TUCSON, AZ - April 21--On Friday evening, April 21, Ryanhood engaged in their first headlining and advertised show of the year in Tucson. The timing of the event was unfortunate, as this seemed to be a night full of activities all around town including proms, talent shows, the Pima County Fair, shows by other popular local bands, a film festival, church retreats, and various other distractions. For a one-horse town, Tucson was definitely hopping, so there was a question as to how large a crowd would show up for this outdoor show on a very comfortable spring night. Without knowing final numbers, I can say that the area appeared full of more people than could have fit in the normal indoor stage at Club Congress. As usual, many of the folks in the audience were diehard Ryanhood fans, but there also appeared to be many newcomers to Ryanhood music. The Ryanhood Army and other fans of Ryanhood seem to be spreading the word about how amazing they are, and how great a live show they put on.
The Year of Acceleration opened the show in a rare (for them) all ages show. They would later rock away the night indoors for a 21+ crowd, but their opening set was a great chance for some of their younger fans to see them in action! After The Year, Ryanhood took the stage. As usual, the crowd was excited to see their favorite duo on stage.
Rather than their typical acoustic duo start to the show, Ryan Green and Cameron Hood were joined onstage by bassist Chris Giambelluca of the band Luca and drummer Josh Harrison from The Year. The middle of the show had an acoustic set in which Ryanhood played five new songs and a couple of favorites from their Sad and Happiness CD. After over an hour and a half of playing, the Ryanhood boys left the audience wanting more as always, but appreciative of the show they had just seen and heard.
During the show, both Ryan and Cameron mentioned trouble with tuning and other technical difficulties. While the show may not have seemed up to their exacting standards from their perspective, the crowd perceived things differently. Many new fans seem to have been made, whether you look at the Ryanhood MySpace page for comments or just listened to the people who were there and had never seen them before. Then again, with Ryanhood, a "bad" show still means a great show, put on by a duo that is constantly improving and growing musically, and is determined to make every show a great one for their fans.
Technical difficulties and all, throughout the night Ryanhood showed that they were continuing to develop, with slight changes and improvements on songs fans have heard played at shows for a while now. “Stopless,” “Okay,” and “Nothing But the Real Thing” have grown to the point that it's hard to imagine them developing into better songs than they are at this moment. However, as the duo continues to work with Ross Hogarth in LA (see their photo album and sign up for their newsletters to get continuing updates on the recording process) one can only wonder what levels even these already great songs can reach. Other new songs also seem to keep appearing and developing. A highlight was “Around the Sun.” This song was written with Ryanhood's friend Owen Plant in Boston, and originally was called “Move Me Round the Sun.” The guessing over which songs will and will not appear on the upcoming studio album may soon become a hobby of Ryanhood fans, who have seen far more new quality songs played live than can fit on one CD.
Setlist:
Full Band Set
Army
You Used To
Your House (Jimmy Eat World cover)
Alright*
Separate
Acoustic Set
Okay*
Stopless*
Around the Sun*
Can I Kiss You?
Sad and Happiness
Back Into Blue*
The World Awaits You*
Full Band Set
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2)
(segued into) Helpless Hopeless
Ivy
Welcome You Into My Head
Gardens and the Graves
Show You Love (Jars of Clay)
Nothing But the Real Thing*
*New songs not on studio albums-may appear on their new CD
