Ryan Adams - House of Blues, Chicago 1/18/07

I've been a Ryan Adams fan for a couple of years. I enjoy Gold and Rock and Roll, I liked Demolition and I went through a very difficult personal period where I was homeless (not on the street, but literally lacking a home) and the only CD that wasn't in the storage unit with all my shit was Cold Roses.

I saw Ryan Adams at Lollapalooza last summer, and I was kinda disappointed. For a guy who had put out so much music in the past 18 months to fill an hour-long set with a bunch of Grateful Dead covers seemed ridiculous to me. I like the Dead, but I wouldn't say I wanted to hear them play Wharf Rat, let alone Ryan Adams. Anyway... on account of the aforementioned 'difficult personal period' I had a special relationship with Cold Roses, arguably (although I don't know who would argue) Adams' most Dead-influenced tracks.

So.... The show I saw tonight at the HOB featured a ton of music from Cold Roses -- including Magnolia Mountain, Easy Plateau, Let It Ride, Beautiful Sorta and Cold Roses -- which was just plain awesome. I had respect for Ryan as a songwriter, but he played the shit out of these songs way better than they appear on the albums and seeing it in such a small, sold-out venue (Chicago HOB capacity: ~1300). I'll never listen to those songs the same way.

He also did a slowed down version of To Be Young that was pretty cool. Blue Hotel - which Willie Nelson has played - was fantastic. All in all, the show was far better than I expected... and I had high expectations.

Side Note: We had to sneak the person who bought our tickets into the show cuz security at the HOB doesn't allow someone who's 'driving on a ticket' (for those not from IL, sometimes cops take your drivers license when you get a speeding ticket and give you back a paper ticket to use as ID). It was a hassle for a while, but he eventually got past security.


Check out Ryan Adams Live at Town Hall, New York (2006-12-04), courtesy of archive.org.