Ray Davies
7/4/06
Taste of Chicago
I remember the time when I first heard The Kinks. Aside from their radio hits “Lola,” and “You Really Got Me” I hadn’t really heard what they had to offer the world. I didn’t truly experience them until after college when I came across a couple of pivotal albums: Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) and The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society. My first thought then was: Why wasn’t this band just as successful as the Beatles? The more albums I listened to-Face to Face and Something Else, the more I saw the reflective spirit crossed with music that could just as easily take the form of melodic folk songs as they could catchy rock songs.
So when you look at someone like Ray Davies, it’s impossible to just see simply a musician because this man has legendary status. Ray Davies, thankfully, isn’t the type of musician that turns his back on the history of his own music and refuses to play his old songs. In fact, he welcomed the nostalgia and it was clear that he still enjoys playing his Kinks material.
He was also pretty vibrant while playing and while conversing. He tapes the environment of cities he’s in and he played some of Chicago back to us. He also asked us to be nice to him and make sure to invite him to BBQs, reassuring us that even though he didn’t eat meat, he’d come. He had the jumps and moves of a much younger man and it was hard to feel like the music was even dated at some points. He also had the support of another guitarist, a bassist, drummer, keyboardist and female backup singer on most tracks which worked nicely with both recent songs and old favorites.
Although he did play solo material from Other People’s Lives, he began his 90 minute long set with “Low Budget” and soon played a rocking version of “I’m Not Like Everybody Else” (one of my favorite songs, although I am most partial to “Rosie Won’t You Please Come Home”). One of the best songs he played stylistically was “Sunny Afternoon” because he stayed true to his soft and reflective original. He also stayed true to the way “All Day and All of the Night” as well as “You Really Got Me” were recorded and he made these rockers just as effectively loud and catchy as they were when released. It was a real honor to see not only him perform but to be in the presence of such an individual.
Click to see a couple more pictures:
July 7th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Great photos. Great show.
Long live Raymond Douglas Davies.
(And “big Australian barmaids.”)
July 7th, 2006 at 11:32 pm
Thanks! Yeah was happy to hear those songs being performed by Ray Davies himself. I never thought I would ever get the chance…
July 12th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
Really neat photos. Thanks!
July 12th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
I agree with you how great it was to see Ray. I am a Kinks fan since I was 11 (1964) my sisters were into the beatles and when I heard this power riff on the radio I knew what I liked. Took my 20 year old daughter to see Ray in Boston on March 28. Great show ,fun for the new stuff and old stuff. He looked and sounded great, we were in the second row and she could not believe that he was the Lola and yrgm guy. As we said im my College days “God save the Kinks”
July 12th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
thanks for sharing the pics. i saw the kinks six times in the 80s but have never seen a ray davies show. i live in nevada and maybe he’ll do a show here in the future. good work **
July 12th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
Thanks everyone for your comments! I’m really glad you enjoyed them. The music of the Kinks is definitely very special to me and even though I wish I could have seen the Kinks when they were a full band when these songs were first being created, it’s still somewhat of a small miracle to me to see them being performed now. I felt like Ray was really animated and into the set and at some points, I felt like pinching myself: “Am I really here watching Ray Davies?
”
July 12th, 2006 at 10:12 pm
Who is the female singing with Ray?
July 12th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
You can’t stop the music playing on…
The KinKs Konker
God Save the KinKs
The KinKs Preservation & Appreciation Society
Rock bands will come
and
Rock bands will go
but Rock & Roll and KinKdom and all their fans will go on forever…
ALL DAY AND ALL OF THE NIGHT BECAUSE WE ARE ONE OF THE SURVIVORS!
MAY DAVE GET WELL AND MAY BOTH HE AND RAY GET BACK TOGETHER AGAIN SO PAPER PLATES AND BEER CAN ONCE AGAIN FLY AND FRANK AKA DAN THE FAN HAS A REASON TO GO ON!
