The Ray and Dave Davies thread

[Brian]

I swore I wasn't going to post tonight, but I might have seen the best show by Ray Davies of my life. I had been watching You Tube clips all month, fearing he'd be tired at the Canyon Club, the last concert of the tour. Needless to say, I have no complaints about his performance -- but I do about the sound at the end of the set and the venue's efficient greed. I'll copy the setlist and commence a week-long rant tomorrow.

Also can't say enough about how enjoyable it was to hang out with Skipper and his best concert buddy Todd afterwards. We sat with Dan and Nate, and unfortunately not near Roberta and John, who had a much better table if not a great view. However, Anni said that Roberta found herself backstage!

[Brian]

The setlist for Ray Davies' concert at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, Calif. on March 25, 2010:

• This Is Where I Belong (with Bill Shanley)
  
• I Need You
  
• Where Have All the Good Times Gone
  
• In a Moment
  
• Victoria
  
• 20th Century Man
  
• The Tourist
  
• Apeman
  
• Dedicated Follower of Fashion
  
• Two Sisters
  
• The Hard Way
  
• See My Friends
  
• I'm Not Like Everybody Else
  
• Nothin' in the World Can Stop Me Worryin' 'Bout That Girl
  
• Too Much on My Mind
  
• Well Respected Man
  
• Sunny Afternoon
  
• Postcard from London
  
• Tired of Waiting for You
  
• All Day and All of the Night
  
• You Really Got Me (with The 88)
  
• David Watts
  
• Celluloid Heroes
  
• Low Budget
  
• Lola
  

No encore -- the club had another act booked afterwards -- but we got 25 songs.

Anni -- who lost a beautiful post for this thread yesterday by accidentally hitting the "escape" key -- has to go offline along with me so we can visit my family for a couple of days, but we'll be back to talk about the evening. And we welcome all comments from everybody who is not like everybody else.

[anni]

Not much thought went into the comfort of the "paying up one side and down the other side customers" BUT, even the opening act, the 88, started healing my penny pinching soul. By the time Ray hit the stage everything was not like anything else...and anni was in hog heaven...with everybody else...What a show. What a night. What a convergence...What a ONE!

[Brian]

What a wife!

I've been composing a three-part review while playing songs from Ray Davies' Canyon Club show in my head, which is what I usually do, yet I haven't had much time since to even start. That's O.K., because I'll probably ramble about that concert for weeks.

Meanwhile, I feel the duty to share this link to the You Tube page rounding up the audience videos shot in Agoura Hills, many of which only capture the stories he tells inbetween songs. The playlist has grown from 5 to 20 in the past 72 hours:

www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=DC82C9C035192D9A

Ben Wener, who blogs for the online Orange County Register, is clearly a serious guy about the Kinks. His review of the gig the previous night reveals that we heard most of the same intros and anecdotes as the folks at the Grove of Anaheim -- and got almost exactly the same setlist, trading "Set Me Free" there for "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" up here:

soundcheck.freedomblogging.com/2010/03/25/ray-davies-rousing-as-ever-at-splendid-grove-gig/22005/

Correcting an otherwise excellent review: "The Tourist" comes from Ray's first real solo album in 2006, "Other People's Lives," not "Working Man's Cafe." "Two Sisters" was on "Something Else by the Kinks" in 1967, not "Face to Face" in 1966, although Ray made the same mistake at the Canyon Club, just as he did saying the Anaheim Stadium bill with Alice Cooper supported "Schoolboys in Disgrace" when the album was "Sleepwalker." I was there.

[Daniel Brin]

Tap tap tap.

... is this on?

[Daniel Brin]

Ah, good. WAAY-O!

Thanks, Brian, for sending the link to this site. This time I've bookmarked it.

It was a remarkable evening, and Nathan and I feel blessed to have shared it with you and Anni. To hear and see Keith Slettedahl sing "David Watts" with Ray Davies himself ... how good can it be? (Skipper will catch the reference.) We were literally surrounded by the 88's parents and the pride was palpable.

Nathan was freaking with joy. He's STILL freaking with joy. Imagine being 18 years old and having already seen Ray in concert four times! (I was 21 when I first saw the Kinks in Winterland in SF in 1974.) This was also Nathan's fourth time seeing the the 88 (and my fifth), which gives you an idea of how much we love that band.

Brian, I still have a ways to go before I'll understand how to operate the tools on this site, so if you want to post the video I shared with you, I won't mind!

[Brian]

Mar 31, 2010 0:16:17 GMT -8 @Daniel Brin said:

Brian, I still have a ways to go before I'll understand how to operate the tools on this site, so if you want to post the video I shared with you, I won't mind!

I certainly don't mind embedding this You Tube video of the 88 performing the Kinks' "Animal Farm" recently on the tour bus. Actually, I've been playing it in my head all day. These four guys are so gifted and lovable -- Anni and I particularly enjoy the lead singer's voice -- and their cover is both faithful and inspired, a rare combination. This was posted on March 27 by ilovethe88, and it's garnered 256 views so far:



Also thanks to Dan, we've been listening to original songs on their 2005 album, "Over and Over," driving to the low desert and coming home. Let's see if they seep into our souls like half of Ray Davies' catalog has over the past 40-plus years. Perhaps someone will consider starting an 88 thread to spread the joy.

Dan, I cannot tell you how gratifying it is to read your words in print on this board so I won't. By the way, you're already registered here as "Dan" with your AOL e-mail address, which is hidden to everyone but Anni and me. If you log on, do it "Forever" and you won't have to log on from that computer again (unless it crashes) because of your cookies. Then you won't have to type a security code to post. You'll also be able to edit and delete your posts. After that, embedding videos is easy.

[Dan]

Mmmmm, cookies... Or maybe macaroons, since it's Passover. Does your website like macaroons?

The 88 playing with Ray Davies is like, what, two of your best friends falling in love and marrying each other? But that doesn't happen in real life. Oh, wait, it does!

[Jeanne]

Apr 2, 2010 21:31:08 GMT -8 Dan said:

Mmmmm, cookies... Or maybe macaroons, since it's Passover. Does your website like macaroons?

I can't speak for the whole "website" but I love macaroons. Came to know them through my Italian American father who would take us to an Italian bakery on Saturday mornings. I must stop before I drool n the keyboard.

[anni]

Apr 2, 2010 21:31:08 GMT -8 Dan said:

The 88 playing with Ray Davies is like, what, two of your best friends falling in love and marrying each other? But that doesn't happen in real life. Oh, wait, it does!

And I thank my loving stars everyday-o!