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Were we the only ones caught off guard by the second coming of the British Invasion (Three if by air!)? Regardless, we were very excited to attend Monday's taping of Ray Davies for the PBS Austin City Limits program that airs locally on KLRU (schedule). Terry Lickona's excellent and enthusiastic introduction even named Ray Davies in his personal top 5 "pulls" for the show. The introductory performance of I'm Not Like Everybody Else found the crowd filled with energy and promised to make for an exciting night, but the set that followed failed to live up to our expectations.
The genuine high points of the performance including Sunny Afternoon and The Tourist were sharply contrasted by the rest of the set. In a personal ACL first, we actually saw someone falling asleep during A Long Way from Home. Davies paused halfway through the show to ask if this was "all too adult contemporary" for our tastes, and we couldn't agree more. After proclaiming that "you can run away from everything in life... except your back catalog" he went on to play All Day and All of the Night and Low Budget to the kind of welcome that you would probably expect.
As we anxiously await seeing the next artist to grace the Austin City Limits hallowed stage, we think we'll constrain our future relationship with Davies to Best of Albums, HP Commercials, and 80's Movies.
Partial Set List:
Were you at the show? What did you think?
*Image (c) Kenrak on Flickr*
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Long Way From Home was the only song lacking the quality of the rest of the set.
Most old rockers play newer songs and the whole crowd snoozes. I think the schlub you saw fall asleep couldn't handle the free brew.
The band and Ray's voice sounded fantastic. He mentioned that one of his new songs was derivative and maybe it was, but who cares? It rocked.
I did neglect to mention that there were a few poeple who kept the spirit all the way through. So obviously they saw something I missed too.
I don't think that it was the set selection that dulled my opinion though. I don't mind that strategy usually. It all looked just a little too much like another day at the office to me. Perhaps you just had to come at the performance from another angle than I did. Anyone else attend with a different opinion?
I loved it, but I've listened to the new album for a while, and I knew it would be focused on that. I didn't expect a greatest hits set (which we got a couple years ago for the Storytellers tour). I thought the enthusiastic audience brought out the best in him despite the fact I knew from reading previous reports he had a routine down as far as between-song banter, etc. "20th Century Man" was transcendent.
I agree, from the songs that were noted as great to the silent agreement of the set's adult contemporariness.
Plus I had to listen to my boyfriend rant about aging rockers for a couple of days.
I think the difference is that if you are a Ray Davies fan you liked it more than if you are a Kinks fan.
Yes, I was there, even stood behind you in line. I agree it started OK, then became semi-yawner and finished with a bang. I also sensed that Ray was disappointed in audience reaction to his solo material.