Elvis Costello
The Orpheum, Vancouver, BC
7-21-2003
The show took place at the Orpheum, which is the home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. I salivated at the thought of perfect acoustics as I took my seat in the second row of the balcony; not as close as I thought I'd be, but given the context of the show, it was absolutely perfect.
This tour is just Elvis and Steve Nieve, and as much as I love Elvis' rawk shows, this was a lovely, refreshing, simply beautiful performance. It didn't feel like a pop music show, it felt more like I was seeing Frank Sinatra, or something.
His stage presence was simply masterful. He filled the stage even though it was just the two of them. And the setlist was out of this world (see below). The crowd responded in the same spirit, keeping absolutely silent through the entire show - except for one idiot, who, about 1/3 through the show, screamed out, "Play some rock songs, we're falling asleep up here." I held my breath, waiting for a typical biting Elvis response, and he did not disappoint: "Well, you know where the door is, then... as a great Irish poet once said, 'We mean it, man." I later commented that it wasn't like someone yelled out "Judas!" or something...
The highlight of the show, for me, was when Elvis had them turn off the microphones and he came to the edge of the stage and sang unamplified. And he carried it off with power and presence and it was utterly awe-inspiring. Second highlight: the crowd call and response during "You Really Got A Hold On Me" (slipped into "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" during the first encore). Third highlight: Elvis' uncensored digs at the States. It felt kind of strange to be an American in a thoroughly Canadian audience hearing these statements (which I agreed with, that wasn't the problem).
I have accompanied this man through almost every single stage of his musical journey from the very beginning, seen him on Broadway and at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium and at the Bridgeport Jai-Lai fronton (not kidding). I just feel blessed to have the perspective and the privilege to have been there all along the way.
Neil Young and Crazy Horse
White River Ampitheater, Burien, WA
7-16-03
I have been in self-imposed Greendale blackout. I knew he was doing it, I knew the basic concept, but I have not read any posts or reviews aside from general local newspaper ones posted around the internet - I haven't been to Neil's site, I hadn't heard any of the songs (despite having several live shows in my possession). Part of it was intentional, the other part was that I was just too busy.
I honestly do not understand any of the complaints. At all. The music was completely brand-new to me, and I loved every minute - and if I didn't love it, I didn't hate it either. The story was easy enough to follow if you're not drunk off your ass and don't have ADD. If you just let yourself participate in the story and let Neil take you where he wanted to go, I do not see how anyone could have been bored, UNLESS all you know and care about Neil Young is the Greatest Hits. (And even then, it's not like it was that humdrum a story.) This audience loved the show. Even people who didn't know much about it were paying attention. There was not a lot of wandering around that I could see. For the most part, people stayed put and seemed to respond well to the basic themes and messages he was trying to convey.
The performance was impeccable. The music is accessible and it's well-balanced between hard rock and rockin ballads and narratives, there's only ONE acoustic song ("I'm going to go over here and sing a song, and I could use your help... well, I'm gonna go now... you've seen me do this before...") It's not like the audience has to sit still the entire time. There were tons of people dancing (and not just doing that annoying Greatful Dead twirling thing). People were just plain into it.
I LIKED the "homegrown" feel of it. It felt like watching an old time tent revival kind of show. And as high tech a guy as Neil is (and oh is he), he could have done anything he wanted with this story, and he chose to present it exactly in this fashion. I think a lot of complaints are around the lo-techness of the stage play. In this day and age, we're used to flying bridges and spinning drum risers and huge video screens, and here's Neil giving us an analog play. I liked that part of it, though. I liked that he has his friends and family and crew and friends of friends appear in it.
They clear the stage and reset it, and on amble NY and CH, they were showing bits of the Rust Never Sleeps DVD behind the stage while they set up (that is one GREAT DVD), and then there they are. They start "Hey Hey My My," those thudding chords bringing the entire audience to their feet. My friend says to me, "Oh my god, nothing has ever sounded so good." The ENTIRE place was on their feet, all the way up to the back of the lawn. It was incredible. I was having a discussion recently with someone who doesn't really like Neil, and I stood there last night going, "HOW ON EARTH IS IT POSSIBLE TO NOT LIKE THIS?"
HHMM, Powderfinger, DBTR, Sedan Delivery, and - I can't believe he played this! - Prisoners of Rock and Roll! (I had an ex who used to insist that song was about the Replacements.) Okay, it was pretty much the standard second set (but I didn't know that because I wasn't reading setlists), but he was playing SO HARD and was SO frantic and intense (and that's on the Neil intensity scale, which is something else altogether). I loved the two women behind us who were singing Sedan Delivery so loud they were outsinging Neil. It was so sweet.
He finishes the first "encore" and goes off. My friend and I stand there and it's like halftime commentary, except on the show:
"Okay, what can he do next?"
"What would fit thematically?"
We both look at each other and in the same instant: "Rockin In The Free
World!"
"I'd like to hear Fuckin Up"
"He could do Fuckin Up and then RITFW, I wouldn't mind."
"Um, that would be The Pearl Jam Encore."
We laugh really hard at that thought, because it was true.
"Cinnamon Girl would be a nice crowd-pleaser..."
"Piece of Crap would fit, too."
