I saw Ray Davies last night at the Beacon and he did everything the way it should be done.

First the concession stand had NO Ray Davies stuff; no shirts no cds no posters. the only thing they sold was Dana Fuchs souveniers (she was the opener)

next, Ray comes out and does some greats Kinks songs one song from the new album and one song from his first solo album (including: I'm Not Like Everyone Else, Where Have All the Good Times Gone, Til the End of the Day, Well Respected Man,
Working Man's Cafe, 20th Century Man); then he takes a 15 minute break and comes back out with an accoustic guitar and plays 4-5 songs from the new album.

Then he segues back to the Kinks stuff by playing Fancy acoustically; by then he had the entire Beacon Theater on its feet singing along to Sunny Afternoon,
Come Dancing, Tired of Waiting, Set Me Free, All Day and All of the Night.

At the end he couldnt leave. i think he did FIVE encores (among the, of course Lola and You Really Got Me, and also Low Budget).

How many times have you started to leave your seat at a show and thought, it would be cool if the band surprised everyone and came out again. Well, the lights went on Ray waved goodbye with flowers in his hand and the house music started playing, with peopel in the aisles, Ray came back out, said "turn the music off, i want to keep playing!" and finished with another new song and, finally, Victoria.

One of the best concerts i have ever been to. I think the formula would have been perfect for the Stones last tour, how great would it have been for them to do a five song Bigger Bang set in the middle of every show?


[i just realized the set list i copied off of some guys kinks blog left out the most obvious encore--You Really Got Me. i just added it, (i think) in the right spot]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-04-10 16:16 by HalfNanker.

Of course it would be great...if the stones only had to cater for relatively small numbers of "hard core" fans.
It's their desire to carry on pulling every audience and filling stadiums which has dictated their touring practices... and has consequently displeased those of us who would like them to cater a bit more for the "real fans".
I'm not sure how many more times we can discuss the ins and outs of this particular topic ;^)

I saw Ray in Chicago and the concert was pretty much as Halfnanker says. One of the best shows Ive ever seen. I did like that Ray kept surprising us with encores. And just like Halfnanker said, people kept getting up ready to leave and Ray kept coming back. He also did "Days" instead of Low Budget. You know you have diehard Kinks fans when they sing entire versus of songs like "Days", a good but semi obscure Kinks song.

I was at the Chicago show as well. Ray is fantastic. Had tix for Beacon last night but couldn't afford to go. Sent them to a buddy in NY.

I think Spud is right...The Stones show is different. They're playing for 20,000 to 50,000 people, only of which 5 to 10 percent are hard core fans wanting to hear the never/seldom played songs.

I do wish they'd play some more from ABB. There's some great songs on there that they can be VERY proud to play. Five or six out of the set from ABB would make them appear much more current and might help sales of the CD.

That said, you can't argue with the success of their recent tours.

God save the Kinks (and the Stones).

"Take all the pain...It's yours anyway"

DAMMM!!!!...can't believe i missed that !@#$%^%.....tks for the review though...sure it was great

Ray Davies plays Notodden Blues Festval 31. july - 3. august!!!

Two things,

1) i undertaand the Stones are catering to a larger audience, but would any audience complain when you are touring off a new album if you played a special set from that album inthe middle of the show; check out my posts over the years, i am not in the set list complainer group, I just thought i would point out a nice way to structure a show

2) I was listing the songs played from memory, but i found a complete set list posted elsewhere from someone who wrote it down last night:

I'm Not Like Everybody Else
Where Have All the Good Times Gone?
Well Respected Man
Til the End of the Day
After the Fall
Dead End Street
The Tourist
20th Century Man (dedicated to his dad, "a socialist far left of Lenin")
Working Man's Cafe


After the interval, Ray started solo with some songs from the new album:

In a Moment
One More Time
Vietnam Cowboys
The Real World (which is about a young woman Harvard grad who found herself tending bar in New Orleans)
Real World
No One Listens

Then he tossed in the rarely performed Fancy, followed by
Sunny Afternoon
Come Dancing
So Tired
Set Me Free
All Day and All of the Night

encores:

Low Budget
Waterloo Sunset
Lola
Days
Imaginary Man
You Really Got Me
Victoria



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-04-10 16:14 by HalfNanker.

Ray does indeed do it right. I saw him at the Alcatraz Theatre a few years back and it was one of the best shows I have ever seen. A song writing genius and performer par excellence!

Last night was even better than I had hoped. I believe that he would have played all night, if not for Union overtime. The best added bonus I could have hoped for was Waterloo Sunset; just sublime.

But, Dana Fuchs, I dunno. Someone needs to tell her that Janis Joplin style vocals don't work in an acoustic duo.

Thanks for the Beacon review. I could have gone to the Chicago Theater show last week, but opted out for the screening of SAL down at Navy Pier Imax instead. This tour seems to be going well for Ray which is great news. Hopefully the positive reactions of audiences will cause him to rethink the possibility of getting The Kinks back together, and offer the olive branch to brother Dave whom I believe really would like to play again with his old band.

This is not good for my wallet!
I'm wavering over getting tickets for him at Hampton Court in June. Want to go but wasn't sure it would be worth £50/60 a ticket (especially as I'm self-employed and recently getting short/medium-term contracts, and trying to keep money saved just in case the Stones tour again!).
But these reviews are making it hard to say no. Think I'll have to get onto Ticketmaster...

