Ray was a humble, down to earth, appreciative person (don't get me wrong, so was David). He seemed really moved every time any one clapped or cheered for one of his songs. I do not think I can remember being part of an audience that gave the first (major) act on the bill a standing ovation halfway through their set! I have to admit that after hearing several of his newer songs / songs that I am not too familiar with - they started to sound a little bit the same, BUT the songs that I was more familiar with were performed with such great energy and precision that nobody in the audience could have been disappointed. Highlights (and there were many) included Trouble, Beg Steal or Borrow, You Are The Best Thing, and of course, Shelter.
David came out with a bit more of a bang. There was a white sheet that covered the stage during the set change and it dropped down when he started singing the first song (you could see his silhouette through it when the band started and through the first few chords of the tune - Fugitive). I have been listening to David since high school - he was one of the biggest inspirations to me as a musician and I am so happy that I was finally able to see him perform. The passion and dead-on musicianship that he has is like none-other that is out there today. He does not get wrapped up in all of the pop-culture BS that so many musicians are distracted by (perhaps it's because he is not from the states??) - and because of this, I think, he is able to concentrate more on being a terrific musician. I was not disappointed with anything that he played last night. I am not familiar with all of his newer material - but after hearing it last night, I will be purchasing pretty much the entire setlist from last night's show. Highlights (and as with Ray, there were many) included Other Side, Jackdaw, Nemesis, Shine (solo acoustic - incredible), This Years Love (he forgot the words at one point, but we did not care!!), Please Forgive Me (unbelievable).
Regarding Nemesis - David said that they have been having a lot of fun with this tune on the road for the past year or so...stretching it out to over 10 minutes. It was not that long tonight, but it was the longest "jam" of the evening. With a lot of "jam bands" - I know that David is NOT a "jam band" by any means, but I am just using that for comparison's sake - after a really long jam I sometimes tend to get a bit bored by what the musicians are coming up with as they get further and further into their improvisation. With this song (Nemesis), however, every time that I began to think, "OK - I get what he is doing here, time to move on to the next idea" BAM - he brought the tune to a new place. It was always so fresh and different that I did not lose interest at any point in the song.

After David played Babylon for an encore he brought Ray out for a duo acoustic encore on a song that I had not heard before - or maybe I have, but I just did not recognize it / hear the name of it clearly over the ROAR of the crowd when Ray stepped back on the stage. My only complaint about the entire show is that I wish they had played a more recognizable tune - I know that they hit all of their classics in each of their respective sets, so it would have been hard to play an original (although Ray's Jolene or David's Say Hello Wave Goodbye would have been terrific) - but they could have used that opportunity to raise the bar even higher (HOW HIGH COULD IT GET???!!!) and do a cover song that none of us would have imagined.
All in all, it was an incredible night with two incredible people who gave us a gift that we will all remember for the rest of our lives. I hope they continue to tour together in the future, because David Gray and Ray LaMontagne are giving the word "concert" a brand new meaning.




