Ryan Adams and The Cardinals

November 13 @ Leeds Academy

WITH six albums' worth of material to draw on – and that's just the solo stuff – it's little wonder that Ryan Adams and his sometime band The Cardinals saw fit to play without a support band, and for almost a full three hours. Mercifully, this included a midway intermission ("so you can go get drunk and stuff"), but unfortunately it meant this reviewer missed the first half hour of tonight's set.

After founding alt-country band Whiskeytown, staunch New Yorker Adams has gone on to be acclaimed for his prolific output, both alone and collaborating with The Cardinals over the last three years. While rarely straying from under the 'alt-country' banner with Cardinals material, he has drawn mainstream attention with his more gentle and melodic solo efforts.

Obviously when one is prone to churning out three albums within a year, along with EPs and experimental internet musings, there is bound to be some degree of hit-and-miss. But earlier solo outings such as Heartbreaker and Gold, and recent acclaimed solo release Easy Tiger have earned a devoted (some would say borderline obsessive) fanbase – made clear by the rapturous receptions for each song.

He is on fine form with audience interaction tonight, and even cracks a few jokes. For regular attendees of his shows it's the equivalent of a stand-up comedy performance, as he chats self-deprecatingly and goes off at tangents about the Leeds Christmas lights. This nicely breaks up the long set, as do occasional songs sung by Neal Casal from the new Cardinals' album Cardinology. However gold star of the night goes to Adams and his solo work, with his voice sounding far more spine-tingling than you'd expect on the classic When The Stars Go Blue, a rousing Cold Roses and his own haunting interpretation of Oasis's Wonderwall.

Kelly Waugh