"As would Mother Earth."
"But that would be a bummer now."
"And the organ is nowhere to be seen."
Out walks Neil and the band again, and sure enough - RITFW, which makes us
giggle outrageously like it was our big private joke. And it was WEIRD, because I don't remember the last time I heard Neil's version live electric, and he's doing it slower, and my usual response to my usual circumstances hearing RITFW (ie, Pearl Jam encore) is to pogo like crazy. I have to fight that urge physically. The other funny thing is that my friend and I find ourselves singing along loudly, but we're using Eddie's phrasing and cadence, because, well, that's what we're used to hearing. Heard too many live Pearl Jam versions vs. live Neil electric versions.
I do not understand how people think this is not worth $78.50. I mean, Lucinda Williams (who I very regretfully only saw 3/4 of a set from because the traffic getting to the venue was so bad), AND Neil playing an entire new album, and then what amounts to practically a whole second set??? I'm not getting it, at all. I loved it. It was funny and inspiring and thoughtful and sarcastic and then LOUD and happy. It was nothing short of fucking great.
This is only part one; I need to get the album and spend some time with it before I write some more. I did joyously discover that I could download "Bandit" and "Be The Rain" from the iTunes store (and god do I have a lot to say about that, but, another time); I have not been so moved by anything Neil has done since Sleeps With Angels. He's still got it, and it's just so righteous to witness him full of energy and enthusiasm and drive and passion for a new project.
Months ago, Ryan was promoting this show (through rambling posts on his message board) as "his last show". To anyone who knows even the smallest bit about Ryan Adams, this information was taken with the largest boulder of salt imaginable. That said, spending the 4th of July in New York City, down at Battery Park, watching Jesse Malin and Ryan Adams play for free, wasn't the worst idea in the world.
Jesse Malin is, quite simply, one of the good guys. He just lives and breathes rock and roll in a completely natural, unaffected manner. It's just HIM. He reminds me of the bastard son of all of the Ramones, except there's a lot more substance to his lyrics. D-Generation were a great fucking band, and his latest incarnation is pretty damn solid as well. They played a solid, thoroughly enjoyable set to open, including dedicating his cover of Bruce's "Hungry Heart" to Joey Ramone. Right fucking on.
Ryan comes out wearing a blue-and-orange shirt reading "New York" (the New York magazine style logo), Robert-Smith-esqe hair as usual, happy and ebullient and just a touch nervous. He was happy to be there, plain and simple. Of course, he opened with the only possible choice for that day: "Firecracker". The Pink Hearts are backing him up, and there was a two-man horn section also onstage. Me, I [heart] horn sections. And while they weren't exactly the Miami Horns, they weren't as bad as a lot of people around me seemed to think they were. I think it would have helped if they had been mic'd better, and also, integrating a horn section into a live act is not a trivial thing. But, to me, the bigger point was that Ryan was trying to put some effort into this show and make it something special.
Given the context of the show, I was absolutely expecting to get all of the hits, and Ryan wouldn't have been doing his job if he hadn't played them. It would have been self-indulgent and selfish. Speaking of - yes, those words are often used to describe Ryan Adams onstage. I guess there's no other way to describe it than - Ryan was on his best behavior, he was using his company manners.
So he played the hits, and he pulled out some deep album cuts, and he also threw in one unreleased song (a fiery "Vampire") and one new one ("Chelsea Nights"). And it wouldn't be a Ryan Adams show if he didn't start riffing verbally on one theme or another; he began by imitating a antihistimine-impaired heavy metal fan who had been mowing lawns all summer so they could go see Metallica. Later, he'd go off on this deeper-than-he-let-on quasi-prayer to the four elements, starting with water, moving on to air, and dirt, and fire. Of course, this was also tempered with a song about how great America is because of cheese (prompting a woman to run through the crowd towards the front at near the end of the show, holding a saran-wrapped block of mushy Cheddar in her hand - "Ryan! I've got cheese!" Fans in the front rows obliged her by throwing it onstage.) And he even made fun of himself, launching into an improv along the lines of, "It's all about ME, you know..." But for once, it was absolutely tongue in cheek. However, it was priceless to have a vantage point of his backing band, particularly Billy Mercer, who were only half-laughingly rolling their eyes at Ryan behind his back as he sang this little ditty.
For the last number of the day, he brought out Jesse Malin to sing a song I referred to later as "Street Fighting Happy Man" because while it most definitely started out musically as "Street Fighting Man," when Jesse started singing, it was the lyrics to "Happy". The band recovered just fine and I'm sure most people didn't even notice.
In summary, my usual complaints about Ryan live were nowhere to be found: he was sober, he wasn't cranky, he rambled but not excessively, his voice was in fantastic shape (and the man just has one of the most heartbreaking, wonderful instruments in rock and roll today, no matter what you think of him), and finally, he actually PLAYED the fucking guitar instead of using it as a prop, and he played it damn well.
Later that night, I stood in the middle of Avenue A at the corner of 7th Street and watched the fireworks both at the end of Manhattan and on the East River, through the trees in Tompkins Square Park. Traffic crawled to a standstill, the cops drove by and only asked us to move out of their way, and for more than a New York minute, the city was full of magic.
Seems like a fitting end to the day.