Shy-guy Ray LaMontagne sold out the second night of his current UK tour, with 2,700 fans at Manchester’s Carling Apollo.
Strolling on to subdued lighting, he was greeted with a wall of cheers and
whistles. For the night we’d get seven songs from debut album Trouble,
six from Till The Sun Turns Black, and four new ones.
For the first three songs, How Come, You Should Belong and Three
More Days, he spent most of the time in subdued lighting, speaking only to
his three-piece band and count-ins. In fact, on How Come, he sang in virtual
profile, indicating a man ill at ease with live performances.
For taking photographs, we were given strict instructions to remain well away
from the stage front and side. Ray and his band were quite some distance from
the stage front. Each song would be punctuated by, what seemed like very long
pauses, and working UV light.
Thankfully, for song four, Forever My Friend, the lights went up, and
the incredible voice kicked in on this soulful song, bringing the biggest cheer
so far. A fan shouted, "Good to have you back Ray!" - "It’s good to
be back", he replied. "It’s very nice to be here with you tonight",
in his trademark hushed tones.
Looking at him closely, rustic Ray looked like a man ready to chop logs than
play a gig – heavily bearded, long black hair, check shirt and jeans. After a
quick band intro, he delivered a delicate ballad Hold You In My Arms,
dripping in pedal steel allowing Ray to add more rasp to that cavernous voice.
Ray likes to travel light, not much gear on stage. Everything about him seems
minimalist. This also goes for his presentation. Basic. He’s a bit like Clapton –
he allows the instrument to do the talking. And what an instrument that voice
is.
Adding harmonica, a cool I Won’t Be Around sailed by sweetly to big
cheers once again. Going country, he got seriously loved-up on You Can Bring
Me Flowers. Atmosheric Burn, once again allowed his voice to be the
main feature, as did Shelter, which amazingly brought Ray out of his
shell with, "Thank you very much", wiping his brow. A personal
favourite Barfly was one on the main highlights, stricking a major
vocal high that seemed to swirl around the Apollo.
When he hit signature tune Trouble, he raised the roof, as you’d expect.
After 1 hour 10 minutes he was off, though he was soon back due to the noisy
ovation. Three songs: Be Here Now, Till The Sun and Coda (a new
one) was followed by another, "Thank you", and off.
As fans began to leave, he returned, to everyones surprise. One more, a
stirring Jolene with just Ray and Marybeth, bass player, brought the
house down.
Tip: Never leave a Ray Lamontagne gig until he says, "Thank you." And
"Goodnight".
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Looking at him closely, rustic Ray looked like a man ready to chop logs than
play a gig – heavily bearded, long black hair, check shirt and jeans. After a
quick band intro, he delivered a delicate ballad Hold You In My Arms,
dripping in pedal steel allowing Ray to add more rasp to that cavernous voice.
When he hit signature tune Trouble, he raised the roof, as you’d expect.
After 1 hour 10 minutes he was off, though he was soon back due to the noisy
ovation. Three songs: Be Here Now, Till The Sun and Coda (a new
one) was followed by another, "Thank you", and off.
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
