Ryan Adams is famously: prolific, eccentric, smart, currently-sober, a very hip New Yorker, unpredictable and a little nuts. That said, nobody knows what they’re going to get when attending a Ryan Adams concert. Last night at DAR Constitution Hall, the alt-country musician gave the audience musical perfection and a heaping helping of tension.

Ryan Adams and his band, The Cardinals, unassumingly took the stage to a half-empty room about an hour after the show was set to start. It wasn’t that the show was undersold, it was that the lion’s share of warm bodies in the building were in very, very long lines for drinks. Whether he cared or even noticed wasn’t apparent; the band launched directly into their set, playing their first three songs (all off of 2005’s Cold Roses) before stopping for an introduction. (“Oh — good evening. We are the Cardinals and we are from the Universe. Also, you are there too, if you didn’t know.”) Adams never introduced himself personally, and looked the part of an angsty teenager with his shaggy hair, short sleeved plaid shirt open with a tee underneath, boot cut jeans, shiny sneakers and clean-shaven face. By this time, the seats were filled and every eye and ear were locked onto Adams, his band, and the beautiful and effective lighting they used throughout the set.