The country-folk style of his current album, Easy Tiger , contrasts with the Smiths-like melancholy of 2003’s Love Is Hell and is a far cry from that of the radio-friendly country-rock of Gold , released in 2001.
Adams’ prolific yet capricious output has strained his relationship with Lost Highway Records, but it’s an aspect of his music for which he is rightfully unrepentant: his music has changed and matured as he has. He seems intent on preventing any semblance of predictability encroaching upon his art, even to the point of inserting very deliberate contrasts within songs during his performance at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
Opening with several lingering ballads, the beautiful Goodnight Rose, in particular, showcased why Adams believes the Cardinals line-up is complete; the superb harmonies between Adams, guitarist Neal Casal and bassist Chris Feinstein resonated sweetly around the theatre and turned all but its stone walls to mush.
An undercurrent of anticipation rose, meanwhile, until Adams unleashed a curiously-timed, bombastic solo that wrested the audience from its melancholic reverie, before easing them back into their seats with a harmonised reprise. Though the offer of a livelier show was enticing, the Cardinals kept to the programme. Adams, however, repeatedly departed from songs to indulge in marginally competent guitar solos before he descended into a three-minute assault of unintelligible reverb and feedback to very polite applause. Fittingly, he saved his first acknowledgement of the audience’s praise for this moment, though he ought to have been thanking them for their tolerance.
Since first appearing on the very mood-lit stage, Adams taciturnly forewent any acknowledgement of the audience’s presence and remained curtained behind his fringe until late in the show, when he revealed he had a fever. He then became relatively chatty, obtusely regaling the audience with the observation that his sweat smelled like the BLT he had had for lunch, before announcing the final song.
Even before the reverb on the last note had rung out, he was gone, having rushed off-stage in the manner of a man whose sphincter was about to impersonate a hole in the Hoover dam. With that, the lights and music were immediately raised, leaving the audience in no doubt that an encore would not be forthcoming.
With Easy Tiger , Ryan Adams remains an outstanding song-writer, and his songs are superbly complemented by The Cardinals. However, a less assuming artist may have thought to mention the album he was here to promote.
