he joked. 

There was a gorgeous, slowed down piano version of New York, New York and a fantastic Let It Ride (one of my favourite ever Ryan songs) but the highlight of the night for me was the unexpected airing of not one but two Whiskeytown songs. At the start of Ryan's solo career he was always a bit disdainful of his former band (even though they were great) and of all the times I've seen him I've never seen him perform any of their songs but tonight we were treated to two of my favourites, 16 Days and Jacksonville Skyline, and both sounded classic. It was wonderful to hear them live at last.

There was one goofy Ryan moment, apparently also performed at his previous Palladium show but possibly with very different lyrics, a song called Mr. Cat, all about his pet back home, the only one he can discuss Starship bootlegs with and is "soft as fuck". Thankfully, it was sweet and funny and didn't outstay its welcome. He ended the show with probably his most famous song, Come Pick Me Up and was drawn back on stage, after much applause, for an amazing cover of Danzig's Mother, which ended up sounding almost as if Ryan wrote it himself rather than the dark lord of goth metal, Glenn Danzig.

All through the show Ryan was funny and charming, only berating the audience once when they bizarrely clapped him for simply moving his stuff across the stage, "Really?" he laughed. "Because if you like that I can walk around the stage all night." He even apologised when he was having trouble with his guitar, "I don't know what happened," he explained, "it's like when I was gone Sonic Youth came in and decided to record a jazz album on my guitar." Not only that, he also thanked the audience numerous times and ended the show by telling us it was an honour to play for us. It was such an amazing turnaround from when I last saw him. It was strange, wonderful and thrilling to see him in such a great mood and on top form, probably the best I've seen him since I first was wowed by him back in 2001 on the Gold tour. It made me fall in love with him and his music all over again. 

Also great was Ryan's friend and support act, Jason Isbell. The former Drive-By Trucker, came on stage to a nearly empty audience in a cool-looking hat but was still lovely, starting off with arguably his best song Brand New Kind Of Actress. I felt bad for him that more people hadn't turned up in time to see his set (a lot were in the foyer drinking) but he didn't let that deter him, playing a first-rate set, joking with the audience and telling stories behind some of his songs. One of the best was a song written for his father as a birthday present filled with all the advice he had ever given him, another he called "a country song", the great Cigarettes And Wine, but most of his songs sounded just as beautifully country and overall he was almost as good as the headliner. I've seen Jason live before with his band The 400 Unit, but seeing him acoustic made me realise what a strong singer he is and a top guitarist too. He definitely was worth turning up early for, believe me.