Gig Review - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Saturday 30th September

For Ryan Adams, the line between inspiration and lunacy is often thinner than his jeans. Tonight, it is apparent he intends to blur it further. From a monologue on digestive biscuits to a rap about a ghetto Shakespeare, alt-country’s brightest light ensures this night will live long in the memory.

By the time either of these amusing incidents took place, Adams had already blasted through songs as memorable as Cold Roses and My Winding Wheel. Live, the songs acquire a bite that cuts away at any doubts of Adams ability as a performer. There is a kaleidoscope of personality standing in front of you; the leather jacket-clad epiphany of New York rock n roll one moment, the bone-achingly vulnerable representative of broken hearts everywhere the next.

Magnolia Mountain aptly merges these traits, sweeping from straight up rock to blues-tinged ballad and back again within the confines of one song. Most bands can’t master such versatility in a whole career, let alone a verse.

Adams’ uncanny eye for melody creates this space within his numbers to expand and explode once placed onstage. Under the premise of old favourite To Be Young, he launches into a foot-stomper the Rolling Stones should have written 35 years ago. The unpredictability Adams thrives upon means no two songs sound the same, while weaker tracks from recent flop albums 29 and Jacksonville City Nights are breathed new life.

The key to this lies within the Cardinals. They aren’t accompanying musicians to Adams’ overbearing presence – this is a band. A band that plays like nobody’s watching. Songs that drift past on record stand out like Adams’ cookie monster t-shirt once the Cardinals put their indent on them. Of course Adams is the star, but his band gives a power to proceedings that perfectly contrasts the fragility Adams radiates.

They even join in on his eccentric antics, wearing balaclavas and spaceman suits at one point. Still, once you’ve played an impromptu rap called Shakespeare in da Bronx, putting a helmet over your head and strumming a ballad seems almost normal.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals proved that toughness and tenderness can exist in one place. Sometimes Adams’ songs veer towards corniness on record, but once you see the feeling and the fire put into them, it’s difficult not to believe in the band in front of you. Besides, how many people can make McVities biscuits sound cool?

8 out of 10


Greg Rose