When it comes to listen to shows of the Cardinals from bygone years it's most often a mixed bag. A good night will be a tight first set with a musical theme, followed by a more meandering second set with variety of song choices and some standout numbers.

The problem with even the good nights is that there's almost always a several minute talk-set of banal musings. I have no idea at all what it's like to be a musical genius like Ryan Adams, maybe you just gotta vent everything to the audience from time to time to decompress all that geniusness. But it's really annoying to listen to this silliness as a usual byproduct of the outstanding musicianship of the Cardinals.

This show stands out in that it's more focused than the usual ones. I was drawn to it for the repeated Egyptology jam. I liked the concept, and it's some edgy music, although I'm not sure what it means. Adams is so prolific that it's hard to keep up with all his ideas.

But yeah, overall it's a focused show, which is refreshing.
Magnolia is slowed down but thoughtfully done. The highlight for me is Meadowlake Street, the reverb on his vocals is just right. I'm a Dead fan, and so I love the shows where he plays a Dead cover. We get two in this one, Stella and Wharf Rat, so I'm partial to it. I still don't know why they saved Dear John for the end of these shows. It's a decent enough song from the melodramatic portion of the catalog, but an energy killer.

Overall a concise represenation of the Cardinals in their prime. Four and a half stars.

That's all i can say...and THANK YOU THANK YOU Ryan Adams for not only being a moving/fantastic/awesome/inspring artist - but for posting your music here for free.

I've listened to many Ryan shows (Paramount/Sommerville/Ambassador/Orpheum) are my faves...but this ranks right up there. The sound quality is amazing, the songs...as always..are deeply moving...and i'm just so lucky to be able to crank this up on my bose speakers and sub-wolfer at home.

btw, it's funny when he gets pissed off at they guy in the office. Go Ryan!

Ryan is awesome. What else can I say?

Thanks for posting this. This is one of many great ryan adams and the cardinals shows on this site. You can never have enough. Ive been listening to many of these 06 shows recently and its amazing how good they are. The 07 shows get alot of praise, (rightfully so), but the 06 shows are overlooked sometimes, and this is one of the best.



EDIT*** The more I listen to this show the better it sounds to me. DJ Horsey poo really sums up the feel of the show with his review. Its hard to apprieaciate a concert when the artist is playing alot of new material. After time and repeated listens and the songs become more familiar to you, you start to releaze how great of a show you saw. I like the way Horsey Poo could appreiacate the show he was seeing. Sometimes when the audience angers Ryan, he lays down an aggressive show that can be a great performance. This is one of those cases. Case in point, after some guys yells at Ryan for talking about drinking juice when your felling bad, he stops a song short and rips into a killer version of Wharf Rat.

This was the first Ryan Adams gig I ever went to. It, therefore, has an obvious significance for me. I am eternally grateful to be able (5 years on) to hear it again. Things that I remember from the time (in case anyone is at all interested) are:
Ryan came across as being in a foul mood with the audience, which was completely understandable, as the majority had chatted loudly throughout the whole of Neil's opening set (for which Ryan played drums). For some reason, they chose to keep the house lights up for the entirety of Neal's performance, which only added to the "is this a roadie sound checking-or-what" reaction of the audience. I don't think the majority of the audiance even realised that the main man of the night was already on stage in front of them. Anyway, with that in mind....
From the off, you could sense that Ryan had a "well, if that's how you're going to treat my buddy, you can go fuck yourselves" vibe going on, which began to noticeably rub up against the (now pretty pissed, and rowdy) London audience. They wanted Firecracker and Come Pick Me Up, not the cosmic-Dead-head-mindfuck-jam experience they were about to witness. Although Ryan hardly said a word in between tunes, and despite all the other shit, the quality of the music stoned me. Just like Jelly-Role.
Bearing in mind, it wasn't until the sixth track that they played anything that had been released, that almost 50% of the music played was new tunes (I'm not complaining here), and that nothing from before 2005 was played at all, the music blew me (personally) into a different time zone. It's, what?, a couple of weeks before they play Das Haus? I remember the telepathy between the band being palpable; how long had Spacewolf been in the band? Not long, I know that. Combine that with, what must have been, a classy soundman (the mix is spot on, and the reverbs and echoes used on the vocals are exceptionally tasteful), and it all came together. I remember being particularly blown-away by Blue Hotel (which I had, obviously, never heard before) and, listening back to it with hindsight, I have to say it's my favourite-ever version; slightly slower than the Das Haus version, and has even more of a stax-motown feel to it.
Possibly because of the appalling treatment of Neil Cassal, there is an intelligible, yet latent animosity in Ryan's vocal deliveries. There is also a defiant swagger in the music, and even the song choice, that isn't present in the other shows from this period. If I were drunk enough (and I am) I would compare it do Dylan's belligerence toward his fans on the '66 tour. "I don't believe you...........you're a LIAR!"
At the end of the set, before the band had finished, Ryan threw his guitar to the ground and walked off stage. The thing is, rather than appearing like the brattish behaviour of a starlet who hadn't got his way, it came across as the final, futile gesture of an artist to his fans, all of whom just needed to catch up.
The personal highlight of the evening was Meadowlake Street. I had been addicted to this bizarre, dislocated piece of childhood reminiscence/nightmare, since buying Cold Roses. However, I always felt the tune could have 'kicked-off' more. I secretly had my fingers crossed that they would play it, but I certainly wasn't expecting the Beach Boys-meets-Mogwai onslaught I would experience. It was that fucked-up diary-entry of a song that I took home with me.
I may be reviewing this show through the chemical-fuelled, subjective glasses of someone who was there; BUT this was (in my opinion) the first plateau of quality for the Cardinals. It is more than worth a listen. Thanks guys.

This sounds incredible. Band seems into it in a big way. The willingness by the artists to offer sbd access is much appreciated by this listener.