Motorway to the canyon, being late and being loud.

There was a lorry fire on the M6 last night and we ended up stuck in some very bad traffic. This meant we missed the first 35 mins of the Ryan Adams & The Cardinals gig at the Birmingham Academy last night. There is nothing as frustrating as being stuck in traffic, watching the minutes tick away knowing you are going to be late for something that you really don’t want to be late for.

Birmingham Academy is quite a big bigger than its cousin in Leeds, and I do openly admit to preferring smaller and more intimate gig venues. However last night, the crowd was again very good and the band really did seem to be clicking again.

The set list (that we heard) was slightly more varied than Leeds and dare I say it in places slightly ‘rockier’ too. Ryan Adams seemed to be playing and singing with a real passion and some of his guitar solos were just sublime. For whatever reason, they really seem to be playing very well at present and as I said about Leeds, they are much more like The Cardinals, rather than Ryan Adams & The Cardinals. I daresay that is a good thing for them going forwards, but not so for some traditional Ryan Adams fans.

“This is the guy I met in the toilet”

Now these are not words I ever imagined myself hearing if I’m honest and I think most would agree that the connotations of the phrase are not generally good. There are unwritten rules as to conversations and etiquette in gents toilets for a reason.

At the Ryan Adams gig on Thursday night, during the first song where Neal Casel sang lead vocals, I took the opportunity to go for a pee, as it seemed did quite a lot of people. Therefore for the first time in my life I had to queue to use the toilet.

The chap in front of me turned round and said that everybody seemed to have had the same idea. He then continued that this was the ninth time he’d seen them play and that they were in fact great. We exchanged idle chit chat and until we could use the facilities. About five minutes later (thank god we can pee quickly) I was back near the stage and thought nothing more of it.

Abut an hour later I was stood at the bar, quenching my thirst with another Grolsch (it contains water, so in my book is good for hydration), when this guy appeared next to me with his missus. He then said the immortal words whilst introducing me and declaring that I was a good guy and a true fan. He offered to buy me a drink, did some drumming on the bar whilst waiting to be served and then off they went back into the throng to enjoy the rest of the gig.

I’m nt sure who was more shocked at his line, his missus or me to be honest. Still it was meant in good spirits.