I was sceptical for two reasons about going to see Ryan Adams and the Cardinals in Hammersmith last night: firstly, the last time I saw them in Shepherd’s Bush they were disappointingly average; and fourthly, I was only able to get hold of a seated ticket and, as we’ve already established, seating mostly sucks. Well, I was pleasantly surprised on both counts. The band was absolutely brilliant and the whole concert was seated. I was quite happy when I found that my shitty “stalls seat” was actually 8 rows from the front. Sweet! In fairness, some concerts are made for a seated audience and this one worked well.

The band played a tight two-and-a-half hour set, more than making up for the absence of an opening act, and finished us off in luxurious fashion with a generous 4-song encore. Ryan was in good spirits and drooled meaningless garbage that somehow translated as humour while he chopped and changed between piano and guitar. Unlike last time, he clearly wanted to be on stage and his performance was outstanding as a result. Guitarist Neal Casal looked a lot more relaxed as well, although that was probably more a reflection of his boss’s mood than anything else. But it worked. And it was magical.

Although their lastest album Easy Tiger was clearly the focus of the show, the guys dug quite deep to punctuate proceedings with crowd-pleasers like “Rescue Blues”, “Bartering Lines” and “Still I See Monsters”. New single “Two” was well-received and Ryan’s slower, piano-led version of “Helloween Head” was positively delicious. The band didn’t shy away from working little improvs and jams into the mix, which lent the performance a sense of authenticity and served as a constant reminder to everyone of precisely how fucking good these guys actually are. Marvellous stuff.

Here’s an unexpected performance of the splendipherous “Wildflowers” off Gold. What a lovely surprise! Such a good song.

Money very well-spent. Definitely one of the better shows I’ve been to (and the best in a long time), and I’ll absolutely go to the next show. First, however, we have Arcade Fire on Monday. So, so excited!