Praising Private Ryan
It is time for a Ryan Adams review that neither questions nor reflects on whether the singer-songwriter is in a happy place or a sad place. It doesn't matter because has Ryan Adams ever sounded any better? probably not. Have his records ever been any better? probably but, it doesn't matter.
These were outstanding gigs in London. Longstanding admirers or even newcomers - remarkably, Adams was #6 in the 'album' charts at the time of these gigs - will have been wowed by the singer and his new band, The Shining.
These performances rate among the best I've seen of Ryan Adams, and that is up against some fantastic history. And the evenings were not without a sprinkle of stardust. As guest appearances go, this was among the more unusual.
Johnny Marr would have been good, but Johnny Depp? Opinions will be divided. His presence caused a right old stir in the cheap seats. From rattle-your-jewellery distance he looked more like a farmhand from Countryfile than Donnie Brasco.
Depp and Adams are jamming buddies and the Hollywood star can clearly play guitar too. He didn't seem at all phased. This good thing was that this starry distraction for the encore on both nights at Shepherds Bush did not detract whatsoever from the quality of the band's performance. And nobody called out for Joe Le Taxi.
Throughout the gigs, Ryan Adams stands mostly at the centre-left of stage, seemingly changing guitars for fun. Laughing, smiling and joking, he thanks his besotted audience, time and again.
He's been a witty stage presence in recent years, but even when he thinks his US humour hasn't fully connected, he has a sharp and self-deprecating banter: "They think I'm hilarious in the States! You guys are just too clever - I must've passed at least seven book shops on the way here."
A Stars and Stripes flag with a nuclear disarmament symbol is draped behind him on stage. The crowd is delirious and Adams points out that they may have been consuming alcohol. The crowd gets him; it's a very different setting to his brief Olympic Park appearance for the Invictus Games ceremony, where that same modified flag could easily have been misconstrued.
Recent solo acoustic tours have provided what many fans wanted most: a sort of intimacy with the singer. Alone on the stage, Ryan Adams' unplugged and heart-rending versions of his songs did allow us a little closer. Less can be more, and often it is with these songs.
But most of those songs were recorded with a band. This 2014 tour demonstrates that there is life (and electric) beyond the one man show. It's obvious that Adams gets a real kick out of playing with other musicians, bringing a deeper pulse to those (mostly) sad songs.
With the Cardinals, Ryan Adams produced some memorable shows. With the Shining, he's once again surrounded by outstanding musicianship, but also a bunch of players who seem to understand him and share his musical headspace.
The result is a kind of magic and it is most evident on some of the songs that were recorded with the Cardinals. In particular, 'Easy Plateau' and 'Peaceful Valley' are getting better with age. Previously country-soaked, these numbers have re-emerged as a new kind of Californian soundtrack.
The Shepherds Bush nights draw on songs from across his extensive catalogue. Some of which feels positively vintage. But then maybe it always did. The new eponymous album gets a lot of attention and mostly it stands up well alongside Adams' most loved material. It feels handmade for live performance.
Critics have name-checked Petty, Springsteen & Co in terms of influence for the new stuff, but to my ears they've often figured in his Americana pick 'n' mix. On stage, and especially in Adams' voice, those rich sources are certainly there but they're not at all plagiarised.
Like with 'Ashes and Fire' and other more recent records that may not have had the immediate 'Wow' factor, I suspect the new songs will find their own moments to invade our consciousness - and once again we won't understand why we ever thought they were anything less than brilliant.
Opening the second night in west London with the single 'Gimme Something Good', as he did the first night, he jokes that repeat visitors are in for the same songs all over again. But as usual, the set lists for each date were quite different. Adams is great value for those compelled to go to more than one gig per tour. Both nights included a mix of old and new, and some of the new songs proved exceptional.
'Wrecking Ball' is a stand-out. It is anthem-like, despite its fragility, and may be the closest he has come to his beloved 'Wonderwall'. 'Everybody Knows', 'Fix It' and 'Let It Ride' are achingly good, but there's a massive cheer for the opening half-note of 'Political Scientist', as once again the 'Love Is Hell' tunes prove perhaps as popular as the 'Heartbreaker' classics, which are exactly that and still sung like it's the first time. With the band, 'Oh My Sweet Carolina' is spine-tingling.
From the new record, the way 'Kim' is sung feels unlike most of Ryan Adams' material. Many of his new lyrics have an apparent simplicity, but they have a potency live and you can imagine this becoming a set list mainstay for years to come, with its exorcism-like delivery.
His relative silence about his private life is admirable. We can be grateful that there are some singers who choose not to share too much of their personal lives, in social or other media. In the not-knowing, it is easy to become a little obsessed. But in Ryan Adams' case, you've never really needed the gossip columns; his lyricism and the way he sings has always told us far more about the individual than most biographers ever can about their subjects.
Where to start with the sound Ryan Adams' voice? It's always the main attraction and it just gets better and better, whether he's letting rip on the newer, spiky material from the remarkable '1984' mini-LP, or wrestling through the more familiar sadness's from 'Heartbreaker' or 'Love Is Hell'.
He doesn't hold back. It's not surprising that he said his voice was suffering by the time of his date at iTunes at the Roundhouse.
Before every Ryan Adams gig, I worry it'll be a letdown. That's not about the songs he plays or doesn't play. It's the fear that he might one day lose that special quality that he has that you can't quite put your finger on. In London, that specialness was stronger than ever.
Nigel Watts
Thursday Set List
