Tegan & Sara opened. Ryan played on a few songs.
Ryan Adams (vocals/guitar/piano/harmonica); Ruth Gottlieb (violin/vocals); Sarah Wilson (cello/piano).
View photos here -- www.patrickrussell.com (click on musicians tab).

Review:

Ryan Adams show weird -- but in a good way

11/02/02

JOHN FOYSTON

For all I know, Wednesday night at the Roseland was a normal Ryan Adams show: lots of banter with the capacity crowd; a half-pack of filter tips smoked onstage; an impromptu Tom Waits impression and two of Cookie Monster; 15 or so beautifully sad songs, many played with the help of a cellist and violinist; "Happy Birthday" sung by the audience to Adams and an end-of-tour giveaway.

For the record, he didn't kick anybody out of the show for requesting a Bryan Adams song, as he did in a widely reported incident earlier in October. Instead, he appeared to be in full tour's-end mode, mellow and wacky at the same time.

"For the last song of my U.S. tour I'm gonna do a cover of 'Brown Sugar' by the Rolling Stones," he told the crowd (although he played "Come Pick Me Up" after). "Hey, wait a minute. Who was the guy who asked for 'Folklore' earlier? C'mon, who's the mega-freakout fan?"

The lights went up and soon enough picked out a white-T-shirted gentleman in the right balcony who was yelling with both arms upraised that he was that fan.

"Because I'm flying to Berlin soon, do you want this chair? I've been using it all tour, and they won't let me take it on the airplane."

Fan though he was, the man demurred. Someone else yelled out, "How about R2-D2?"

Right, you remember. Movie star? Short, metallic, barrel-chested chap? Adams had a model of the droid onstage -- had riffed on it earlier in the evening. He grabbed it, walked to the edge of the stage and pitched it aloft, where it was caught by the guy next to mega-uber fan. This being Portland, however (or P-Town, as Adams said several times), he handed it over without a murmur and the show went on.

Luckily for those in front of the stage, Adams did not attempt to give away the grand piano.

Just as well, because he sat down at the piano and kept his promise about "Brown Sugar," playing a moodily contemplative version that crawled along at half-speed compared with the original. No surprise there: most of the night's songs, except for a rockin' "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)" trundled along to tempos of around 80 beats per minute. The surprise was how much Adams found in a song that should have been mere novelty but somehow was more.

It must be that voice, that gorgeous, pure, smoky-sweet voice -- by turns conversational and soaring. That voice is one of the things that makes Adams a modern Paul Simon -- with worse habits and a more wicked wit, for sure -- but, like Simon, a master of drawing-room despair, a chronicler of anomie and disaffection among the young moderns.

He used that voice to devastating effect on songs as diverse as "Sylvia Plath," "Oh My Sweet Carolina" (his opening song) and a "Lovesick Blues" that prominently featured the Adamsian yodel. Other songs included "Dear Chicago," "Rescue Blues," "La Cienaga Just Smiled," an especially gorgeous "When the Stars Go Blue," "You Will Always Be the Same," "My Winding Wheel" and -- as promised -- Cookie Monster singing "Oh My Chocolate Cookie" to the tune of "Oh My Sweet Carolina."

"This is the weirdest show I've ever played," Adams said at one point. "You guys are scarin' me -- but in a good way, I think. . . . " John Foyston: 503-221-8368; johnfoyston@news.oregonian.com

Review:

RYAN ADAMS - ROSELAND, 10/30/02

I fell in love twice on Wednesday night.

This falls short of my record of 4.5 in one night, but I don't think that's anything to shake my stick at.

I think my pit-a-pattering heart is testament to Ryan Adams' jaw-dropping ability to surround himself with unbelievably attractive women. Carry on sir, I say!

