By request:

By request:

Encore:

1. Tegan & Sara opened.  Ryan joined them on stage during their set.
2. Several songs feature cello, violin and or background vocal accompaniment.
3. * = "Ryan tells us how he has been writing sheet music for cello and violin.  He asks the ladies to play it for us, they agree only if Ryan holds the sheet music up for them to read.  While they play it, he's mugging along like a conductor and making spooky faces as the music did sound like horror movie music."

Ryan Adams - 10/13/02 - State Theater - Detroit - MI

I've been listening to Ryan Adams for less than a year, but in that time I've managed to amass a small collection of live shows on CD. I love the solo acoustic shows I heard, so I was really looking forward to seeing him solo on this tour.   There was a small line of people getting their ID's checked outside in the cool October air. Once inside, after laughing at the Ryan Adams Sucks t-shirts for sale, I noticed the large number of younger folks in the audience, especially late teenage / early 20's girls. We found our seats, 7th row from the stage just in time to catch Tegan & Sara's set. I didn't know what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised at their sound - they were damn good, at times sounding like Dido or Bjork, but were best when they sounded like Tegan & Sara. Ryan came out and played on a few of their songs, looking like a little kid who just discovered guitar, having a good time. At one point in their set, he sat in the front row drinking wine, copping a light for his cigarette from someone sitting next to him, who didn't realize it was Ryan.  A little after 9pm , Ryan came onstage to wild cheers and danced around for a minute to the obnoxious Minor Threat LP, or whatever it was he was playing, then turned it off. He got right to it with Tomorrow.  What instantly struck me is how damn quiet the entire room became and how deliberately slow he played. I've never seen a performer command a room so quickly during a live show. He continued with Oh My Sweet Carolina , Sweet Lil' Gal, To Be Young, and The Fools We Are As Men, all which were beautiful. I didn't hear anyone singing along, which was my biggest fear, and the crowd was still very quiet during the songs.

After commenting that he saw the Rolling Stones the night before in Detroit (as did I), and how he liked Ron Wood better drunk (who was drinking from a water bottle during the previous night's show), he did a piano version of Brown Sugar, sung to completely new music. This ballad was in stark contrast the heavy-hitting Stones opener from the night before, and may be the only time I'll ever see the same song performed live so completely differently two nights in a row. 

Next came the Madonna schtick, which was actually amusing. Ryan was really funny. And to the people who think he's not serious enough - try to relax and have fun. The guy's still a kid and he's having a good time, so let him. A nice Bartering Lines was next, followed by a personal favorite, My Winding Wheel, which I just learned to play in open-G tuning - nice job. SYLVIA PLATH followed, another great ballad, performed wonderfully.

Then a guy's voice cuts through the silence to ask if Ryan's taking requests. Ryan answers 'no', but then gives in, and the faceless voice says, "I don't know the name, but the chorus goes..." and shouts out the entire chorus to Hey There Mrs Lovely, which Ryan busted out and which was a highlight of the evening for me. When The Stars Go Blue followed, with Ryan hitting some of the high notes on the chorus, his voice nice and strong even in the higher register. Next up was Dear Chicago, sung and played expertly.

Another request from the same guy produced a gorgeous Mara Lisa. The request guy yelled out again for another request, "can you play just one more request, please?", asking for Oh My Sweet Valentine, which Ryan misunderstood to be Oh My Sweet Carolina. He mentioned that he already did that when the guy was out smoking pot, but he'd do the Cookie Monster version, which was hilarious. Then, again like a little kid, he got all excited, ran over to the piano, and a verse of SYLVIA PLATH as Cookie Monster. Funny shit.

Then some dude came up to the stage with a shot of Amaretto for Ryan, which he politely declined because he's allergic to the nuts in it, and gave it to the violin player. This caused a brief improv number with Ryan singing, "why did you bring me that shot?"

At some point Ryan said, "It's a good thing there's girls, or else all these songs would be about UFO's" and proceeded to sing about UFO's taking him away. Call Me On Your Way Back Home and Lovesick Blues closed out a wonderful set.

The short encore, probably given the long set, began with La Cienega Just Smiled. Then Ryan made his string section play a Gregorian chant he "wrote wrong" because of a note not typically seen in such chants. It was amusing, but I wouldn't miss it. The crowd-pleasing Come Pick Me Up ended a great night.

I've seen hundreds of live shows over the past 15 years or so, and this ranks near the top, which really surprised me. I'm a singer/songwriter, and Ryan continues to inspire me to write, which is always a good thing. Had I known this show was going to be so good, I might've gotten tickets for the two Chicago shows. Next time, next time. 

Greg Poulos