I’ve delayed this quite a bit, but now I’m finally ready to write about my recent trip to Copenhagen, where I saw Ryan Adams, Coldplay, and their respective support acts. We drove from Aarhus Wednesday afternoon (this is two weeks ago) and by the time we were halfway there it had already begun to get dark. It was actually pretty cool to drive with a group of friends listening to The Flaming Lips as dusk was approaching. I still get amazed by their latest album every time I put it on and it works really well with dark skies and heavy clouds.

We made it to Copenhagen in time for take-out and after about two hours we left for Vega and the Ryan Adams show. We were there really early, because we wanted good seats, which meant we had to sit around for an hour before Jesse Malin went onstage. I’d actually heard good things about him (and Ryan produced his record), but I didn’t like his stuff at all. It sounded like a bunch of bad Replacements tracks and for some reason his accent is completely different when he sings from when he talks. He told some funny stories between songs and threw a free copy of his CD out, which was caught by the guy next to me, but that doesn’t really cut it. Everyone else liked him, though, so maybe it’s just me.

After a long wait Ryan finally came onstage. The show was billed as a solo performance, but he had brought along two women, who played strings and his roadie played guitar on a couple of songs as well. The show started with three very quiet and sad songs and it seemed like Ryan was in a weird mood. He was smoking and drinking a lot and didn’t say anything even though a couple of audience members shouted stuff to him. But as he sat down to play the fourth song a woman in the back started coughing rather violently and it was like that snapped him out of whatever weird state he was in. He asked if the woman was alright and from then on the show was like watching stand-up at the Apollo, but with country music. He told stories about Eminem, The Dead, Britney and Christina Aguilera, and he made up a long story about playing in front of 45.000 people who had all been handed razorblades, because his music is so depressing. He talked how Ozzy got sued because there are backward messages on Suicide Solution saying “Get the gun. Shoot! Shoot!” (“Mine says that when you play them forwards”, was Ryan’s reply). He also noticed that the Exit signs in the venue had been replaced by signs to the bar (he thought they should’ve done that on the Titanic. “The boat is sinking! Fuck it, let’s go to the bar).

For me it was just such an experience seeing him and the fact that he was in a great mood made me really happy. Ryan has a reputation as someone who sometimes plays shitty shows, when he’s in a bad mood or too drunk. So I had tried to lower my expectations before the show, but because he was so amazing I was on such a high through the entire show. He played one song from Demolition and the rest came from Gold and Heartbreaker. He played a couple of new songs (the best was called Twice as Bad as Love) and three covers. He played Like a Virgin and Last Nite using the same country arrangement (Check it out. Julian must really like Madonna. As a matter of fact I know he does, because I have the box set and he comes over a lot) and he ended the regular set with a slow version on piano of Brown Sugar.

Before he got to the encores he decided he needed to sit down and be entertained for a bit, so he asked a guy in the front row to get on stage and play a couple of songs. The guy played two songs, while Ryan sat in the front row and watched. The audience could’ve done with just one song, but Ryan insisted he play a second song, so the guy got to have a pretty special moment there.
For me the highlight was Ryan’s version of To Be Young on Dobro. The arrangement was very cool and as he stood there playing (he sat down for most of the songs) he looked like a young Elvis. He has so much charisma and presence like I’ve never seen in a performer before, so that blew my mind. He played a lot of slow, sad songs, so a couple of my friends thought the show was a bit dull at times. I would have liked more rocking songs (he didn’t play Come Pick Me Up), but that is such a small complaint about an otherwise truly amazing show. I’ve been a huge fan since I first heard Stranger’s Almanac four or five years ago and it was just such a rush seeing him for the first time. He seemed like he really enjoyed himself on stage, so hopefully he’ll come back again real soon.

The next day we went out to see Coldplay and Idlewild. Originally, the concert had been booked for the same venue as the Ryan Adams show, but because so many people wanted to see Coldplay they moved it to a bigger venue. First off that’s annoying, because seeing them in a small venue was part of the charm. And secondly the venue they moved it to is one of the crappiest venues I’ve ever been in. I saw Soundgarden play there with bands like Kyuss and White Zombie years ago and it’s just not a place that’s fit for concerts. But we wanted to see Coldplay, so what can you do? Idlewild didn’t seem too enthused about playing in front of a bunch of teenagers waiting to see Coldplay, so they didn’t exactly put on a great show. But they did play the best songs from The Remote Part and some other decent tracks, so it was alright and if they ever play a solo show around here I’ll definitely go check them out.

I saw Coldplay, when they were supporting their first record and it was a decent show. The songs were good, but they weren’t a captivating act at the time. I saw them this summer, where they put on a good show, but I didn’t know their new material. So now this was finally a chance to see them after they’d grown up as a band playing songs that everyone knew. And they’ve certainly grown up as a band. Chris Martin is almost Bono-like on stage now (that’s meant as a compliment) and they’ve got a much larger sound now. They’d incorporated four split screens into the show, which looked cool and all of a sudden it was like seeing a real stadium rock band up there.

I like their new album, so I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Chris had learned a couple of sentences in Danish (which is the biggest rock ‘n’ roll cliché since: Helloooo..... Springfield!) and he seemed really comfortable on the big stage. They played a snippet of Barbie Girl as I mentioned and they ended the show with a new song (Chris actually came out and played it after the real encores), so the show didn’t have the formulaic feel some shows have. I wasn't blown away by the concert, but it was definitely a good rock show.

Before we went to the Coldplay show we hung out in Copenhagen for a few hours. We walked around, had lunch, and bought records. There’s this chain of used record stores in Copenhagen called Accord and they moved some of their stores around not long ago. So we went to the one, where the clerk who used to work in the downtown Accord now works. She has pale skin, long black hair, silver jewellery, and usually has some kind of metal blaring, when she’s working. She knows her customers and knows a lot about music and she’s always willing to give you a good deal on something. We were five guys, who went to the record store and basically just took over the place, since there were only one or two other people there. We joked about crappy records and called each other over whenever we found something cool. After a while we’d been through all the shelves, so we started going through the stacks of new CDs on the counter. The clerk didn’t mind and laughed to herself whenever we made stupid cracks about Roxette or Vanessa Carlton albums (they made fun of me, because there were a couple of limited edition versions of Pop Trash in one of the stacks and I claimed that these would be picked up in no time by fanatical Copenhagen Duranies). I love shopping for CDs, so this was almost as much fun for me as going to the concerts. And I found some CDs I been wanting to pick up for a while (Hawksley, Idlewild, Ash, and S.F.A.), so that was just a fantastic bonus.