Saturday, January 24, 2004

Ryan Adams

Liverpool Royal Court Theatre, 22nd January 2004

Set List: Luminol; So Alive; 1974; Note to Self: Don’t Die; Do Miss America; This is it; Love is Hell; Anybody Wanna Take Me Home? Shallow; To be young (is to be sad, is to be high); Please Don’t Let Me Go; I See Monsters; La Cienega just smiled; New York City Cops; Last Nite; Oh My Sweet Carolina; New York, New York; Come Pick Me Up; Sylvia Plath; My Blue Manhattan; Shadowlands.

A gig scheduled on a cold mid-week in that post-Christmas lull that is known as January is certainly not one that will grab the punters off the street. This is though was not any other gig – tonight is Ryan Adams - on a brief sojourn across the country promoting three records.

Well one in truth – Rock n Roll, the proper album. Love is Hell – the record that met with record company horror on completion and has so far been released as two Ep’s on import only.

Ryan Adams is no ordinary artist and this was certainly no ordinary gig. This was shown when Adams appeared as a drummer halfway through support act Jesse Mallin’s set.

Mallin and Adams both contemporaries of the New York music scene and members of the side project The Finger – yet another Adams release in 2003. Jesse Mallin’s set was a perfect introduction to Ryan Adams, which soon followed.

The early part of Ryan Adam’s set drew heavily from the Rock n Roll album and used the full band to full effect. The album seemed to make more sense live, than it does on record. A record that was born of frustration and sombre in tone is a perfect way for Adams to let loose some of the demons within on this tour.

Adams a prolific artist and usually engaging stage presence was in fairly subdued mood for the first part of the proceedings – interaction with the audience was minimal, as he rattled through the best bits of the new album.

He ended the first part of the set with To Be Young (is to be sad, is to be high) from Heartbreaker.

After a short break Adams came back refreshed; in many senses of the word accompanied with a guitar. He played a selection of his vast body of work – interspersed with light-hearted versions of The Stroke’s New York City Cops and Last Nite.

The band came back for New York, New York - a song that has added significance in that the video was filmed using The Twin Towers as the backdrop in the week before September 11th.

In his refreshed state, Adams clamoured up on the speaker stack at the right to serenade a poor spectator, unbeknown to Adams, who had been moved when a impressively inebriated punter had projectile vomited all over her in her seat in the stalls.

The band reconvened for Shadowlands with Adams now safely down from the teetering speaker stack was moving perilously close to the front of the Royal Court’s stage. To the audience’s horror Ryan Adams fell into the pit in front of the stage that separates the audience and performers.

An almighty thud followed by Adams heroically completing the lyrics to the song. The band played on waiting for Adams to return. Helped up by the attendant security guards, Adams clutching his arm ran from the stage in obvious discomfort. The band completed the song and then left the stage. Drummer Johnny T shouted from the stage ‘that’ll be the last gig for a while’. It transpires that Ryan Adams has broken his arm and Johnny T’s prophecy is an apt one.

This was certainly a memorable gig - what with the sideshows involving the crowd. (I never had time to mention the fight that went off in the crowd tonight also). Despite Ryan Adams sombre nature, musically the gig was top notch too.

It’s hard to sum tonight’s events really, maybe just to say get well soon Ryan and I’ll certainly be at the front of the queue when the next tour’s tickets go on sale.

Love with Arthur Lee

Friday 24th January 2004, Liverpool Academy

The current vogue is for nostalgia tours for bands trying to eek out one last big payday before Butlins and summer season beckons, bands who meant nothing in the first place trading on perceived former glories. You can see it now – summer 2010 - Blue, Busted and Blink 182. Performing on Hear and Now 2010.

This is certainly not the case with Love who are touring an album that was released thirty years ago and still sounding fresher and more interesting than anything that is currently being released. It’s payback time for Arthur Lee whose life can certainly be described to be colourful, to say the least.

Arthur Lee released a couple of years ago after a twelve year stretch in prison, having fallen foul of the three strikes and you are out rule, Lee is certainly is in the mood to make up for lost time.

Though not strictly Love - Arthur Lee’s current incarnation backed ably by the band Baby Lemonade are about fulfilling the legendary status of Arthur Lee.

It could be argued that Liverpool is Lee’s spiritual home and tonight’s audience was certainly a who’s who of the Liverpool music scene – both new and old. It is one of the requirements in this cities musicians apart the obvious albums to own a copy of ‘Forever Changes’.

The band was greeted by a rapturous reception by the audience much to the delight of Lee. The night started off with a storming version of ‘Little Red Book’ and a few other tunes warming up to the main part of the show. Love were soon down by a string quartet for the start of the run through of ‘Forever Changes’ from start to finish.

The familiar tones of ‘Alone Again or’ written by Brian McLean (sadly no longer with us) prompted the crowd to acknowledge their appreciation. They continued to do so at every change of tempo during the song. The band could have gone of there and the ticket price would have been more than covered.

Thankfully they didn’t and the rest of ‘Forever Changes’ was brilliantly played by the musicians on stage and received by the Liverpool crowd. ‘A House is not a motel’ was superbly executed and was given a fresh impetus by the band. Though liberties weren’t taken with the music, the band did add their own stamp on the songs. Even the string quartet seemed to be enjoying the songs as much as the audience.

The later section of the gig saw other Love albums showcased – songs such as ‘signed DC’, ‘My Flash On You’ and ‘She Comes in Colours’. He paid tribute to his friend John Lennon, before playing ‘Everybodies Gotta Live’ which segued into ‘Instant Karma’.

Lee even slipped in a new song ‘My Anthem’ though sounding a little too much like Big Country for comfort; this was well received by the audience. To be fair he could have played a Spice Girls song tonight and the reception would not have been any less ecstatic.

The sad part about tonight’s gig was certainly that it had to end, but not before the promise of a return from Arthur Lee. If that gig is half as good as tonight’s then it will be one that I won’t want to miss. Tonight was nothing short of brilliant and was well worth leaving the house on a cold January night.