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The 1975 concert. nTelos Wireless Pavilion (Sprint Pavilion). Charlottesville, Virginia. June 13, 2016.

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RA&TS 7/19/16 Review

Excited to introduce another guest blogger, Clint Smith. Tuesday evening I made the trek with my dear friend, and previous featured blogger Lauren, to Charlottesville to see Ryan Adams. Rather than give our own recap, I decided to invite Clint, who also attended and is a huge RA fan and just happened to have front row seats, to share about his experience. You’ll enjoy the read, I certainly did. Special shout out to Evan Bowles and his photos from the front row.

Ryan Adams returned to Charlottesville on Tuesday night, bringing back the same trusty crew who played that stage fourteen months prior. The Shining, as he’s dubbed his backing band, delivered a mesmerizing wall of sound behind nearly two hours of their frontman’s most beloved tunes.

Margo Price, a rising star in the underground country scene, opened the evening with a handful of honky-tonkers from her recent Third Man release, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter. She was clearly excited to be there as everyone else was, as she and her band held nothing back, doing their job to warm up the near-capacity crowd at the Sprint Wireless Pavilion on Charlottesville’s historic Downtown Mall.

Ryan Adams and the Shining took the stage at half-past eight and launched into “Trouble” and “Gimme Something Good”, two straight-ahead rockers from Ryan’s 2014 eponymous release. Adams was clearly in a great mood, taking time in between songs to heckle the venue’s police officer (“He’s gonna arrest me for crimes against music!”) and discuss his dissatisfaction with organist Daniel Clarke’s new high score on the band’s touring pinball machine. The setlist then moved into a half-dozen favorites from his early career, including singalongs (“New York, New York”, “When the Stars Go Blue”) and headbangers (“To Be Young [Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High]”, “Shakedown on 9th Street”). A mellow, stretched-out “Let It Ride” harkened back to the Cardinals days with twangy electric guitar solos and three-part harmonies.

Following a short mid-set break to celebrate the lighting tech’s birthday (complete with a hand-delivered, candlelit cake), the boys shifted into high gear and gave the crowd the red meat they had come for. “Stay With Me” delivered and “Dear Chicago” delighted, but the highlight of the evening was the ten-minute “Peaceful Valley”, which exploded with more power than any of Ryan’s bands have ever delivered, including the (amazing) 2008 Cardinals. (I captured the last couple minutes, which you can see here:

Margo joined Ryan onstage for the only acoustic number of the evening, the always-lovely “A Kiss Before I Go”, from the country-est of the alternative country artist’s albums, 2005’s Jacksonville City Nights. The heat returned for a jammy, transcendental “Magnolia Mountain”, surprising even Ryan himself with its greatness: “I play that song a lot of times but it’s never as f*ing fun as playing it here! It’s always the s*t when we play it here!”

Late in the set Adams busted out two rarities: the forgotten (and underappreciated) “Halloween Head”, complete with a slowed-down, Black Sabbath-style outro, and hardcore punk rocker “When the Summer Ends”, from the 2014 EP 1984. He also improvised two songs -- “Purple Houses”, involving Indiana Jones living in Charlottesville, and “The Greatest Hug of All”, dedicated to his organist’s mother, who was in attendance. Ryan ended the evening with his harmonica, closing out the set with “Oh My Sweet Carolina” and encoring with Margo Price on the soundtrack-favorite “Come Pick Me Up”.

Though it wasn’t the best Adams show I’ve seen (that honor belongs to this gem), it was a ton of fun, and the closest I’ve ever been to the stage. My buddy Evan, who took these fabulous photographs, by the way, scored front-row seats for this show, and we were directly in front of Ryan himself. This allowed not only for great Kodak moments but also the chance to have a little dialogue with the famously ornery musician. I took a few opportunities to compliment extraordinary guitar and keyboard solos, prompting Ryan to dub me the “Solo Ref”. It’s a great responsibility, and one that I will not take lightly.

Words by Clint Smith ([email protected])

Photos by Evan Bowles (https://www.flickr.com/photos/brtrnlds/sets/72157607681986213)

#ryan adams #the shining #margo price #sprint pavilion #charlottesville #rva #rvamusic