The Cardinals, Live in Indy

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals (or as the marquee billed them "The Cardinals featuring Ryan Adams") put on a fantastic concert at the Murat Theater in Indy last night. This was the first concert Cathy and I had been to together since a John Mellencamp show in 2002, I believe.

The band was in great form, performing hard edged "rock" versions of songs, with lots of extended jams. Jon Grayboff's pedal steel was mostly lost in the mix; only really shining in a couple of songs. Only two songs featured piano. The new songs were great. Thank goodness for YouTube and tapers or I might not have enjoyed them quite as much. Although I thought "Evergreen" fell completely flat. I was surprised they didn't play "Fix It," which is going to be their first single from their new album. Most of the songs were from Easy Tiger, Jacksonville City Nights and Cold Roses, but they threw in a couple of older gems too. Nothing from Ryan's Whiskeytown days, however.

Ryan wasn't much on the stage chatter. They took the stage, with no opening act, without as much as a "Are you ready to rock, Indy?!" About 40 minutes into the show, they started having monitor problems. Ryan said that his voice in his ears sounded like Darth Vader. They left the sage to correct the problem and we were treated to an odd opera track and what sounded like some of Ryan's "rap". At least it wasn't any of his death metal. Thankfully they fixed the problem and we weren't witnesses to any of Ryan's infamously temperamental stage antics. I've heard he's much more even tempered now that he's clean and sober.

Pretty cool stage design, with two big neon "cold roses" logos that Cathy had seared into her eyes the whole ride home and the strange new "Cardinology" logo that doubled as a gong holder for the drummer, Brad Pemberton. Here's the set list, courtesy of the official Cardinals Cave Blog, with edits.

1. Cobwebs (new song)
   
2. Wonderwall (Oasis cover)
   
3. Mockingbird
4. Goodnight Rose (VIDEO)
   
5. Off Broadway
6. Natural Ghost (new song)
   
7. Please Do Not Let Me Go
8. I See Monsters
9. Let It Ride
10. Desire
    
11. Sun Also Sets
12. What Sin Replaces Love (rather obscure bonus track from Jacksonville City Nights)
    
13. Like Yesterday (new song)
    
14. Games (VIDEO)
    
15. Everybody Knows
16. Sink Ships (new song)
    
17. Come Pick Me Up
18. When the Stars Go Blue
19. Oh My God, Whatever Etc. (VIDEO)
    
20. Beautiful Sorta
21. Evergreen (New song)
    
22. Bartering Lines (a blistering performance of this originally rather subdued song) (VIDEO)
    
23. Rescue Blues (featuring Ryan on piano)
    
24. La Cienega Just Smiled
    
25. Two (VIDEO)
    
26. Easy Plateau (capped with a feedback barrage that left Cathy's ears bleeding)
    

Listen to the show here:


Check out 3 live in studio tracks (Two , Fix It, and Everybody Knows) from The Cardinals at the WTTS web site. These are all acoustic tracks, unlike the all electric set at the Murat.

Photos from Nuvo.

Here's a recent Rolling Stone interview with Ryan.

There's also a great new Ryan Adams article in the latest Paste Magazine.