There was a time when The Cardinals ruled the earth (well, at least my earth). They played the best mid-sized venues, they chatted with their fans, some of them probably drank too much. They also played killer jams, and today’s JOTD shows evidence of that.
But first, let me tell my story.
In October of 2007, I journeyed to Indianapolis with my friend, Matt, to see The Cards just a few days before said friend’s wedding. Our plan was to make the 3+ hour drive back to St. Louis after the show, and, of course, the show started late; Adams was at the Indianapolis downtown mall, purchasing a leather jacket at Hot Topic. His story was that he forgot what time zone he was in. Crazy, right? It got crazier.
For about 85% of the show, we watched Adams and Co. tear shit up from quite possibly the worst seats in the venue (seriously, they should have been discounted tickets). But, after we chatted with The Cards’ tour manager for a bit (and posed on Adams’ skateboard in the theater’s foyer; this was after we spotted Adams himself in the foyer, unabashedly checking out women and their butts, and outside, during intermission), we got smart and hopped on down to some fine seats near the stage.
Weird (and awesome) things started to happen.
A fan yelled out “Come Pick Me Up,” something you should never do at a Ryan Adams performance. Of course, this got Ryan going with his banter (listen here) about Titanic and Friends.
Classic.
But what was even greater was the show closer, “I See Monsters,” which we were fortunate enough to witness from our all-of-a-sudden spectacular seats. I think back to all the Ryan Adams shows I have been to (I’ve lost count – it has to be around 15), and this is probably the best “jam” moment of them all. So, enjoy.
Oh, and if you ever get a chance to see Ryan Adams live again, which isn’t a sure thing these days, always go to the show. Always.