Encore:

New Song Debut:

1. Jesse Malin opened.
2. Ryan Adams (vocals/guitar/piano/harmonica); Ruth Gottlieb (violin/vocals); Sarah Wilson (cello/piano).

Ok, from the beginning. After Jesse Malin had finished his great gig (Ryan had played guitar on his first song), Ryan opened his show with “Expressway to your skull”, a new song, on electric guitar. His voice sounded deeper than usual and raspy somehow, because of his flu which he was still recovering from. It sounded awesome! He continued with songs on piano, songs on acoustic guitar and more songs on electric guitar. Sometimes he was backed by cello, violin and an additional guitar. There was no talking throughout the first couple of songs! No “hello” even. But, lucky me, I was in the front row and could perfectly see his facial expressions. He had this kinda cheeky smile on his face now and then. Plus there was this funny groaning in between the songs. It was supposed to be a good show! After the fourth or fifth song Ryan suddenly became pretty talkactive and kept on chatting and making jokes until the end of the show. Cannot recall them all unfortunately. Didn`t even understand everything. But he talked about Britney Spears, a beautiful cat he had seen on a bridge on his way into the centre of the city some hours before the concert and asked if it was difficult to take a cat home to another country.

He told us about some Jazz-musicians, whom he had heard playing in a flat behind an open window or something, also on his way into the centre. He thought they had been amazing and got really excited. He said that he had bought 10 new cd`s (records?!) in a great record shop and that he`d like Groningen a lot. He also joked about Santa Claus: “So, it`s Santa Guys-day or something? Come sit on my lap. We used to call it `Dad`s drunk`.

He gave his bottle of water to a young boy in the front row, who was sitting there silently next to his dad (presumably he was). Ryan laughed: “You must be having the worst time of your life. You`re not here on your own will, are you? What did you do? Is this a punishment?” The boy did say “no!” though. ;-)

Ryan kept on teasing Ruth and Sarah (cello and violin) from London, who are gonna tour with Starsailor soon (or did already?!), while playing with them and asked: “Why can`t I have one happy song? `They`re all fucking go and kill yourself!` Where`s the disco ball when you need one?`” Gosh, why did no one request “Chin up, cheer up”?

Later on Ryan asked us to sing “Happy Birthday” with him for Chief, who played electric guitar on some songs. We did a good job, I think ;-) But Chief didn`t want to come to the front of the stage though.

Shouldn`t forget Ryan´s immitation`s of his mum! Hilarious! He told us that his mum had called him on the phone some time and went: “`Ryan, are you on drugs? I`ve been on the internet and people say that you`re acting funny!`” An awesome “dialogue” followed which I don`t remember in details. But he continued then, asking us: “Do you know what I haven`t done in a long time? Eat a handful of acid. There used to be two things in life for me: Acid and Black Flag. But Punk-Rock doesn`t sound too good when you`re on Acid. It sounds like, well, something`s wrong.” Before playing another song on acoustic guitar he told us that he had some problem with his right eye and put some medicine on it. “I guess it`s having it`s period or something”, he said.

On every song Ryan`s singing was very passionate and deeply touching. The audience appreciated the music and kept on being completely quite throughout the song-performances and Ryan`s talking. There were loads of new songs: “Twice as bad as love”, “1987 – Come down easy”, “Thank you Louise” and some more I don`t know the title of. Before he started to sing one of them, being backed by Ruth and Sarah, he said: “If there have been any fans out there, there won`t be after the next song. It`s gonna be on my new album, called `Career ender`.” It was awesome though. :-)

Then he played one of my absolute favourite songs, on acoustic guitar: “Jacksonville skyline”. My personal highlight of the show! Very impressive! Other songs, which were outstanding in my opinion: “Why do they leave”, “The bar is a beautiful place”, “Dear Chicago”, “Sylvia Plath” and “To be young”.

When Ryan left the stage after the main set the applause was massive. He came back, played “Cry on demand” and continued with a couple of new songs, including “I see monsters”. He asked: “Is it ok, if I play some new songs?” He warned he`d keep on drinking and playing until he`ll physically collapse. There was a pause before he added: “But you`ll stay!”

Right! We probably would have died of suffocation sooner or later, while Ryan was still playing. And then secretly he would have left the stage. Cause the air got worse and worse with every cigarette Ryan lighted. And people started coughing. Well, he did finish then, said “That was the last song finally” and left quickly. Everyone got up from their seat and kept clapping. The reaction of the crowd was very warm and thankful. The houselights were turned on right away. Such an incredible concert! Definitely worth a 6-hours trip (with the cheapest ticket) by train. (Catherine)