Miles from Fenway: Christmas Come Early

Well, sort of. My Christmas present for Barnard Boy, a ridiculously large Ryan Adams fan, was two tickets to the show last night at Town Hall. I gave them to him with the stipulation that he was in no way required to take me to see the show. See, Adams played Monday night, which BB went to alone, last night, and also tonight. Four of us already had tickets to tomorrow's show and while I like Ryan Adams, two nights in a row wasn't necessary. But apparently no one else could make it so to my first of two shows I went.

It was a fantastic show. Now, I'll readily admit to being a casual fan of Ryan Adams. I may know Gold like the back of my hand, but the rest? Not so much. Barnard Boy is trying to change that, but hey, a girl can only learn so quick. Still, I loved every minute of the show. Norah Jones opened up, and later joined Ryan for a duet on "Dear John" that was just absolutely beautiful. "Nobody Girl", "Harder Now That It's Over", and "Firecracker" were played, which made me feel less ... um, well Ryan-Adams-stupid is the best way to put it I guess. You can see the full set-list, and a video of the "Dear John" performance here.

Now, Barnard Boy and many others had told me about Ryan's stage presence wackiness. Last night he walked onto the stage in 6 inch black pleather knee high platform boots, jeans that appeared as if they had been painted on him, and a ponytail sticking straight out of the top of his head a la Pebbles from the Flintstones. I seriously would have broken both ankles before even taking a step in those boots. But I loved the fact that he and the band spoke to the audience so much. He's an engaging stage presence that's for sure.

One last note before I head off to get ready for my interview this afternoon, I still feel a little weird watching concerts in venues that have seats. I'm more of a stand up and bounce kinda show goer myself, so sitting down through an entire concert always feels, stifled. Towards the end a bunch of people were standing up in back, as a matter of fact one of them even yelled at everyone else for being yuppies and sitting down all night (which I was alternately offended by and loved all at the same time) and a large part of me wishes the entire crowd had done that all night, but I guess that's just not the way venues like this operate.

Oh, I lied, that wasn't the last note, the last note is that the people sitting in front of Barnard Boy? Annoyed the HELL out of both of us. The talked through the entire show, which made for a lot of shifting in our seats in order to continue to see the stage. But when they weren't talking she was raising her hands above her head to clap or snap along like she was the biggest fan at the show. Um, if that's the case sweetie, shut the hell up and WATCH. And you know it's bad when you piss off someone who's favorite Ryan Adams song is "Gonna Make You Love Me".

Labels: music

posted by FINY @ Wednesday, December 06, 2006

2 Comments:

At 12/06/2006, Esther said…

Good luck on your interview. Sounds like a great show, and hopefully the people at the next show will shut up.
At 12/07/2006, Chief Slacker said…

that's where those 6" platform boots would come in handy, you could cross your legs and "accidentally" kick the annoying one in the back of the head, knocking her cold and then thoroughly enjoy the rest of the show....