Ray LaMontagne
Where: Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle
When: 9th September 2009
Well I arrived at the city hall alongside the yougest person there, my younger sister nearly 9 and I were both rather excited. Ray LaMontagne's music didn't really hit the UK music scene until 2006 when 'Trouble' reached number 5 in the charts, at some point we seemed to acquire his albums and finally we were going to see him live. We waited with baited breath and had the pleasure of two good support acts, which makes a change and helps the ticket price not feel quite so painful! But LaMontagne simply blew me away.
He is obviously a shy character, a man that hides behind his beard but this doesn't affect his stage presence, it feels enormous, though amazingly it would seem he wouldn't need to move. The show felt magical and flew over, there was the clearly intentional discreet lighting and LaMontagne himself had positioned himself to the right of the stage allowing his drummer to take the spotlight and the usual position of a singer who is touring with full band. He played all the usual favourites such as 'Trouble' and 'Till the Sun Turns Black'. The amazing thing about the concert was Ray's voice, it gained an extra dimension that simply cannot be captured on CD. He sang with such conviction and a beautiful thick resonance that mesmorised his audience. At one point a member of the audience shouted “Come on Ray say hello,” in a thick geordie accent as his shyness was so apparent between songs, he timidly responded with “hello.”
Being a LaMontagne fan I was suprised at how many upbeat tracks there were, as I think of his as ‘laid back’ music but seeing him live made me realised how many links there are between LaMontagne and folk. One of my favourite moments was when he played 'Shelter' and 'Hold You In My Arms' which are personal favourite off the Trouble album. It was clear that LaMontagne not only sings and plays his music but he feels it, bringing him out of his shell as a fantastic performer. His beautiful lulling tones were too much for my nearly 9 year old sister, who curled up on my Dad’s knee after about an hour, but we woke her for the encore when he sent off his other band members and played the final track alone which gave the concluding moments of the show such an intimate feeling. He sang us out with 'Jolene' and finished off what was a brilliant show - well worth the money and vocals to shock even some of his biggest fans! It is simply so much bigger in person.
Words: Hannah Ross
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