Overall Rating
3.2
By lahlahlou
Neko was the gem here!
Neko Case was amazing and I’d have rather watched her play longer, than listened to Ray LaMontagne and his band play a jam session. I was a bit disappointed that he played everything that I did NOT know. Neko was fantastic and the venue was killer on a perfect summer night!
By Oliviasdad123
Good - But NONE of the HITS - :(
We love Ray...he's an extremely talented musician, with an excellent band that can really rock it. However, it may be our lack of knowledge of his song catalog, but the entire show didn't include ANY..not one, top 40 hit, from whatever chart he would be on. We found that notion to be of great surprise to us.
By LowerCaseg
Great time - great place to see a concert!
Had a great time Friday night at this concert - Breese Stevens Field is an amazing place to see a concert! Will be back for sure!
By LoyalO3
Disappointed in set list
Band was great, Ray sounded real good but he did not play any of the four songs I and the folks around me came to hear. Jolene, For the summer, beg borrow or steal and Trouble. That is why I gave 3 stars. I will say there were a couple of songs I never heard before that really rocked.
By Honeytoast
Ho Hum
Loved Rays voice and loved the venue but he just didn’t seem into it. He just wanted to play and get out. Didn’t interact with the crowd. Just kinda boring.
By Anonymous
The volume could have been higher for Neko Case. She was hard to hear. It was better for Ray. I've seen Ray twice in three years and he doesn't play his older hits, which is disappointing. I would be nice if he would throw one or two of those songs into his set list. This was our first time at the venue. It is a nice size (not too large) and had easy access to concessions and restrooms. I would go to another event there.
By MTeebs
Not the best show I’ve seen.
Great artist, great voice, but was disappointed that he didn’t play any of his well known songs.
By MCHC25
Disappointing
The show just wasn't what I was expecting. He did not play any of his classics - just new stuff - which was disappointing. Stayed after the show because I didn't believe that was really it given the set he played. Venue itself was terrific though.
By stouthibernian
Ray LaMontange not Ray LaMontange
I have most of Ray's catalogue but in many ways the entire concert was unrecognizable--and not in a great way. The two long closing numbers seemed more designed to meet a contractual commitment to play 90 minutes than they were designed to please the crowd, display instrumental prowess or sell a new LP. The sound engineer/ or company had a set up that seemed adequate for a venue 1/4 of the size. The monitors that were supposed to augment the concert clearly did not consider the brightness of a summer evening with the screens facing west. The visual effects were also perplexing. I say this as a long time Ray fan, but if you were not a fan prior to the concert, you would have left a fan a Neko Case but not Ray I am sorry to say. I get that as an artist it is important to push artistic boundaries to remain relevant, but I am not so sure that you can succeed at the expense of the fans who have travelled hundreds of miles, spent hundreds to attend, and then were reward with a performance that from our seats seemed like a perfunctory exercise to satisfy a contract. I left scratching my head as did most people sitting near us.
By Anonymous
I didn't know a single song performed and I thought I was a big fan. I wish he played a few hits.
Ray Lamontagne is no stranger to the world Folk music. His fourth album, "God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise," released in 2010, won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk album, and he subsequently embarked on the 2011 Pariah Dogs Summer Tour, so named after his new band The Pariah Dogs. With a soulful upper register and a breathless falsetto that adds hints of R&B to otherwise straightforward folk arrangements, LaMontagne's voice is always at the center of his performances. The typically reticent singer keeps banter to a minimum at his concerts, pouring his concentration into the songs, at times even singing with his eyes closed.
LaMontagne's journey to the spotlight has been anything but conventional. Though he released his debut album "Trouble" in September 2004, it didn't receive popular attention until nearly two years later, when it made a top five entry in the UK charts and eventually went on to sell over 250,000 units in the US alone. By the time of his second release, 2006's "Til the Sun Turns Black," LaMontagne was fast becoming a household ticket, his songs appearing in television shows like "Rescue Me," "Grey's Anatomy," and "Bones." Once again teaming with producer Ethan Johns, LaMontagne's critically-acclaimed third album "Gossip in the Grain" entered the Billboard charts at No. 3, his highest entry to date, entering the Billboard charts at No. 3.
Though not a radical departure from his earlier output, God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise marked a subtle changes to LaMontagne's sound and recording process. He opted to self-produce the album at his home in Massachusetts, and it marked the first collaborative release with his band the Pariah Dogs. While a few songs venture into slightly more aggressive territory (bookends “Repo Man” and “Devil's in the Jukebox”), the album is otherwise characterized by hazy Americana instrumentation and LaMontagne's yearning vocals.