Drag Race Missed; Ryan Adams Pissed?

Unfortunately, I cannot report on DC's premier sidewalk event of the season, the Drag (or "High Heel") Race, which took place last night. Instead, I had tickets to the Ryan Adams & the Cardinals show at Constitution Hall - an event which was, in its own way, more peculiar than sprinting drag queens. I did walk to the show, so I guess I'll write about it. I was never a huge Ryan Adams fan (by which I mean, I am familiar with a couple of his albums and like the songs but I'm not a devotee) - I went to the concert to accompany Ms. Sidewalker. So I don't know if Ryan Adams is known for quirky on stage behavior or if last night's show was an anomaly.

Anyway, the first set was quite eclectic and the band sounded great and so did Ryan's voice. But he didn't really acknowledge the audience much. No problem, but he also tended to take long pauses between songs to switch instruments, consult with the drummer, etc. Again, I was taking this as all part of the show but some in the audience would grow restless during the silent interludes. This of course led to screams of "wooooo!" and "Ryan I love you!" or even the ubiquitous "play Freebird!" At first the band ignored all this. But during a later break between songs, someone yells out, "wake us up!" This impelled Ryan to pick up a bullhorn and begin a dialog with the audience. It was hard to hear up where I was sitting but he concluded with a little zinger: "yeah, this is the 21st century - you have to control everything!" This elicited a roar of approval and applause from the crowd.

But after a couple more songs, some more light heckling and only about 45 minutes of playing, Ryan said something I couldn't hear followed by "that's it." Then he and the band abruptly walked offstage, the house lights came up and it seemed that half the people got up to leave. There was no cheers for an encore or anything. It was just such a weird and sudden ending that it seemed no one in the crowd was moved to cry out for more. I began to muse on psychology of crowds but that's another post... My companion and I couldn't believe the show was over so we stuck around and so did half the people in there. It was obvious the roadies were not breaking down the equipment so a second set seemed imminent. (UPDATE: see reader comment below - Mr. Adams actually said, "see you at the second set." not "that's it").

Of course, the band did return (after about 20 minutes). I think everyone in the place realized this break was just an intermission except us. People streamed back in from the lobby and the arena was once again filled up. But the second set was filled with somewhat self-indulgent Phish-like extended jams. You know, Ryan would lead the band into a deconstruction of the song down to the point where he's just strumming a few off-key notes on the guitar. Then he'd build it back up again and reconstruct the song. And jam some more. They did a great version of "Goodnight Rose" which seemed like the perfect finale. But then they did two more long jams. Ryan said goodnight and the band ran off the stage - but now, this is when the crowd demanded an encore. So they came back and jammed out some more. It was getting a little tired by the end but overall I enjoyed the experience. I would say I'm more of a Ryan Adams fan now. I kind of respect his uncompromising weirdo artist quirkiness. And I feel like I got to see two shows for the price of one.

Here's the Post reviewer's take...

Rock 'n Roll!