Ryan Adams Road Trip 2009 Part 1, Night 1
yesterday at work was kind of torture. last night was the big RA show in Baton Rouge, and i was nervous. you know when you really like something, and you want other people to like it? that’s how i am. i get nervous going to RA shows with people who are going for their first time, cause i’m hoping they like the show and he doesn’t flip out, so they don’t think i’m crazy for liking him. after a quick dinner at quizno’s, we were off for Red Stick. we met up with my friend Jacob and a couple of his friends downtown and hit a bar called Happy’s. i drank PBR out of a goblet. that was kind of cool. we left for the show about 8:25 and sat down in our seats a few seconds before the band came on stage. the timing could not have been better.
they led off with Beautiful Sorta. it was great. the crowd seemed into it from the start. they tore through Born Into A Light and Cold Roses and were on fire. i really think the Cardinology songs are better live, because on the record they just don’t seem to carry over the punch from the live shows. that might be just me. they played Come Pick Me Up and Wonderwall pretty early on, and they were great, but like i had told my friend David a couple of weeks ago, it wasn’t as special now that they’re playing those songs at every show. when we saw them in Dallas in ’07, it was another story. obviously both songs are still great to hear at a show, esp when RA uses the harmonica on CPMU, but i wish he’d use the acoustic again.
the 2nd half of the main set was where i think things started to take off. both Goodnight Rose and I See Monsters were fantastic, and one after another. i had forgotten how intense ISM can get. the highlights of the show were Rip Off and Magick. i had never seen either of those songs performed live before, and Rip Off is one of my favorites. i love the piano songs. Magick was a lot of fun. plus, i don’t know what it is, but i love Sink Ships. maybe it was because i first heard it at the Tuscaloosa show last year, but i think it’s great. the encore was three songs and they finished with a GREAT version of Bartering Lines. it is so rock and roll how they do it live.
after the show, we walked out and i went to get stickers. my original Cold Roses sticker that i got at my first show in 2005 is now fading really bad, so i needed a replacement. on my way back from the merch table back to where my friends were, this guy Sam stops me and asks me if i keep a blog. apparently he was googling for pictures from the Punch Brothers show in BR, and found my blog from the entry i did talking about that. we talked PB and RA, then went our separate ways. i am a rock star.
now the lowlights….some girl was sitting in front of me trying to take pictures, but she didn’t turn the flash off. so probably after about 10 shots, she decided to go to video. she videoed what seemed like 15 songs with her digital camera. i doubt they’ll turn out any good cause she didn’t really have her camera above people’s heads. i didn’t really like the theatre all that much. the seats had this kind of velvet lining on them, and it smelled like people used to be able to smoke in there. it was kind of disappointing, cause i thought it was going to be pretty nice. maybe they should change out the seat coverings.
Birmingham tonight!
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