Live Review

Ray Davies – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

• 18th Oct 2012

The wonderful Philharmonic Hall was the setting for the Legendary Ray Davies performance tonight. On entry there was a suitably attired scooter straight out of Mod mania the ‘Liverpool Scooter Club’ there to welcome Ray.

James Walbourne was Ray’s support who impressively blasted through a 6+ song set list. James had the north London charm and more importantly silky guitar skills and vocals that irked of Ray Lamontagne meeting Damien Rice. He impressed on the folky sailor shanty ‘Sailed to The Seas’ also on ‘BBC’ and ‘Cocaine Eyes’.

Time for the main man Ray Davies on stage exuding English charm with quintessential tailoring. The first half of the set Ray played mostly accompanied with Cork born guitarist Bill Shanley.

Ray engaged with the warm crowd with quips towards Liverpool FC and the ‘Liverpool back chat’ but it was apparent he was pleased to be playing in Liverpool. ‘Autumn Almanac’ had the crowd singing along before tearing into ‘Dedicated Follower of Fashion’. New song ‘In A Moment’ was a touching glimpse of the elder Ray and was nice to hear some of his personal reasoning behind the song declaring himself a ‘total insomniac’ walking the streets at night.

’Sunny Afternoon’ was a delight and there were some touching moments especially on ‘See My Friends’ where it seemed Ray would reminisce but in a way that everyone related to whether it’s hanging out with friends when younger care free and a sense of looking back fondly.

The backing band came in on a number of songs and with Ray having about 3 changes of clothes they helped bring the night to a crescendo many dancing in the aisles to ‘Victoria’.

The highlight was an intriguing insight into his time when the Kinks recorded ’Misfits’ and some great comments from Ray talking about his brother Dave and growing up with his sisters. He dedicated the song ‘Oklahoma U.S.A.’ taken from the ’Muswell Hillbillies’ album to his sister Rosie – who Ray said on her way to the sewing factory she would dream of the Hollywood film stars. ‘Don’t ever forget where you’re from’ Ray’s word’s echoed around the Phil.

No matter how many times you hear ‘Waterloo Sunset’ it never fails to jerk the tears with Ray declaring ‘It’s not my song, it’s your song’.

With a couple of encore’s Ray and the band came on and rocked out to ‘All Day and All of The Night’ with many people up dancing away.

A tremendous end to a wonderful concert – Ray even staying on to shake hands with the audience.

It’s a testament to wonderful musician who is part of the fabric of British music that there were so many songs he could have played. A concert that saw Ray giving some wonderful insights into his family, his life and still showing he’s around for some time yet. A real treat!

Info on James Walbourne please visit:
[link]