Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - 09/09/2006 HOB San Diego

The night started out with Neil, the guitarist, playing a 30 minute solo set with Ryan joining in on drums for the second part. At one point he even went over and played the piano, but no singing. It was a good opening set to get you ready for the full band to come.

Ryan and the band came out and did a little improve about San Diego, sort of a fun way to kick off the night. From there they tore into Please Do Not Let Me Go followed up by A Kiss Before I Go. They played through a couple more songs when Ryan was really into his solo. He got down on the ground and played on his knees. Somewhere along the way as he jammed he ended up getting cracked in the head by the head of the bass. He did quite a number on himself. He stepped off stage to get some ice. Then came back to play a great version of Rescue Blues and then into To Be Young. At that point he needed a break and took off to mend his head.

He came back sortly after to play a few songs solo on the piano. He played Elizabeth to start, but was getting really annoyed by the crowd. People continued to talk and about half the people wanted to listen while the rest, a bunch of drunk idiots, continued to talk and disrupt the show. Ryan seemed pissed as many of us were too. it really was a shitty crowd. There were a lot of people who really didn't know Ryan Adams, they were just there to drink. It was really a disappointment.

He played for approximately 2 1/2 hours playing some classics in the second set like Magnolia Mountain, Cold Roses and Beatiful Sorta. It was getting late and I was really hoping he would pull out a Grateful Dead tune. There it was finishing off the set with a great version of Wharf Rat. He played it better than I've heard Phil or Bobby do with Jerry gone. They finished with a little reprise of the San Diego Improv and the show was over. It was a great show minus the crowd. Certainly well worth seeing.


Setlist San Diego - HOB 09/09/2006:
Set 1:
-------
San Diego
Please Do Not Let Me Go
A Kiss Before I Go
Blue Hotel->
Shakedown on 9th Street->
Door To The Pyramid Jam->
What Sin
The End
Rescue Blues
To Be Young
Dear Chicago

Set II:
--------
Elizabeth
Don't Get Sentimental On Me
Everything Dies
Nightbirds
Sylvia Plath
Trains
Peaceful Valley
Cold Roses
Magnolia Mountain
Beautiful Sorta
Games
Two Hearts
Easy Plateau->
Jam->
Wharf Rat
San Diego Reprise

The Miracle Match - aka - The Beautiful Game

So I picked up this movie last week on DVD. It played briefly in theaters last year and didn't last for more than about a week. So for me it was a matter of wanting to see this because it is a film about soccer. Here's my brief review:

This film is about the coming together of the 1950 US Men's National Soccer Team. There really wasn't a lot of funding in those days for the sport and its popularity was big among the European immigrants. The team was made up mainly of players from St. Louis and New York. Gerard Butler plays the leader of the St. Louis Boys Frank Borghi and Wes Bentley plays Walter Bahr, the leader of the East Coast team.

The movie is more about the building of the relationships of the teammates than it is about the game itself. There were plenty of struggles getting it together. The US Men's National Team played a few warm-up matches that they struggled through. Gavin Rossdale, former lead man of Bush and Husband of Gwen Stefani, plays the English top player Stanley Mortenson. Mortenson brings a team over to the US that just rips them apart. Because of this the US are basically not even recognized in the 1950 World Cup as a contending team. Odds makers didn't even give them a slight chance.

As we already know the US drew England in the first round and basically didn't stand a chance. Against all odds the US team played "The Game of Their Lives." People should already know this as it's in the description of the film so I don't think I'm spoiling anything.

John Harkes, former US player, plays one of the teammates and Patrick Stewart plays the narrator and former player in current day.

It was a good film. It really was more of a movie of the relationships leading up to the final match than it was about soccer. There's some good soccer action, but funny to see Bush frontman playing a top player for England. It gets a little slow at times, but hang in there, it's a good story.