Ryan Adams @ Entertainment Centre Theatre, Adelaide 7/10/2025
Ryan Adams returned to Adelaide playing to a small and enthusiastic supporter base described by himself on socials as the smallest crowd on this tour. Probably not the best way to endear himself to fans sitting on the fence contemplating going to the show. Coupled with past controversies with the #MeToo movement might have been a bridge to far for some. Nevertheless there’s no doubt he is a music genius and talent who probably is misunderstood by many. By his own admission he admitted to not requiring a support act as he had way to many songs of his own to play. Having read the online commentary from the Perth show there was much trepidation about going and what version of Ryan we would see.
With more front than David Jones, Ryan Adams took the stage having being introduced as “the beast from the East, the one and only Ryan Adams.” Taking the stage saying “if you’re not going to give me a standing ovation, I’ll tell jokes all night”. Complying with the request the crowd stood, cheered and clapped loudly. The first set was focused on classic debut album Heartbreaker (celebrating twenty five years) before an intermission so that “alcoholism can be practiced”. The second set was an assortment of songs and covers and perhaps a little “looser”.
Acknowledging the “weirdness” of Adelaide it didn’t take long for the crowd to start yelling stuff out starting with the reference to our city “no one knows we’re here” to which Adams did an impromptu song saying that is a great name for a song “give me another one”. Even some old chap got in on the action saying he couldn’t see from the side prompting Adams to ask ushers to move him to the aisle, and he felt this irksome need to be a part of the show. Newsflash, we didn’t come to see you. It really does seem like the basic etiquette of going to a show these days is lost on a lot of people and the motto of “shut the fuck up” when the artist is on is something that is clearly misunderstood which really did detract from the show. The plonka in section B was lucky to not be dropped on his head with this ongoing “dialogue” throughout the show. By the end fellow showgoers were fed up and told him in no certain terms to shut up ultimately costing us an additional Smiths cover.
But as Adams pointed out “at a Ryan Adams show everything is in play”. The staging was kind of homely set up like lounge with a number of chairs and dimly light lamps changing between acoustic guitars, harmonica and piano. It already seemed an eternity by the time the first song To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High) was finished before rolling in to My Winding Wheel. Throughout he was quite self critical particularly if a joke fell flat and his quote “sometimes when I go to work it feels like a whole bunch of strangers are judging me” stood firm. Taking to the piano on In My Time of Need he made the comment that his piano needed a mirror so that he didn’t “musically back in to somebody.”
A fan taking a photo with the flash on set Adams off, rightly so, saying that it has the potential to inflict a seizure (which he also said was why he could not come last time when scheduled) then speaking about equality not being oriented in truth speaking quite strongly about what was printed in regards to Phoebe Bridgers. The poignant moment was the tribute to his brother in Oh My Sweet Carolina was equally sad and brilliant. There were some moments of brilliance in there with Amy, Shakedown on 9th Street and Sweet Lil’ Gal (23rd/1st). There was no love lost for Keith Urban then on the flipside didn’t hide his attraction to Nicole Kidman either. With a great selling proposition Adams said that anyone who bought a record from the merch stand in the intermission he would sign it, and he did, spending longer than fifteen minutes doing so saying that he “didn’t need to pee”.
Returning for the second set and starting with Over The Rainbow things started to unravel not having quite the same structure of playing an entire album. It’s clear that this passion is for playing his new songs having growing tiresome of the older material aborting When the Stars Go Blue. Some crowd members really didn’t help the cause either. There were some solid moments such as the Whiskeytown cover Avenues, Bob Dylan’s If You See Her, Say Hello and The Smiths That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore. Growing frustrated as he was up against the venue curfew. The version of Come Pick Me Up with heavy vocals was an interesting take finishing on Not Dark Yet. There were moments of brilliance but easily distracted by certain crowd members which didn’t help him stay in the moment and fully capture the emotion of these songs. It is true what he said that “everything is in play at Ryan Adams show” rightly or wrongly.
Live Review By Rob Lyon