SHARING MANY of the qualities of genius often includes inconsistency.

Ryan Adams, the latest high-flying American songwriter in York in recent weeks, showed flashes of both brilliance and waywardness to test and test the audience.

Known as an unpredictable, often temperamental artist, Adams was last night playing a member of the band rather than the star of the show. The audience was merely a distraction and his occasional asides were, to be kind, amusingly surreal.

Performing mostly material from his magnificent outpouring of work in 2005 / 2006, he stood to one side, quietly playing his heart out.

Particularly impressive were the four part harmonies that brightened a number of songs in the mixed first half, including Cold Roses. He was matched note-for-note by the Cardinals; a band indebted to the memory of the Grateful Dead, able to improvise around and fall back into a song on cue.

This road-tested musicianship was good to watch at first, but after a while the extemporisations palled, and the interplay between Adams and chief Cardinal (or Cardinal Bishop) Neal Casal lost some of its zest.

The set took a turn both to a more country style and for the better in the short second half. Goodnight Rose and Let It Ride, arguably Adams's best number and rightly saved until last, worked because they were downplayed, more in keeping with their country roots.

In the final analysis the show lacked killer tunes, placing it just south of memorable.