Ryan Adams at the Sage Gateshead

A bit late with this one but I went to see Ryan Adams at the Sage Gateshead a couple of weeks ago and it was most certainly worthy of a blog. I've been a fan of his for over ten years now (Gold was constantly on my MiniDisc player back in the pre iPod days) but this was somehow the first time I'd ever seen him live and it also shockingly doubled as my first ever visit to the Sage too. I follow them on Twitter and Facebook but only ever seem to find out about gigs there when someone is tagging them-self at the actual event and it's all a bit too late at that point. Thankfully, not the case this time....

My brother and I got up there for about 7, had a few drinks at The Central (nice bar, not so nice prices) and then went straight into the theatre. Neither of us are too keen on support acts, so we skipped whoever that was and got there just before he came on stage. The gig was in an all seater theatre, with Ryan Adams shuffling between just a piano and a couple of guitars on a bare stage. Predictably, the acoustics were the best i've experienced (I particularly enjoyed the Empire Strikes Back style rooms that act as a sound buffer between the main theatre and the outside hall) and his voice was just incredible. Bit of a nightmare if you need to leave the hall mind, as you can only get back in during a 'song break', so need to wait in the buffer room and then quickly run to your seat when one occurs. The gig itself was very reminiscent of the PJ Harvey one last year with the audience being very knowledgeable and a lot more respective than those you find at the average Academy gig, so no thrown beer here. Not everyone was obviously - despite people being told not to use flashes they still did it (and it was very distracting), even after he called out someone for doing so. People shouting out shit like 'WELCOME TO GATESHEAD RYAN'  and song requests should be shot on the spot too. I'd literally punch one of my mates in the face if they did that, and nobody is changing a setlist just because you screamed some obscure b-side. Absolutely mortifying. The person 'miaowing' particularly freaked me out.  He handled it all well though and his rambling stream of conscious style stories were throughly good craic too, a lot better than I had been led to believe. 

The setlist was a mixture of older stuff and tracks from the Ashes & Fire album with every song fitting the setting perfectly. Winding Wheel and Come Pick Me Up were the definite highlights for me. Another pretty much amazing gig! (And no photos unfortunately because i'm not a dick).

1. Oh My Sweet Carolina 
2. Ashes & Fire 
3. If I Am A Stranger 
   (Ryan Adams & The Cardinals cover)
4. Dirty Rain 
5. My Winding Wheel 
6. The Rescue Blues 
7. Please Do Not Let Me Go 
8. Do I Wait 
9. Firecracker 
10. Everybody Knows 
11. Sweet Lil' Gal (23rd/1st) 
    (Ryan on Piano)
12. Let It Ride 
    (Ryan Adams & The Cardinals cover)
13. English Girls Approximately 
14. Chains Of Love 
15. 16 Days 
    (Whiskeytown song)
16. New York, New York 
    (Ryan on piano)
17. Lucky Now 
18. Come Pick Me Up 
19. Encore:
19. Nutshell 
    (Alice in Chains cover)

He's just released an iTunes session too with songs and arrangements from the tour which i'd highly recommend as well!

Song for the Day - Come Pick Me Up