- Ryan Adams (guitar); Caitlin Cary (fiddle); Mike Daly (multi); Brad Rice (guitar); Danny Kurtz (bass); Steve Terry (drums).
- The infamous "Riot Show."
- Soundcheck: Drums, Bass, & Caitlin / I've Got News For You Baby (x2) / Tuning / I've Got News For You Baby / Barlights (x3) / Drums & Bass.
Fasten your seatbelts. We're not sure of Whiskeytown just has a thing about San Francisco, or whether the band always attracts such chaos. When they played the Great American Music Hall a year ago, lead singer Ryan Adams harassed lighting tech Sherry Sternberg to such a degree that she got fed up with his "rock star demands" (her words, not ours) about how he should be lit (and he was well lit, we can testify to that), and plunged the entire stage in darkness, forcing the alt-country-cum-punk band to perform without any lights at all. The second incident occurred last fall, when the band headlined at
Slims, Boz Scaggs' jewel of a nightclub in San Francisco, and the singer found out that Bob Brown, Slims' menacing doorman, refused to let R.E.M's Mike Mills in when he turned up at the show and wasn't on the guest list. Adams stomped his little boot and told the venue that he would never, ever play there again. Pretty ballsy for a band that doesn't even have a gold record. Yet.
Whiskeytown didn't have to eat their words, since they were booked into San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium on Tuesday night. But before the band went on, execs at Bill Graham Presents, the company that runs the venue, reportedly told Adams -- who is an unrepentant chain smoker -- that he couldn't light up while on their stage, adding that if he decided to disobey, the band would only take home half of their allotted pay. While no one at Bill Graham Presents would confirm this scenario, one employee who wishes to remain anonymous told us, "It probably happened."
Adams, meanwhile, told intimates that he planned to abide by these very abusive terms (California has an ordinance which prevents smoking in bars, restaurants, and venues), but snapped when he saw members of the audience smoking. He managed to hold it together until the band's very last song, and the in a perfect arc of defiance, he kicked one of the monitors off the stage, and then the other, finally flinging his mike stand into the crowd -- fortunately without hitting anyone. The stagehands at the Fillmore took this as a declaration of war, and one burly security specialist tackled the diminutive singer, pinning him to the stage. This act did not go unnoticed by the few remaining fans who were filing out of the auditorium, and someone pitched a bottle at the employee, while others hurled abuse. Whiskeytown's keyboardist Mike Daly saw a riot in the making, leaped into the fray and elbowed the security geek, wresting Adams from his steely grip, flinging the
singer over his own shoulder and carrying him backstage out of harm's way. According to the wags at the Fillmore, the band did not trash their dressing room, or make any attempt any retribution -- but as they say, revenge is a dish best served cold.
And while we're on the subject, we wouldn't exactly call the tunes on Whiskeytown's upcoming release cold -- but they are leftovers from the band's days on the indie label Mood Food. Outpost, the band's current label, had the foresight (and funds) to secure the rights to Whiskeytown's debut album, Faithless Street, and will release a retooled version on September 29.
Whiskeytown frontman Ryan Adams ended a set at the legendary Fillmore in San Francisco on Sept. 8 by hacking at the stage with his mic stand, then tossing the monitors into the crowd. A visibly agitated Adams had been making snide remarks about the poor sound quality throughout the show, and after he tossed the monitors off the stage, he engaged in an altercation with the Fillmore's soundman before being pulled away by keyboardist Mike Daly. A spokesman for Whiskeytown's Geffen label acknowledged the incident but said that there have been no repercussions from it.
kinda cool when ryan started shoving the monitors off stage and if it was for any reason it was the crappy sound the fillmore provided the band that night. there was feedback all night long. ryan made a couple of jokes about it early on like "if my sound is going to be this bad i should at least get to smoke." and he only smoked once very late in the show when he lit up a cigarette, took one puff and put it down (and i've seen lots of performers smoke at the fillmore since the law passed...ridiculous that they would pick on ryan). anyway...i liked him more for it rather than less.
what the fillmore needed was a service whiskeytown was willing to provide. rocknroll not afraid to bite them back. this band "is" rocknroll, so you eat it. think Im kiddin....
you people are so alternative-country you forgot rock"n"roll made both of those things cool. sit in the hot plastic seat in hell and wait for your new copy of the son volt record------piss off best of luck. BORING, Ryan"