hour coming outta Boston, made it just in time for Rachel Yamagata's set...

She rocked. Her voice was much more deep and husky sounding than the sound

clips I heard online (kinda like Melissa Ethridge or a female version of Ray

Lamontagne or Warren Haynes).... But it was definitely a good thing! Her

voice was amazing! The set was very tight, and she had a guitar player and a

cello player backing her who were solid. Didnt buy her CD, but will at the

next show.

Now on to Ryan...... Ryan's set ranged from awesome to annoying at times,

but overall, the show was great! Once again, he came out with his crazy new

hair and full beard and he looked like crap, haha. If I didnt know who Ryan

was and I saw him on the street, I would have thought he was a mentally

insane homeless person.... but whatever, more power to him. I guess he's in

his crazy artsy rocker phase, whsih is cool!

Now on to the music, because they're was a lotta good stuff at this show! He

opened the first and the second sets with ("One Kiss Before I Go" and

"Jacksonville") two of the best country rock songs I think I've ever heard!

They both definitely sounded like they were straight off a Whiskeytown

record, and if I were going to rank them among the best Whiskeytown songs, I

think I'd have to put them in the top 5 (this was first time hearing them

though so it could be different). Anyway "Jacksonville" is the title track

of the second record coming out this year, and although he didnt say what

album "One Kiss Before I Go" would be on, it sounded as though it will be on

there as well. I'd almost classify these songs as straight up - country and

not country-rock.... Anyway they were both awesome - very Gram

Parsons-esque! Strong and very poppy! I cant wait for that record to come

out!

The whole first set was tight as hell! Although the band didnt go into any

big jams on "NY NY" or "Shakedown", everything was played perfectly! Ryan's

voice sounded strong throughout..... "Beautiful Sorta" rocked! I've heard

versions of "What Sin Replaces Love" from past tours and this definitely

topped them all! (The new band sounds great on this!) "Magnolia Mountain"

may have been my personal highlight of the show (i had some serious

goosebumps).... Ryan played an awesome guitar solo at the end (best of the

night in my opinion)..... Everything in the first set was good and he ended

with a perfect version of "Nightbirds" that he said will be on "29". In the

first set, the band stuck right to business, and Ryan didn't say much but

was very appreciative of the crowd throughout the entire set..... just

straight rock and roll.

After a ten minute break, the second set started with "Jacksonville"

followed my a good version OF "Let it Ride".... then things kinda went a

little downhill from there. Ryan sat down at the piano and led the band

through "Rescue Blues", which was a little shaky but they pulled it off.

(According to Ryan, this was one of the first times that they had tried it

out.) Around this time, the band started having a lotta confusion over what

to play on the set list, so there were some long breaks between songs (kinda

expected this though), Ryan was regularly calling for his guitar tech to

bring him out a different guitar for each song, and he had some wrist

problems as well so he had to go backstage a couple times to deal with that.

The next song played was "Easy Plateu", which was good and very similar in

style to "Cold Roses" and "Magnolia Mountain". "When Stars Go Blue" was

amazing! Ever since the last tour, Ryan's ending guitar solo has turned this

song into one of the best live songs he's ever played.... just awesome! The

song after that ("Peaceful Song") featured background vocals by Catherine

Popper, and it kinda sounded similar to something off "Cold Roses". The next

song after that was my least favorite song of the night ("Million Times

Bigger than the Pain") and honestly maybe one of the worst songs I've ever

heard by Ryan. I don't know if he plans to put this on a record or not??

Maybe itll sound better when it comes out. After that, the band left, and

Ryan played two rough versions of "Oh My Sweet Carolina" and "Winding Wheel"

solo. In both songs, he had to stop multiple times in the middle of them due

to wrist problems and at other times just joking around. The last song of

the night was really good!! I couldnt remember any of the words but it was a

driving bluesy rocker similar to "Shakedown" or "To Be Young"..... All in

all, I thought this was a great opening night show! His band is awesome! The

new songs are amazing! And the tour t-shirts are off the hook!

Ryan is supposed to continue touring from now until December with the

Cardinals. I think this tour could go two ways though. One - the tour could

turn out be his best yet, filled with some the best jamming ever, and tons

and tons of new songs being played throughout the tour. Or Two - Ryan's

wrist keeps having trouble and decides he has to take a break for a while.

This kinda worried me last night, it was awesome that he kept playing on

despite it locking up, but its only the first freakin night of the tour,

he's got over a hundred more shows to go.

But anyway great show, enough to make me decide to drive to Hampton Beach on

Friday night...... by the way does anyone have a pair of tickets they are