Ryan Adams – Live After Deaf Vinyl Box Set – The Details

I make no apologies for being a Ryan Adams fan of the first order, nor do I apologize for feverishly collecting as much as I can of his recorded output– including the PaxAm Records releases. I have most of them and they are wonderfully well done and always targeted at the vinyl fans as Ryan himself is a collector.

This week a picture of a vinyl boxset titled Live After Deaf was posted to Ryan’s Facebook page by the dutiful Val (who runs his social media outlets) with “Live After Deaf. Friday. This will not be repressed.” This was followed on Wednesday with some more information: “144 tracks of live acoustic Ryan spread across 15 vinyl discs…with a download card featuring all 144 tracks PLUS an additional 74 digital-only bonus tracks (yup, that’s a total of 218 tracks) all in a heavyweight cloth box. Super Duper limited numbers available ONLY at http://paxamrecords.com/ beginning 1:30 p.m. EST on Friday, June 15.” We also found out that this limited release would only be $130 plus shipping (which would be pretty steep considering it apparently weighs in at 13 pounds!).

The title is obviously a reference to his bout with Ménière’s disease which temporarily derailed his music output back in 2009. Ever the heavy metal fan, the title might also be a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Iron Maiden live album Live After Death. We still weren’t sure what this box would contain. 15 LP’s certainly didn’t make a very encompassing live box set– was it just one performance of every song he performed during the extensive Ashes and Fire tour? All we could do is sign into the site on Friday to see what it would be.

On Friday, unfortunately, the folks at KungFu (the people who host his website and merchandise site) were not expecting the heavy traffic at 1:30PM. I signed in an hour before to make sure that my account information was still accessible. At 1:30PM the website became unresponsive. Looking at the posts on Facebook, they were scrambling to address the issue and an hour or so later the posted a resigned message that they would work over the weekend and try it again on Monday, June 18th at 4PM EDT.

In the meantime the rabid fans over at ryanadamsarchive dug up some details on the boxset (this is the thread that contains it). A poster who goes by “Cowboycat” somehow found a picture of what I assume is the back of the box with all of the tracks.

The  boxset is a compendium of the 2011 solo acoustic “Acoustic Nightmare” European shows, with each LP representing one show on the 15-date run. For each show to fit on an LP, Ryan had to edit the shows down to select songs, and possibly no inter-song banter that he’s known for. Another poster on the ryanadamsarchive board who goes by the handle hobbsy took the setlist database and showed what songs were and weren’t played for each show. Here’s the tracklist (thanks to hobbsy):

LP1: Cork Opera House, Ireland (7th June 2011)
01 Dirty Rain
02 Two
03 Blue Hotel
04 Carolina Rain
05 Crossed Out Name
06 Dear Chicago
07 Ashes And Fire
08 Avenues
09 Withering Heights
10 Desire
11 Please Do Not Let Me Go

LP2: Dublin Olympia Theatre, Ireland (8th June 2011)
01 Oh My Sweet Carolina
02 Everybody Knows
03 Damn, Sam (I Love A Woman That Rains)
04 New York, New York
05 In My Time Of Need
06 16 Days
07 Strawberry Wine

LP3: Stockholm Cirkus, Sweden (10th June 2011)
01 Firecracker
02 Please Do Not Let Me Go
03 Call Me On Your Way Back Home
04 Invisible Riverside
05 Dear Chicago
06 16 Days
07 Two
08 Come Pick Me Up
09 September
10 Halloween
11 Houses On The Hill

LP4: Oslo Foleteatret, Norway (11th June 2011)
01 Oh My Sweet Carolina
02 Don’t Fail Me Now
03 Let It Ride
04 Desire
05 The Rescue Blues
06 Dancing With The Woman At The Bar
07 If I Am A Stranger
08 Sylvia Plath
09 Friends

LP5: Malmo Concert House, Sweden (13th June 2011)
01 Firecracker
02 Damn Sam (I Love A Woman That Rains)
03 My Winding Wheel
04 Let It Ride
05 Desire
06 Cannonball Days
07 Star Sign
08 Chains Of Love
09 Lucky Now
10 Come Home

LP6: Copenhagen Kocerhauset, Denmark (14th June 2011)
01 Carolina Rain
02 Invisible Riverside
03 Jacksonville Skyline
04 This House Is Not For Sale
05 Halloween
06 New York, New York
07 Sweet Illusions
08 September
09 Sylvia Plath
10 Do I Wait

LP7: Lisbon Aula Magna, Portugal (16th June 2011)
01 Don’t Fail Me Now
02 If I Am A Stranger
03 Invisible Riverside
04 200 More Miles
05 This House Is Not For Sale
06 English Girls Approximately
07 Strawberry Wine
08 I Love You But I Don’t Know What To Say

LP8: Porto Teatro Sa Da Bandeira, Portugal (17th June 2011)
01 Off Broadway
02 Sylvia Plath
03 Carolina Rain
04 Firecracker
05 Damn, Sam (I Love A Woman That Rains)
06 Sweet Illusions
07 Two
08 Dancing With The Women At The Bar

LP9: London Barbican Night 1, UK (19th June 2011)
01 Oh My Sweet Carolina
02 Why Do They Leave?
03 Let It Ride
04 Carolina Rain
05 The Rescue Blues
06 In My Time Of Need
07 Bartering Lines
08 Come Pick Me Up

LP10: London Barbican Night 2, UK (20th June 2011)
01 To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)
02 Damn, Sam (I Love A Woman That Rains)
03 Everybody Knows
04 My Winding Wheel
05 Invisible Riverside
06 Ashes And Fire
07 Desire
08 English Girls Approximately
09 Amy
10 Stop

LP11: Brighton Dome, UK (22nd June 2011)
01 Bartering Lines
02 Why Do They Leave?
03 The Rescue Blues
04 Let It Ride
05 Everybody Knows
06 Firecracker
07 Jacksonville Skyline
08 Houses On The Hill
09 Come Pick Me Up
10 Strawberry Wine

LP12: Manchester Bridgewater Hall, UK (23rd June 2011)
01 Blue Hotel
02 Save Me
03 Carolina Rain
04 Sweet Lil’ Gal
05 Desire
06 To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)
07 This House Is Not For Sale
08 New York, New York
09 Amy
10 Why Do They Leave?

LP13: Glasgow Academy, UK (25th June 2011)
01 Please Do Not Let Me Go
02 My Winding Wheel
03 Sweet Illusions
04 To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)
05 16 Days
06 Sylvia Plath
07 Come Pick Me Up
08 English Girls Approximately

LP14: Oxford New Theatre, UK (26th June 2011)
01 Why Do They Leave?
02 Carolina Rain
03 Sweet Lil’ Gal
04 Everybody Knows
05 September
06 My Winding Wheel
07 I See Monsters
08 Come Pick Me Up
09 Strawberry Wine

LP15: Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Netherlands (28th June 2011)
01 Oh My Sweet Carolina
02 To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)
03 Carolina Rain
04 Firecracker
05 Let It Ride
06 Bartering Lines
07 New York, New York
08 I See Monsters
09 Two
10 Stop

It looks like a wonderful release, and Ryan’s solo acoustic shows have been really beautiful. Of course, people are hoping for a volume 2 that would include U.S. shows. It would be great to get those metal covers on vinyl (Ratt, “Round and Round” FTW).