Kevin Bronson on December 18th, 2014

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By Jeff Miller

Unfortunately for Ryan Adams – the prolific singer-songwriter whose new, self-titled album is among his best work – no one who left the Wiltern last night after his nearly sold-out show will remember the daring, Dead-like jams of “Magnolia Mountain” and “Cold Roses,” or the affecting, pop-less re-working of “New York, New York.” It won’t be appreciated for Adams careful, tempered guitar work on “Shadows,” or his drummer Freddie Bokkenheuser’s Levon Helm-esque laid-back precision on “When The Stars Go Blue.”

No, this show will be remembered for a PA that totally crapped out at perhaps the worst-possible time, towards the end of a slow, contemplative set that had clearly left many in the audience, especially those who had been over-imbibing, impatient. Mix those guys – let’s just call them douchebag hecklers and be done with it – with the notoriously temperamental Adams and a sound system that went from pristine to non-existent in the middle of a funny, improvisational song about jaundice (don’t ask), and you’ve got one of those unplanned moments in which things could very well go off the hinges, quickly.

To Adams’ credit, once he found out the problem (via a roadie who told him his monitors were working, but the actual PA to the crowd had not), he seemed to react in the most professional way possible, arguing with her that he couldn’t play acoustic because those in the back couldn’t hear if he did, and telling the crowd – well, those up front who could hear him, though it was obviously muffled – that the sound was down because, “Their fucking processor crashed.”

Then the rant began, as the crowd egged him on: “They’re running their sound on something you can email your parents on,” he said. “They should have gotten the 34 gig system!” The audience – asking, oddly, for a drum solo, which would have really been horrible – got more and more riled up, until finally Adams had had it. “I am aware of your lack of understanding of what’s happening,” he said, calmly, to a crowd who kept yelling to “turn it up,” though obviously that was out of Adams’ control. “I’m sure you just got back from yoga, and are full of rage.”

Adams and his band blasted through the rocker “When The Summer Ends” apologetically, playing basically only to those on stage before walking out and the house lights going up. The Wiltern half-cleared out – but minutes later, Adams was back, playing “Come Pick Me Up,” joined onstage by sometimes-tourmate Jenny Lewis, with a makeshift PA set up – a pro move for a guy whose hecklers clearly wanted him to be confrontational rather than apologetic.

||| Live: Ryan Adams does a second night at the Wiltern tonight.