Enmore Theatre | Sydney NSW Australia | January 29 2009

The recent online posting by Ryan Adams explaining his intention to step away from the Cardinals and music in general came as a surprise to many people. When you read the full content of the blog it becomes clear that he is seeking a new balance in his life with writing being one new passion. The pending dissolution of the Cardinals gave the Enmore Theatre show added meaning and Adams certainly didn’t disappoint.

Stringybark provided a brief support set out in front of the drawn curtains and it was an interesting choice.  Perhaps someone like Perry Keyes or the band Wifey would have been more appropriate as Ross Hamilton and his son and daughter rolled out songs that included a trio of Australian classics in ‘Waltzing Matilda’, ‘I Was Only Nineteen’ and ‘I Am Australian’ in a celtic folk style.  It was all very homely but a little too sweet and naive to really engage this particular audience.

The stage set for the Cardinals featured two large electric blue neon roses either side of the Cardinals logo from the recent Cardinology album.  Bathed in dusky purple, red and yellow washes of dim light the band took their places, strangely at the back half of the Enmore stage leaving a gulf between musicians and fans.

Ryan is notoriously moody when it comes to live shows so it was a relief to see him smiling and joking with the band from the outset, a theme that continued through the night and involved sock challenges, interpretive dance and banter with the fans. One moment in particular stood out when, after ‘Sweet Carolina’, a gentleman yelled out that it had been his wedding song.  Adams had a chat with the guy and was amused to hear that he had changed the words to “Oh my, sweet Alexandria”, forever tainting the song for Ryan.

Musically The Cardinals are a band that work both for and against Adams.  There is no doubting their exceptional playing skills, particularly Neal Casal’s guitar and vocal work and the pedal steel of Jon Graboff, but they do bring a form of stasis to the songs across a nearly two hour show.  The claustrophobic heat of the Enmore probably added to haze and blur of the performance but despite playing a set packed with favourites they did seem to blend together a little too seamlessly at times. Scary thoughts began entering my mind as I had flashbacks to Bon Jovi during ‘Magick’ and Dire Straits in some of the cleaner guitar tones.

The band delivered a wide song selection, maybe as a result of The Cardinals’ final months, rolling out tracks from the classic Heartbreaker right through to Cardinology. The aforementioned ‘Sweet Carolina’ along with ‘Come Pick Me Up’ were standouts and provided a good counterpoint to hear them alongside the newer songs, nine years after that debut solo record. ‘New York, New York’ hadn’t been aired live for a while and it was given a more restrained treatment, stripping it of it’s enthusiasm and turning it into a lament for the great city.

Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ has been covered by Adams for many years now and it was one of the highlights of the night.  He gave it a depth of emotion that was missing from the original. The sparse and minimal verses allowed Adams’ voice to ring out through the venue before the band fell in behind for the chorus and the guitars clambered over each other, spiralling upward towards the rafters.

As the set wore on the thoughts of the epic Ryan Adams gig started to surface (back in 2002 at the Metro he played for three hours plus) but not much longer after ‘Goodnight Rose’ he thanked the audience, declared the band was off to get pizza and bade us farewell.  The lack of an encore was a relief of sorts, especially as the crowd had already experienced a vintage Adams performance that had all the elements of tenderness, angst, humor and flippancy that makes him the unique musician and songwriter that he is.  Time will tell what future form his music will take but going on tonight’s batch of songs he will be sorely missed.