The night kicked off at the Roseland (I really cannot stand this place. I get shudders just thinking about it. This time they jammed us into seats that were so close together I could tell what my neighbor had for dinner. Three days ago. And the people at the bar were so loud during quieter songs... forget it. I'm too upset to go on) with the Canadian duo of Tegan and Sara, who just so happen to be twins. Just go ahead and fill in your own obligatory twin-fantasy-punchline right here, I'll wait for you.

Now, normally, I don't really talk about opening acts in this space. However, I'm abandoning the famed "Moshin Protocol" for three reasons: 1) Tegan and Sara are awesome. At the fans' insistence, they actually came out and did an encore - a first for opening bands since The Monkees were opening for Lawrence Welk. I am actually going to go out and buy their newest album, "If it was you." To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement, and thus, against my religion; 2) They're twins! Why don't more twins become rockers? I haven't been this excited since The Proclaimers; 3) It was during the opening act that I first offered up my heart to that sweet, sweet altar of love. I speak of the growly-voiced rock-nymph Tegan. Now, I know... they're twins, they look similar, I shouldn't be able to pick a favorite... Please. It's like Full House. Everyone knows that Ashley held Mary-Kate back from true greatness. Mary-Kate was worlds above her twin. Now, to be fair, Sara is clearly not on the same sub-strata as this Dark Lord, but Tegan... sigh, my heart aches.

Then it was time for Warren Beatty's apparent heir-apparent to the Love God throne, Mr. Adams, to take the stage. The man came ready to rock - he was actually wearing a three-piece suit. What commenced was about 1:30 of beautiful, heart-breaking Sad Bastard music, accompanied by a constantly lit cigarette. You know, I would love to see Ryan Adams perform somewhere like the Schnitz, first because it wouldn't be the goddamn Roseland, and second because it would be interesting to see what he would do under the extreme duress of not being able to smoke. He would be on stage for approximately three minutes before he imploded. He'd have to make his entire piano out of Nicorette patches just to survive the evening.

Ryan began the show with a gorgeous, sedate version of "Sweet Caroline," followed by "My Baby's Gone." This low-key introductory atmosphere was abruptly broken by an impromptu song about picking his nose, during which he sang a verse as Cookie Monster, and a verse as Tom Waits.

His guitar work was stellar, laced over some really cool reverb and effects. Or, to quote the high school girl behind me (she and her friends skipped Spanish and Softball to be at the show - talk about devotion), "Jesus Christ, how can somebody be so hot?" Amen, sister. Amen.

On "The Fools we are as Men" and "Sylvia Plath," I noticed what seemed to be somewhat of an anomaly in the music industry - his voice is actually prettier on stage, away from the recording studio. If a genie came up to me right then and offered me one wish, it would have been that I could have been transformed into Ursula the Sea Witch, and Ryan Adams could have morphed into Ariel the Little Mermaid. I could then have stolen his voice, only to succumb to my own greed and evil and die when pierced in the heart by the prow of a ship.

Simply put, the man is amazing. An Elvis version of "I Got High," "Winding Wheel," a heart-meltingly sad version of "Stars Go Blue," and "Lovesick Blues" by Hank Williams in which he did a pratfall in the middle of the song and kept on going were all SO good.

On "Stars Go Blue," he was accompanied by a cellist and a violinist. Enter my second love of the night, stage right. I ask you, gentle readers, is there anything sexier than a beautiful woman standing in repose holding a violin? Ok, re-reading that last sentence, I sound like a dork. But believe me, it was hot. Turns out she's British too. I nearly renounced my citizenship and took up the harp right there.

Adams closed out the show with a lovelorn version of "La Cienega," and a bitter and breathtaking version of "Come Pick Me Up." When my beautiful violinist joined him singing the lines "Fuck me up/Screw all my Friends,"... there are no words. Two-and-a-half hours of great music, and two new loves. I'd call that a complete night.

In short, go see Ryan Adams. If you're not a fan, you will be. If you are a fan, you will become a bigger one. And if you are wearing Dockers... NICE pants!

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