Ok, I will try and write my review now seeing as I have a little spare time.
Ray Davies- Meltdown Festival, Royal Festival Hall, 19th JuneI saw Ray back in December at this same venue so I knew it was a pretty impressive place and I remembered the venue well once I got inside. I was a little disapointed that the t-shirt stand didn't have any designs exclusive to the Meltdown Festival (just the new ones that are currently selling on a few Kinks websites) but of course I bought a couple anyway! ;D I'd saved some money for my London trip to buy a bit of merchandise and was lucky enough to get 1 of 150 Ray Davies posters, exclusive to the festival and individually hand signed by Ray
(I'll try post a picture of this poster but I don't have one yet)
Anyway, Ray was due onstage at 7.30PM so me and my friend Pete made our way into the concert hall. I was lucky enough to get 2 front row seat tickets last minute from eBay, but we were both really suprised when we realised how close to the stage we actually were. I was lucky enough to shake Ray's hand at the first show of his I went to, and sat only a few rows back but I'd never had front row seats to any concert before as they usually sell out pretty quickly.
I got so excited about being that close to the stage that I had a bit of a funny turn and freaked Pete out a bit
- I think he thought I might keel over or something!
Not sure why it happened, just excitement I guess! An announcement was made by a lady before the show started - she said that Ray invited us to take a commemorative photo during People Take Pictures Of Each Other
and then proceeded to tell us that any other photography was prohibited. Pete didn't exactly follow this rule
but he most definately wasn't the only one! To be fair he did turn the flash off so I don't think Ray would have been distracted by our extra pictures!
The Crouch End Festival Chorus and London Philaharmonic Orchestra were present, as well as Bill Shanley and Ian Gibbons (not sure who the drummer or other guitarist was though
) so it was a pretty elabourate set up to say the least! The orchestra began to play Village Green and Ray appeared through a doorway on the left hand side of the stage. He strolled out with his hands in his pockets and walked straight over to his seat, picked up his guitar and started to sing. From that first song I just knew it would be an amazing night! Ray didn't interact with the audience much during the recreation of the VGPS album but he did seem to be really enjoying himself and really put his all into the performances
It was all very elaborate and perhaps a little over the top ( what with the choir and the orchestra ) but it totally worked and the songs truly sounded amazing! Me and Pete especially enjoyed Picture Book as its a mutual favourite of ours from VGPS, but all the songs sounded great!
It was cool to hear songs like Phenomenal Cat and All Of My Friends Were There, as I don't think Ray's played them live before
( please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here! ) All Of My Friends.. was great, very entertaining and funny - in true Ray style! ;D
I did find it a little strange that the VGPS songs were played in a totally different order to the album running order (when I saw Donovan perform Sunshine Superman he played the tracks in the order they appear on the album) but it didn't really matter as all the songs flowed together really well
After the first half was over we went outside for some fresh air and got chatting to a nice man who'd flown over from Germany to see Ray. He told us that he knew Ray personally and had a bit of history with him (although he didn't go into detail.) He said that he'd sat in on the sound checks before the show. If this is true then that guy was very lucky!
Ray interacted with the audience much more during the second half of the concert. He seemed in really good spirits and invited everyone to 'help him out' and sing a long to songs like Sunny Afternoon and Waterloo Sunset. We were treated to amazing songs like Celluloid Heroes, Imaginary Man, Dead End Street, Autumn Almanac, Postcards From London - to name a few! I was really suprised when he played The Way Love Used To Be. Ray told us that he had heard a soul singer performing it in a club recently and that he had almost forgotten about this song. He had a sheet of paper which he looked at a few times during the song - I guess he had the lyrics written down. I've always found this to be a very beautiful and haunting song and the orchestra really did it justice
Onto the most exciting part of the show - the encores!
At this point I'll mention that I had my VGPS album, and a pen with me as I hoped Ray might be able to sign it, I also had a birthday card I hoped to give to him. I may have added a little something about Lola in the card ;D - thought Ray might like to know where his car had ended up!
Ray began to sing Days and at this point a big crowd of people gathered around the stage, as I was at the front I didn't have far to go and managed to get right to the edge of the stage. The encores were really good fun as everyone at the front was dancing and singing and Ray seemed to enjoy the attention! He did several encores including ADAAOTN, 'Til The End Of The Day, Lola and Come Dancing. Lola and Come Dancing were my favourite encores as everyone seemed so happy to hear these songs!
Ray's last song was Low Budget, that was a lot of fun - Ray had some great moves for that song!
We guessed this was his last encore and Pete knew how much I wanted to get my album signed and give Ray the card. He also knew that I'd be a bit shy and wouldn't make a big point of trying to get Ray's attention, so he did it for me! It was pretty hard to do this as a lot of people were shoutiung stuff to Ray and trying to get his attention but somehow Pete managed it. Just before Ray left the stage he walked over to us and I shyly passed my pen and album to him. He attempted to sign it and I realised that he was having trouble as my pen was running out
He did try and go over it again but the pen had almost run out. Luckily he pressed down quite hard and basically etched his name into the cover but I was pretty gutted, although it wasn't Ray's fault. I could have kicked myself for not having a decent pen
He smiled kind of apologetically at me as he handed it back and I blurted out something really dumb like 'Sorry Ray, my pen doesn't appear to be working!'
Pete was holding onto my card and he handed it to Ray, he smiled and took it and we both told him that it was for his birthday. Then he left the stage still holding my card - I truly hope he read it!
A few other things about the concert that really made me smile!
- Ray's facial expressions and hand gestures he does whilst he's singing
-The fact that he had a special holder for his cup that was attached to the microphone stand. I like to think it was tea!
-The fact that he was wearing trainers ( sneakers!) with his smart shirt and trousers ;D - always found that quite endearing about Ray!
- But the thing that really made me and Pete smile was when he took his jacket off, he hastily tried to tuck his shirt in with one hand and didn't do a very good job of it. He spent most of the show with one side of his shirt tucked in and the other half out!
I have pictures which clearly show this!
I'll add a few more photo's later today