Ryan Adams & The Cardinals– Shepherds Bush Empire

Considering his history for unpredictable behavior, Ryan Adams Saturday night show in London was reasonably predictable, if not a little self-indulgent.

Touring in support of his three 2005 releases: ‘29’, ‘Jacksonville City Lights’ and ‘Cold Roses’ – it was the latter two band-orientated records that got the lions-share of the set-list tonight, with a couple of older songs, snatches of wacky covers, and some new songs included as well.

Cardinals guitarist Neal Casal opened things up with a 45 minute acoustic set that reminded me he was a bonda fide solo artist (with over a dozen albums to his credit) before hooking up with Ryan Adams. The first half of his set was enjoyable solo acoustic stuff – but things really picked up for the second half when he was joined on drums and harmony vocals by Dj Reggie (a poorly disguised Ryan Adams –playing in almost complete darkness with a hoodie pulled up over his head – yet still clearly recognizable the second he sang harmonies).

About 20 minutes later the 5 piece Cardinals took the stage to the strains of AC-DCs “Highway To Hell”. Kicking off with the mid-tempo country lilt of “A Kiss Before I Go” seemed to surprise the crowd a little – because with the prominent peddle steel it is a very country sounding song – but it wasn’t long before the band were jamming their way through more rock orientated songs like “Magnolia Mountain” and a bluesy-shuffle take on “To Be Young” from Ryan’s still unparalleled debut ‘Heartbreaker’.

One odd moment occurred mid-set when, just as they launched into “Games”, the band all donned Ninja masks (actually peddle steel player Jon Graboff had on a wrestling mask and bass-player Chris Feinstein looked like he was wearing a bee-keepers helmet) which were slowly dis-guarded, with no explanation, over the course of the next few songs.

My one criticism of the night is The Cardinals seem to have morphed themselves into a modern day version of The Grateful Dead – with every song seeming to evolving into an 8 minute plus jam opus. This was fine for The Dead who (with the possibly exception of ‘American Beauty’) weren’t really know for tight well crafted songs – but Ryan Adams is known as a songwriter so stretching “What Sin” into a nearly 10 minute epic didn’t really add any value for me – and in fact became kinda boring after a while.

While I’m in nag mode - over the last few tours Ryan has also developed this tendency to blend songs into one another, which can be quite effective when he wants to acknowledge a linage between two songs or include a snatch of an appropriate cover mid-song – but now it seems to be done out of boredom with many unrelated songs colliding into each other like a musical freeway pile-up. Like the fanastic “Battering Lines” which tonight was sandwiched in between versus of a new jam-orientated song which I think might be called “Egyptology”. That said – the same trick did work quite effectively towards the end of the show with a segment of Billy Ocean’s “Caribbean Queen” included in a closing jam that also included Sonic Youth’s “Express Way to Yr. Skull”.

Other highlights tonight included the ‘Cold Roses’ trilogy of “Beautiful Sorta”, title track, and “Easy Plateau”. A full band take of “Dear Chicago” which reminded me of the original ‘Gold’ out-take version, more so than the pale ‘Demolition’ released take. A short and catchy, almost power-pop, new song “Party Clown”, and a show closing “I See Monsters” from ‘Love Is Hell’ – that started slow but built into a rocking climax.

Bernard Fanning – The Arts Theatre, London

The Arts Theatre only holds 350 people – so tonight’s show was a chance to see a world-class performer, who really should be playing larger theatres if not small stadiums, perform up-close.

Fanning is touring backed by a four-piece band, of which multi-instrumentalist John "Frodo" Bedggood was a stand-out: moving from keyboards to mandolin to violin to help furnish the night with a variety of different sounds.

Clearly making a firm distinction between his solo work and that of his better known band – the night featured no Powderfinger songs. This was news that might have disappointed me had I known in advance – however by the end of the night it didn’t matter a lick as the show was outstanding.

With practically every track from his debut solo album ‘Tea & Sympathy’ featured – the songs really came into their own live. I think the album sounds great – but live, there was another dimension that gave the songs an added anthemic quality that's in some of Powderfingers best work. Particular highlights were a drawn-out “Down To The River”, “Song Bird” and a roof raising “Wish You Well”.

Adding some diversity to the setlist was the piano soaked b-side/i-tunes release “Weekend of Mystery”, which led into an astounding cover of Sam Cooke’s “Lost and Lookin” performed solo on the piano. Another non-album highlight was “What A Fool I’ve Been” an acoustic shuffle that’s something of a duet between Bernard and guitarist Moz, apparantly recorded for the album but left off at the last minute.

The encore started with a solo acoustic take on “Watch Over Me” before the band re-joined for “Yesterday’s Gone” and a closing cover of The Rolling Stones “Dead Flowers” that really emphasized the country lilt to the song.

Beck – Shepherds Bush Empire

I’m a big Beck fan, so even though I saw him 2 weeks ago at the V Festival – I still grabbed tickets when I heard he was doing one night at The Shepherds Bush Empire.

The show opened in the same way as his festival slot – puppets miming to “Loser” before the real band come on and finish the song. The also kicked off with the same trifecta of hits, with “Loser” quickly followed by “Devils Haircut” and “Girl”.

Although the set was much the same – it was a far more enjoyable experience seeing Beck up-close. The sound and musicianship was awesome (quite a bit got lost in the wind at the outdoor festival) and you also got to see some of the more subtle touches in the show production – like the puppeteers not only mimicking the stage outfits for each performer but also all their stage moves and mannerisms. Also because the crowd in the smaller venue could see the show without the aid of jumbo video screens – the footage on the screen concentrated almost exclusively on the puppets – and was far more enjoyable as a result.

The main changes from the V set was the inclusion of far more new material – with 7 or 8 new songs featured in a mid-set bracket that the band clearly enjoyed playing. Standouts of the new material were “Nasaeu”, “The Information”, “1000BPM” and particularly “Cell Phone’s Dead” which recalls the ‘Mellow Gold’-era Beck of old.

A full band “Paper Tiger” was great, as was a drawn out “Sunday Sun”, and an acoustic slower reading of "Tropicalia".

The acoustic bracket features Beck in cover mode, tackling “Everyone’s Got To Learn” originally by The Korgis (although possibly better known for Beck’s recording on the soundtrack to ‘Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind’), and a snatch of Hank William’s “(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle” that led into “The Golden Age” that, as at V, had the band drumming along on a table and glasses – leading into “Clap Hands” and “One Foot In The Grave”.

The encores also ran similar to V, with a crowd pleasing “Where It’s At” quickly followed by “Epro”. Beck is clearly an accomplished performer, so he really excelled at the smaller venue and I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better way to spend a Saturday night in London.