Crib Notes

by Michael Gerber

Ryan Adams at the Tabernacle, March 8

Unlike Ryan Adams two previous Atlanta concerts, there were no boos last Sunday night. Although there were times when a repeat of his October walk-off seemed inevitable. Again, Adams complained that he wasn’t feeling well and was having trouble with his voice. There also seemed to be problems with the microphone.

To the listener, the struggle put an extra layer of sorrow to painful lines like, “Oh, Jacksonville! How you burn in my soul! How you hold all my dreams captive!” He could barely get the words out, and the exclamation points weren’t screamed, but could be felt by the missing notes and unheard lyrics. There was a sense of desperateness that enhanced the first few songs. Last October, after a handful of songs in a similar vein, he made an affectless apology and called it a night. Four and a half months later, it felt like it was happening again.

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Atlanta blog Cable & Tweed reported today that Ryan Adams and Co. are coming back to Atlanta, to make up for a botched performance back in October.

According to Cable & Tweed:

…it looks like Ryan and the band are going to make up for any disappointment. Atlanta Music Guide says that they will play at the Fox Theatre on March 20, and fans who attended the October 17 show can go for free. I presume other individuals can buy tickets per usual, but the show is not yet on the Fox calendar.

Head over to AMG for further details on the ticket exchange program.

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By Michael Gerber

For the second time in a row, Ryan Adams has walked off an Atlanta stage to a chorus of boos. In October 2007 Adams didn’t play an encore to his two set, 20-song performance at the Fox Theatre. Apparently, this wasn’t enough and a captivating show ended prematurely. On Friday, Oct. 18, he barely made it through about 12 songs and a second set wasn’t even mentioned.

Five songs in he started complaining that his voice wasn’t singing like he wanted it to. His stage banter was entirely made up of emotionless apologies about him being sick and the effect on his voice. “I’m doing a disservice to the band and the audience,” he said. But the apologies were unnecessary. His Carolina twang was replaced by a raspy rocker struggling to get his words out. The quivering melancholy was replaced by rough frustration, which conveyed his desperation just as effectively. The imperfections actually gave this amphitheater show a level of intimacy. In fact, the missed notes made it appropriately painful, and the sad songs were sadder. And all his songs are sad. “I sound like the guy from the Goo-Goo Dolls,” the self-deprecations continued. Well, that’s another way of seeing it.

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