The Ryan Adams ‘Summer of ’69’ incident is not as storied as Bob Dylan’s “Judas!” moment, but in the annals of moderately famous alt-country singer-songwriters, it’s reasonably well-known.
Playing at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville 12 years ago, Ryan Adams was heckled by a concertgoer repeatedly asking him to play ‘Summer of ’69,’ which is of course a Bryan Adams song.
Billboard describes the incident:
At a Ryan Adams concert at the Ryman Auditorium on Tuesday, someone in the audience yelled out a request for “Summer of ‘69,” a Bryan Adams hit. Ryan Adams, former leader of the band Whiskeytown, reacted with a stream of expletives and ordered the house lights turned on, The Tennessean newspaper reported. The alternative country musician found the fan who made the joke request, paid him $30 cash as a refund for the show, ordered him to leave, and said he wouldn’t play another note until that happened.
Predictably, Adams has heard countless shout-outs for ‘Summer of ’69’ since that incident. Drunken hecklers can’t resist the taunt. And rather than blow up, Adams has simply ignored them.
But a couple of weeks back, in the same auditorium where the original incident took place, Adams did something truly unexpected: He played ‘Summer of ’69.’
Fortunately, several fans in attendance captured the performance on video.
I guess this is the ultimate “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” story. After all, Adams can hardly afford to keep refunding money to those attending his concerts.😄
Interesting story, he should have ignored them from the beginning