Caught Live: Ryan Adams + Jesse Malin @ The Olympia Theatre, Dublin

Give the people what they want. Not a phrase you'd readily associate with a Ryan Adams live show based on past form, but one that nonetheless seems to have become something of a mantra for the temperamental songwriter ever since his reemergence last year from a short-lived, Jay-Z-style period of retirement. And while tonight's acoustic show might be somewhat bereft of new material – a situation that doesn't necessarily bode too well for a new record – it certainly leaves the sold-out crowd with plenty to whoop and holler about.

First up, though, is Adams' old mucker Jesse Malin to play some of his sub-Springsteen cod-punk numbers like 2004 never happened. To be fair to the guy, he's still got that New York rocker charm down to a tee, and the few songs he performs tonight from his Adams-produced debut LP still sound great ('Wendy' being the obvious standout). It's a tune that rather sets the tone for an evening which has both eyes fixed firmly on the past; when nostalgia sounds this good, however, no one inside The Olympia is going to complain.

Adams himself has grown up a lot in the decade or so since the likes of Uncut first heralded him as an alt-country poster boy. Now fully sober after years of drink and drug problems, this is an entirely different performer from the one that formerly was wont to ramble on nonsensically for ten minutes in-between songs; these days it seems it's all about letting those wonderfully sad songs do the talking. A solid two-hour set begins with 'Oh My Sweet Carolina' from Heartbreaker - still arguably the finest song he's ever written. It's a comfortable place to start, and one that has the crowd in raptures by the end. He follows this with another from Heartbreaker in the shape of 'Call Me On Your Way Back Home' – beautifully picked on his battered acoustic – and by the end of tonight's show he's played no fewer than five songs from that classic solo debut.

As the night wears on, the setlist begins to read more and more like a Ryan Adams greatest hits tracklisting: 'New York, New York' and 'Sylvia Plath' from Gold both receive an airing on the piano, while Adams' Cardinals era (the singer parted company with his backing band in 2009 following a five-year recording and touring partnership that yielded four LPs) is represented by the likes of 'Two', 'Everybody Knows' and 'If I Am A Stranger'. Sadly, we're not treated to anything from Love Is Hell, but long-term fans can't believe their luck when he suddenly launches into '16 Days', a song by his ill-fated former band Whiskeytown. This writer has seen Adams maybe a dozen times over the course of the last decade or so, and tonight is the first time he's ever delved into his pre-solo back catalogue. A sure sign of writer's block, or a bit of generous fan service? The smiles on faces inside The Olympia suggest the crowd are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and go with the latter; one thing that now appears clear is that Adams has finally mellowed enough to embrace his troubled past.

The evening concludes with a two-song encore: 'Bartering Lines' (another Heartbreaker cut) and the beautiful 'Strawberry Wine' from 2005's sombre 29. And with that, he's gone. This new, professional Ryan Adams may lack the danger and waywardness of his former drunken self, but when the songs are this good who needs car-crash histrionics? Sometimes the crowd deserve to get what they want. Sometimes.