Photos by Ty Hyten
The Scene: A light rain broke and gray skies hung over Red Rocks ahead of Thursday night’s show with multi-genre rocker, Ryan Adams. The parking lot was full of friendly tailgaters, a surprising amount of baby-boomers and, of course, your omnipresent, misplaced, dirt and hemp covered drum hippies.
Opener: Houndmouth. Houndmouth has been on of my favorite live acts for the last couple of years. Their high energy, bluesy guitar solos, and three-part harmonies make for a feel good show and bits of their sound remind me of The Band. Unfortunately, as an opener at a mega venue in broad daylight in front of unfamiliar ears, they really failed to hit their full stride on Thursday night. Their set was heavy on songs from Little Neon Limelight, which came out in March. A good amount of the audience seemed to take notice as they played, but it wasn’t one of their strongest showings in recent memory. They ended their set with a cover of Dion’s “Runaround Sue” that was unfortunately flat compared to when they finished with it at The Bluebird back in February.
Ryan Adams: After barely missing all of his last and limited Colorado appearances, I was finally able to find myself at a Ryan Adams concert. Admittedly, 2014’s self-titled release was a slow grow for me, but it eventually found itself somewhere in the middle of the discography stack. So, I really didn’t know if I had missed my chance to see my ideal Ryan Adams. The one who wrote Heartbreaker, the one who was irreverent and short with shitty fans, the drunk who led The Cardinals. As the show unfolded, it was clear I like this new Ryan Adams just fine.
The night opened with the lead track off the new record, “Gimme Something Good.” The power-pop 80’s song fit well in it’s surroundings. On stage were two, working 80’s-era arcade games (Berzerk and Asteroids), two comically huge Fender Princeton Reverb dummy amps, a piano-mounted Terminator mask, a stuffed tiger, a Dr. Pepper machine, and a tiny green lightbulb with a smiley face drawn on it at Ryan’s feet.
The wackiness of the stage wasn’t matched by Adam’s standard stage banter. With the exception of calling out a guy with an old school video camera and joking about Kraken (the sea monster), his notoriously chatty self was remarkably quiet and stayed buried in his wild hair. I’m guessing it was to cram in as many songs as possible as the threat of lightning grew, so I’ll take it.
In the absence of banter, Ryan Adams was able to fit 19 songs into a set that was eventually cut short by rapid lightning strikes. The set only included three songs from the self-titled release and the rest played like a greatest hits album. “Dirty Rain” with a full band was much better than the album. Other highlights included “Dear Chicago,” “My Winding Wheel” acoustic, “Oh My Sweet Carolina,” a raucous “To Be Young,” “Magnolia Mountain,” and a badass, less than peaceful “Peaceful Valley” with killer lead guitar work, rolling, swelling organ, and an extended Grateful Dead-esque jam.
Ryan Adams has always surrounded himself with great musicians and his new band is no exception. His new cast of all-stars was able to nail all the sounds of Adams’ discography. Country to Classic Rock to Folk. Heavy-hitting drums and swishing, rolling organ gave new life to some old songs. I was also kind of taken aback by Adams’ guitar playing. I had always assumed, for whatever reason, that the guitar leads on his albums belonged to another band member. Ryan tore into his guitar on “La Cienega Just Smiled,” “Cold Roses” and plenty of others. He’s simply a legend. Behind the pen, behind the guitar, at the head of a band, and in front of 10,000 people.
Lightning threatened to end the show all night, but around the two hour mark, it really started to pick up. Ryan Adams brought out special guest Natalie Prass for a cover of “She’s Like The Wind.” Yep, the Patrick Swayze song from Dirty Dancing. Like everything Ryan Adams does, it was actually really good. Natalie Prass is also a promising new artist that’s worth a listen. The night ended with a gorgeous “When The Stars Go Blue” with a backdrop of very rapid lightning, but no rain. Just as he finished, Don Strasburg of AEG walked out and told the crowd to pack up. Sure, we probably missed out on our chance to hear “Come Pick Me Up,” but we got two full hours, an outstanding show, and a fantastic setlist.
Energy: A
Musicianship: A
Sound: A
Set/Lights: A
Stage Presence: A-
Overall: A
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