He Who Shall Be Named

Went to the Ryan Adams show in Raleigh last night. It was amazing. First time I've ever seen Ryan and I walked away impressed.
Going in, we wondered how things would play out. Would he act like a jackass? Would the crowd give him hell? Raleigh's his "hometown crowd" more or less, and according to reports, several years ago, he said he'd never come back to play in NC. But he did. And we are so glad.
The show did not start promptly at 8 (as advertised), and that was a relief, because we had a heck of a time finding the place using the directions off the 'net. Ended up parking only a few blocks away and hustled to get there, hoping Ryan would be late. He was. Yay.
Use of lighting and backdrop was tasteful, yet interesting. It featured silver balloons of various sizes, scattered at different heights along the back curtain of colored lights. The balloons swayed gently in the breezes from the a/c (damn it was cold in that building!) but didn't bob along in a cartoon freaky way. The curtain of lights featured only one color of light at a time (thankfully....didn't look like a Christmas tree gone awry) and followed the lighting theme for each song (i.e., teensy purple lights in the curtain lit up when the purplish lighting was used overall). I'm not explaining this well, but suffice it to say, it looked good, and I can be pretty critical about that kind of stuff.
Ryan's onstage banter between songs was often hard to hear, as he talked off mic to his band. A random girl hollered "I love you Ryan!" at the beginning of the show, and his memorable answer was "Well then, I apologize in advance."
The band was tight, the songs were presented very well. The acoustics were very nice, but maybe not suited for a loud rock band.
I was seated next to "crazy rock chick" who was talking to herself, and anyone who would listen. [Note to self: quit talking aloud in public. people will think you are crazy.] She laughed loudly at anything Ryan said, yelled out a lot, and was basically annoying. I was so happy when she finally moved to get closer.
Personal highlights: "Oh My Sweet Carolina" - first Ryan song I ever heard, will probably always be my favorite. Didn't expect to hear it, but thrilled that he played it. Everything else was gravy. For those 5 minutes, Ryan held everyone in the hall in the palm of his hand. When the song began, it was like a collective gasp of breath. Didn't have a bunch of people singing along loudly, as far as I could hear. Heard a few people whispering along, but it was as if they didn't want to break the spell of the delicate song. When he finished, the crowd couldn't be contained and rewarded him with rapturous applause. A homecoming song performed for the hometown crowd, and it was almost perfect.
"My Winding Wheel," "To Be Young" - more songs I didn't think I'd get to hear live...super versions of both. "Winding Wheel" was amped up by the addition of the full band. "To Be Young" rocked in a slightly different tempo/arrangement.
Caitlin and Ryan reuniting on stage to sing old Whiskeytown songs - unrehearsed, but magical.

And then, there was the after-party.
We ended up with a boot on the car because we hadn't paid to park in the lot in advance. We were extremely pissed and I don't think that anyone else paid, but we were the last car in the lot, so I don't know what misfortune fell upon the other folks, if any.
Got to the bar for the after-party and it was rather crowded. Ran into some folks we knew, got to meet some new ones. Waited around, drank, waited some more, and finally, Ryan showed up.
Positioned myself on a flight of stairs so that I was a little higher than the crowd and just reveled in the moment. For an hour or so, Whiskeytown was reunited. It seemed so natural, and the crowd ate it up. I've seen a few pictures that have already been posted online, and it almost seems unreal. But yes, I was there.

Last night's shows were easily the best of the year so far, and may even rate pretty high up there as best all time in my experience. Front row at R.E.M. in Atlanta was awesome, but it might fall into second place, or at least tie for first now.