I'm not Sure if I Agree

this is pretty old news but I've meant to write on it
from CNN the headline Ryan Adams has Meltdown at concert:
Ryan Adams pitched another fit for a Minneapolis audience, a few years after his last local meltdown. Throughout a show Thursday night, the 32-year-old singer-guitarist complained about the sound monitors onstage at the State Theatre. At one point, he moved two monitors, his microphone and his guitar pedals.

After 70 minutes he'd had enough. Adams announced "the last song," played it and didn't return for an encore. Many fans stood and booed.

It must have been a slow news day. He moved his microphone and guitar pedals. My word; think of the children. Isn't that the roadies job to make sure everything is where the star wants it?

I don't know if I would call a 70 minute show a "meltdown" I've been to a few concerts that barely touched 45 minutes. And I've never understood the modern point of an encore. I assume when the tradition started that it was a genuine and touching moment between musician and fans where the musician would acknowledge the love by coming back out. But now, now that every show has an encore where it is expected and booed if it doesn't happen, seems so phony to me. The whole thing should be called "a bathroom break where, the artists ego and feelings are stroked by the applause and the audience feels like they are connecting with the band enough to bring them back on stage to sing a hit or two that they've saved for this 'unexpected' encore." I've started to only clap for an encore if that is what is most important to me at that moment. And if the above mentioned show was so horrible and meltdownish why would the crowd want him to come back out? It's not like he walked out in the middle of the song- he did announce it would be his last song and it was. He should be admired for his integrity.

There are certain shows where you go partly because you want to be a part of what could go wrong, and with Ryan Adams' past trend of sometime erratic behavior that's kind of what you sign on for. It's like going to a Guns n Roses show back in the day and not expecting Axl to throw a fit, or going to an Amy Winehouse show and expecting her not to be blitzed. At a Velvet Revolver show a few years back the fact that the band came on like a full two hours after the opener made it more exciting- more "rock n roll."
But if you did go to the show and are still upset about Archive.org has an amazing live music search feature where you can find a ton of Ryan Adams' concerts- it's pretty amazing. And if you still fell bad Minnesota, just realize he still likes you all more than Tennessee.

Ryan Adams- Tennessee Sucks [mp3]

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