RYAN ADAMS | VICTORY GARDENS THEATER AT THE BIOGRAPH, JUNE 19
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Lord knows drama alone can’t sustain a career, which is why Courtney Love is making her living these days by auctioning off Kurt Cobain memorabilia, but Adams has the chops. In fact, just following the musical part of his career is a daunting enough task. He released–Jesus Christ–18 albums’ worth of new material through his Web site over a couple of weeks last year and has announced a forthcoming five-disc box set containing bootlegs, demos, and two whole unreleased albums. Most recently he’s released his ninth proper studio album, Easy Tiger.
Maybe he’d just figured out that the best way to hear his music is also the best way to play it. In between the sad, elegant songs he joked around like nothing serious was going on, and maybe nothing was. But in the lull between songs, he kept taking off a pair of glasses and wiping them off in a sort of compulsive tic. With his face mostly in shadows, it took me more than an hour to figure out whether he had started wearing prescription specs or whether, as dark as the room was, he was sporting sunglasses. It turned out to be the latter. Whether their purpose was to block himself in or keep us blocked out, I couldn’t say.
