Photos and Review by Stephen Bloch
Massive smoke machines. Check. Strobes and pulsing lights. Check. 20 minute long jams. Check. Face melting guitar work. Check. Somewhat obnoxious crowd belting out requests and catcalls. Check. This is what I expect at an arena show or late night festival set from band xxx, not Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, but that’s EXACTLY what we got on Sunday night at Milwaukee’s grand dame of theaters, The Pabst. I had no problem with that. Some may have.
Ryan Adams has been one of the most if not the most prolific musicians for the last 30+ years. In 2004 he formed Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, but the band only played until 2009. They are back and have raised the bar to new levels, committing to 3+ hour long shows (with ample jamming to achieve that duration).
On Sunday, amidst smoke and light, Adams and company emerged and opened with “Cold Roses” off of the album with the same name. It’s one of his more recognizable cuts and clearly draws inspiration from the Americana and jam sounds of The Grateful Dead. Every track played had some form of extended jam, but inspiration came from all directions.
Black Sabbath’s “Black Sabbath” was dark and brooding and filled with reverb and delay. Adams had his head down with his locks sweeping over his eyes. This fit the bill for this cut, but it probably wasn’t what many people were expecting at a Cardinals show. If patrons didn’t do their research or were thinking this was going to be a folk and Alt-country leaning show, they may have thought they went to the venue on the wrong night.
Adams said his best concert experiences come from showing up and letting the artist do what they do best-pick the songs that seem to work and sound good. I did just that. I came prepared but made no predictions. Let Adams’ work his magic with open ears and arms.
There was copious amounts of banter at the show. Some good (yes, the smoke did smell a bit like a pina colada fart that Sammy Hagar might rip) and some not so good-Ryan is NOT a fan of over-served folk yelling out requests, trying to have conversations with him, or being disrespectful. Adams got so agitated by one fan’s jeering that he gave himself and the band a timeout after “Fix It”. It seemed to do the trick as the band returned 15 minutes later and absolutely tore it up for the next 75 minutes. They returned energized for a 20 min “Magnolia Mountain” and two covers from The Velvet Underground, “Pale Blue Eyes” and “Candy Says”. The depth of this band’s interests and talents was on full display. Show closer was the customary “Let it Ride”.
It took some patience for Adams and probably for fans at times, but the reward was there in the end. We were treated to a night of all out face melting improvisation and jam. This band has supremely talented musicians in Adams, Brad Pemberton on drums, and three newcomers, Chris Stills on guitar (son of Stephen Stills), Daniel Clarke on keys, and Don Was on bass. Only Uber-talented musicians can pull off what they did. If you can see this, you SHOULD see this.
