Anyone going to see Lamontagne tonight?

[edger]

My searching skills leave much to be desired, but couldn't seem to find an existing thread on this show.

Anyone going to catch Ray (and David Gray) tonight at Molson Amp?

REALLY wish I was going, but have a family reunion. Just picked up his newest release. Haven't even had the chance to listen to it all the way through yet, but so far, so good. Especially digging the pedal steel. And his vocals always make me melt.

It can be streamed until Sept. 7th from here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128986999

[NewRider]

Wish I was going too. I like his new album.

[Jaimoe]

David Gray as a double-bill killed it for me.

[NewRider]

David Gray as a double-bill killed it for me.

Ditto. Can't stand his music.

[Esau.]

Like to catch Ray, but Gray isn't my thing. But, I will be in Paris tonight to check out Doug Feaver so I won't be without some good music this eve.

Thanks for the link.

[hamilton]

It is unfortunate that Tift Merritt isn't opening the show - she's on the bill for this tour, but not until next week. She might make it worth sitting through David Gray.

[afro poppa]

i love ray but unfortunately i am working

[Hartamophone]

I live in Yellowknife, so I won't be there. But, last summer I felt like a rock star when a table of attractive young women at a Mexican place in Aspen were convinced I was Ray LaMontagne, to the point where they didn't believe me when I told them I wasn't.

[edger]

Well hello Hart!

[Cully]

I am heading to the show tonight!!! Can't wait!

[edger]

Heard he covered Neil's Down by the River into Floyd's Time. Sweet. Any reviews?

[Northern Wish]

The Globe didn't like the show very much:

August 29, 2010

Battered vocal chords and bored balladeers

By Brad Wheeler

From Monday's Globe and Mail

Despite being known for their undersized personas and intimate deliveries, neither David Gray nor Ray LaMontagne managed to connect with their audience at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

David Gray and Ray LaMontagne

At Molson Canadian Amphitheatre in Toronto on Friday

Some artists have stardom thrust upon them. And some of them thrust it right back. David Gray and Ray LaMontagne, two balladeers, disregarded showmanship in favour of melody and affecting keys for a pleasant but underwhelming pairing of singer-songwriters by the lake.

As harmlessly tuneful as these two gentlemen were, they have little business peddling their undersized personas in large venues. There were murmurs of crowd conversation during both sets, with neither performer seeming overly aware of the fans in front of him. It was a polite affair, with Gray's closing set offering more in the way of presentation and gentle audience singalongs.

A 42-year-old Englishman who has described his latest album (Foundling) as a "private record," Gray, particularly, was less than fascinating. With his professional band, he played piano and acoustic guitar, and sang his radio-friendly folk-rock hits: Babylon, This Year's Love, Please Forgive Me, Sail Away - all from 1999's White Ladder - plus The One I Love.

Suffering from what he called "battered vocal chords," Gray's singing was fine. if somewhat froggy. He lolled his head back and forth like a marionette as he weighed in importantly on relationships. The occasional dramatic backlighting, though, promised something more vital than was ever delivered. Really, Gray's an Elton John stand-in, at best.

He wore a suit, and snuck a bit of Van Morrison's Into the Mystic within a cover of Soft Cell's Say Hello, Wave Goodbye. Mystic? Hardly. Say hello, wave goodbye? That pretty much summed up his performance.

LaMontagne barely bothered even to say hello. The acoustic-soul crooner from New England planted himself at the far right of the stage, where he only half-faced his audience, wearing his beard like a mask and his shyness like a shield. Sometimes he would count off songs to his pedal-steeled Pariah Dogs band with a "one-two-three-four." Other times, to spice things up, it was "One-two-three."

Opening number Repo Man, which also begins LaMontagne's fine fifth album, God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise, was reminiscent of New Orleans funk band the Meters, with the raspy backwoodsman wailing ruggedly about a woman, not an automobile, who had not held her value. New York City's Killing Me was leisurely country sorrow, sung with a dignified air of despair.

LaMontagne crooned soulfully with a tight throat, as if he were delivering his warmth right back into himself. The Redding-like ballad Trouble should have been moving, but the singer was too far away, physically and otherwise.

"I need space between me and the audience," the reticent songster recently told Rolling Stone magazine, "and the more space the better."

Well, Ray, how about we all leave the room. Would that do you?

[edger]

Personally I like Lamontagne's introvertedness. It's real, sincere, vulnerable. His vocals carry themself, he doesn't need to do jumping jacks to get my attention.

[Cully]

That guy is an idiot...of course Ray didn't say hello/talk to the crowd. He has TERRIBLE stage fright...didn't play shows for years due to it.

I love Ray's set, super chill vibe - although I do like seeing him indoors a lot better (The Massey Hall show was one of the best shows I have EVER seen)

I actually liked Gray's set too...but don't tell anybody