A couple nights ago at the Riverside. First, the guy is artistically brilliant. Very tight band, amazing vocals, and when the band was performing, it was an awesome performance.
But the stuff that goes on between songs was pretty uncomfortable. Ryan is exquisitely sensitive to stuff going on in the crowd, from people texting, to shouting out requests, to whatever. It’s just not pleasant, because once you take that road and start engaging with the couple of wasted idiots in the audience, well, things can digress. And digress they often did. As it turns out, you Google Ryan and immediately discover that this uncomfortable banter is commonplace, it’s been going on for years; in fact, he had to go to therapy because he got so upset that fans were requesting songs by Bryan Adams.
Maybe a shrink tuneup would be a good idea, Ryan!