Monday, July 23, 2007

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, July 21, 2007

I have seen around 20 live shows in my 29 years of life...and this is easily in my Top 5. My friend who joined me has multiple times the number of shows under my belt...and she also listed it in her Top 5. A month ago, I only knew Ryan Adams as a secondary obsession on the Poltz boards that I avoided to not jump on the bandwagon. Now, I'm asking to drive it! I haven't had such excitement for something new in a really long time. I can't tell you how much I love this music. Because it is...MUSIC. The man can sing and the band can play and it is all beautiful.

We got in line after some yummy Thai food and it was already down the block. We got asked about a dozen times who we were waiting to see, and almost everyone heard us wrong and said 'Bryan Adams? He sucks' and would walk on. One girl echoed our sentiment though and said "Him...really...here?" He played for 2.5 hours, and actually PLAYED THE GUITAR. Ryan had hurt his hand in a skateboarding accident before the tour and hasn't been playing. There have been a lot of complaints about the tour, short sets, mellow sets, etc. We had none of it. It was incredible and you could obviously see that they were enjoying themselves. They work so well together!

We had an incredible spot, and in general met interesting people. We had the twins that train all the Lady Vols and their Dad in front of us, and they rocked our socks and were ripped! There was an evil twin and a good twin, and they were really funny and made the pre-show a bit more entertaining. Then it felt like a Poltz look alike contest! There was this guy "Stripes" who was a Sean Carey look alike who we enjoyed greatly, he was a bit of a character, and my gaydar was off because when he mentioned his gf, I was surprised! We had "The Odd Couple" on the other side with another Sean Carey look alike, and then the guy that elbowed his way in and looked like the love child of Paul and Matt the Electrician, all the while with a Piano player that looked like AJ Croce. I was in an "elective bitch" mood and kept calling the guy that pushed in a Dick. I guess I felt safe, as I am usually anti-confrontation. I was also a bitch to the "hippie girl" who was "looking for her sister" and then stayed and kept flopping her dreads in Pixy's face, asking her if she was going to stay to not take up so much space, since we had been there the whole show. I disliked the LA girls behind me who kept bumping me and calling me "Santa Cruz" even though they were trying to be friendly, they were just a bit obnoxious and also weren't there when the show started. Our modge podge group successfully defended it's space and enjoyed the show.

I also took incredible pictures!

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

He's just so cute!

Ryan Muthafuckin' Adams

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

AND ROCK AND FUCKING ROLL!

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 7/21/07

Relive the Show, now on Archive.org!

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