Quote
filstan
Thanks for the Beacon review. I could have gone to the Chicago Theater show last week, but opted out for the screening of SAL down at Navy Pier Imax instead. This tour seems to be going well for Ray which is great news. Hopefully the positive reactions of audiences will cause him to rethink the possibility of getting The Kinks back together, and offer the olive branch to brother Dave whom I believe really would like to play again with his old band.

He threw out a huge olive branch last night...

twice he asked the audience to give Dave a big hand for being such an important part of the kinks. I started to wonder if he was about to walk out on stage at that point!

HalfNanker, did you ever get to see the Kinks? I saw them many times from 1970 on, and it was always fun. Been a fan since I was a kid back in the early 60's when they started topping the charts. Hearing that Ray spoke kindly of Dave is very encouraging. I saw Dave play a few years back at The Abbey Pub in Chicago before he had the stroke and it was fantastic night. Huge energy. Would be awesome to see the brothers Davies back together! It would either be brilliant, or we would see a good fight on stage...

Over the years I have seen the Kinks twice (1982 and 1993), Dave Davies once and now Ray three times.

Last night felt like seeing the Kinks again, loud and electric with lots of energy, while the two prior times, Ray was much more mellow and acccoustic (Irving Plaza a couple of years ago and about 11 years ago in a smal theater in the village (the Westbeth) when he was doing what would later become his storyteller show--reading from his autobiography. no mnatter how he does it though he is a great showman. very different than Mick, but equally effective at commanding the audience.

I met him briefluy after the Westbeth show and was surpised at how small, quiet (shy) and unassuming he was. Maybe the years of drinking was a way to come out of his shell in public.

I was at the show last night as well, and it was fantastic. HalfNanker, where were you sitting? I was on the lower balcony, and my only complaint was that I couldn't hear some of Ray's witty banter (which is actually worth listening to, unlike most musicians). Otherwise it was great, and the last 7-10 songs, he just brought the house down, with all those encores. Victoria was just incredible.

I have to say, Ray Davies is one of the most amazing stage performers I've seen. He's more than just a great musician, when you see him, you get to see a real stage performance. The interplay with the crowd, the way he gets everyone to sing, his silly little dances, etc. Truly a joy to watch.

No Merch. Either Ray did not have stuff for the tour or the building percentage was too much, so it stayed on the truck. I've seen artists not sell merch at small venues or clubs because they did not want to give the venue 40%-50%.

One of my favs. Love his latest solo. Still got it.

His new solo record is tops, as is much of his solo work. And the Kinks? Easily one of the best groups of their generation, and Ray Davies is one of the finest songwriters of ANY generation.

Your Ray Davies review makes me want to be there and see him too. Wow! Exactly the kind of gig a Solo Artist can do like, say, Neil Young, Lou Reed or ol' Bob. But I don't think you could pull off the same spontaneous thing with a whole band of different egos. So even the Stones' club shows will always seem more "conceived" than the one you just saw.

An "A Bigger Bang" mini set would be a very nice idea, though. I wish they'd have done it!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008-04-10 11:24 by Greenblues.

Quote
MarthaTuesday
This is not good for my wallet!
I'm wavering over getting tickets for him at Hampton Court in June. Want to go but wasn't sure it would be worth £50/60 a ticket (especially as I'm self-employed and recently getting short/medium-term contracts, and trying to keep money saved just in case the Stones tour again!).
But these reviews are making it hard to say no. Think I'll have to get onto Ticketmaster...

i shall be seeing Mick Avory and the Kast-Off Kinks, at their annual
Eel Pie Club show in 3 weeks time... great stuff

For the most part, Ray Davies does indeed get it right, apart from the times when he tries to get the audience to clap along.

Yes, the too frequent request to get the audience clapping was one thing that used to put me off at Kinks shows. Fans didn't need to be told to clap back then and don't now either. Ray needs to cut that way back.

Quote
JMoisica
I was at the show last night as well, and it was fantastic. HalfNanker, where were you sitting? I was on the lower balcony, and my only complaint was that I couldn't hear some of Ray's witty banter (which is actually worth listening to, unlike most musicians). Otherwise it was great, and the last 7-10 songs, he just brought the house down, with all those encores. Victoria was just incredible.

I have to say, Ray Davies is one of the most amazing stage performers I've seen. He's more than just a great musician, when you see him, you get to see a real stage performance. The interplay with the crowd, the way he gets everyone to sing, his silly little dances, etc. Truly a joy to watch.

I was row R left/center Orchestra about 15 feet from the sound board. I agree his banter is well worth listening to. I got most of it, but occassinally his accent makes it tough.

what did you think of his making such a big deal for the audience to clap for Dave? It seemed to me like Dave wont talk to him, so he wants the media/word of mouth to get the message back to him that he wants to play together again.

i shall be seeing Mick Avory and the Kast-Off Kinks, at their annual
Eel Pie Club show in 3 weeks time... great stuff[/quote]

That is very tempting. Just not sure about getting to Twickenham from the office in North London. I think I might try to get out early.

they're be on 9-9.30...Curfew is 11pm - you'll be fine with the trains.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-04-11 14:45 by Adrian-L.

That sounds do-able. If I'm not working late that night, perhaps I'll see you there.