The Voice and His Guitar

A couple years ago, I stumbled upon the myspace page of Ray LaMontagne. I want to say it was love at first listen. Well, maybe I had to go back a couple times… but it wasn’t very many visits before I ordered myself a copy of Til The Sun Turns Black. That CD provided anthems to so many emotions in 2007. It still does, as a staple in my many playlists for writing. 

How delighted was I when he finally brought his tour back to New England. Yeah, it meant driving out to Northampton. But Northampton is always worth a drive… and, as I learned pretty swiftly, Ray alone is worth a couple hours in the car. 

I like the poetry of his lyrics. I like the bluesy, country, folksy blend of his music. What can I say? I like Ray. But live… I love him. I love him enough to stalk his webpage and find out the second he announces his next Massachusetts show.

Tonight was my fourth venture to hear the man live. The only other musical group I will pay that kind of money to see live is Coldplay. The theater person in me appreciates the show, not just the music of these musicians. It’s an experience. Not the over the top special effect staged brouhaha that U2 put on. I like these guys because I come away feeling like the music has really gotten inside of me. 

Okay, yeah, Coldplay is pretty uber produced. I know. But the thing is, every single person sings along to every single song during the concert. Chris Martin bounces around the stage and you see the smiles beaming out of everyone as they exit the stadium and pass the tedious minutes/hours to leave. Ray… is a completely different experience, but equally captivating.

They changed his Boston venue to the Wang (or whatever the hell they call it now). Pretty big theater, no? And Ray fans, if you’ve never been, are a pretty vocal group. Seriously. My fellow groupie and I joke about the number of “I love you Rays” and requests for Jolene shouted out each performance. It’s infectious and ridiculous. But what is AMAZING… and I definitely mean utterly and completely awesome… is that each and every one of those zealous fans sits still and becomes silent when he opens his mouth to release his voice over the auditorium. Just one voice. And tonight, it was just his guitar. I could shut my eyes (which I did during All the Wild Horses) and imagine I was alone in the room with Ray. Amazing.

I actually went solo tonight. Just like Ray. This time around, he is touring without his band. So it is just him and his guitar on the stage. Ray is a very shy man… in that obnoxious way of genius. He usually just comes out to the stage and sings. But without the band, there was a little more pressure to fill the silence with his wry, soft spoken humor. For most of the show, he hid his face with a broad rimmed cowboy hat. But it didn’t matter. The voice is what we all bought tickets to hear. Not see.

I liked going by myself. Having the music to myself. Keeping it within me all along my drive out of the city. And yet, I know there were thousands of others who left that auditorium with equal delight and satisfaction. Because, let me tell you, if you EVER have the chance to see that man live, you really must go. The voice is like nothing else. The captivation of the crowd is magical. Worth every single penny of your ticket.