July 13th, 2006 at 1:35 am
Hi Kirsty
I dont normally do this but i thought your photos of Ray were excellent and your comments were good too ive seen the kinks 3 times now first time was in the 60s ..i didnt know there was still so many fans out there all over the world im hoping to see Ray this year in the U.K and because of your comments i really cant wait thanks for the photos and thanks for being a true fan xxxxx Nigel xxx
July 13th, 2006 at 4:55 am
Who is the female singing with Ray?
that is a good question. I believe Ray said her name but we missed it. if anyone can enlighten us that would be great. google searching was fruitless in this area.
cinchel
July 13th, 2006 at 7:42 am
Tom: It might be Karin Forsman playing with her.
July 13th, 2006 at 9:58 am
Your photos are excellent. I’m not involved in copyrighting or anything. I’‘m just curious if you had a photo pass or if you brought a good camera in. I saw people using their cell phones and small digital cameras to take photos. They didn’t really check well even though there were signs about no cameras. I use to take lots of photos at rock shows in the 80’s until they got tough about not bringing in cameras.
July 13th, 2006 at 10:39 am
emma: I’m a rebel, which is the name of my camera
Actually, things are getting tough these days in terms of cameras. I had problems at Intonation Festival for example. It’s difficult. At Ray Davies, I was allowed in because it wasn’t a videocamera specifically. That is what the security guards specifically asked me about. For festivals in particular, though, it’s very difficult to secure a photo pass.
Thanks for the compliment. If you want to see more photos, I have a flickr web page here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kirstiecat/
July 13th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
These photos are really great & so is your narrative about the concert! My husband has loved the Kinks way before he loved me! LOL We have gone to several Kinks concerts, a Dave Davies concert & Ray’s Storytellers concert all here in St. Louis. Ray has such charisma & is magical on stage. He’s just an all around great performer!
July 13th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
i’ve seen the kinks 4 times and just saw ray in salt lake city, it was great. I had been waiting a long time to see him again and i had a great time listeneing to the great kinks classics and his new material, i never wanted the show to end.
July 14th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
I cannot believe that as nice a man as I am reading about on these pages, Ray Davies, surrounds himself with such jerks on his staff.
They were absolutely horrible during the a.m. load in at the Petrillo Band shell, the most rude bunch we have encountered in 22 years at this venue. They were so bad the Teamsters and Stagehands union guys refused to load them out after the show.
Mr. Davies has some insecurity issues too.
He refused to allow the big screen set up for the convenience of his fans to display anything other than a wide angle shot of the stage (no close-ups, no panning shots, etc.). He furthermore refused to allow the traditional 30 seconds of live broadcast by the local news media, including the Chicago affiliate for ABC-TV, the highest rated news program in the Midwestern U.S. and 3rd highest in the country.
Topping off the disrespect to his fans, after the last song, the fans clapped and clapped and cheered, waiting for an encore – after 10 minutes of this, we asked Mr. Davies, “sir, are you going to do another song” and he snapped, “I’ll do one if I feel like it”. He ultimately decided not to do one and left his fans in a lurch.
What a contrast between him and Dennis DeYoung, Macy Gray, Indie.Arie, Train, My Morning Jacket, etc. who were an absolute joy to work with over the past 10 days.
July 14th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Thanks for sharing the photos with us.
Down here in Australia the last time we saw Ray was in 1995 on the Storyteller tour so you can imagine how starved we OzKinkophiles are. I was lucky enough to see him in Warwick, UK last year though so it’s great to be reminded of that concert and to hear how this tour has developed and Other People’s Responses
July 14th, 2006 at 11:12 pm
I got deeply hooked at my first Kinks show, the Preservation tour in NYC, Thanksgiving Day, 1974. I was 17 and hardly knew who they were, jost heard they were great. Once the show started, with Victoria, YRGM, TTEOTD, etc, and Lola, I was hit with a lightning bolt with each song – a sudden realization that THIS was the group that made that song. And that song! and that song! Over an over. They rocked. Then the Preservation show – it endeared me and my bro to the Kinks forever. They played NYC almost every year for quite a while, enabling my 21 attendances at Kinks shows over a roughly 20-year period. Seen ‘em low, seen ‘em high. Bought every record. Question though: Does anyone recall the Kinks on Midnight Special or some similar TV show in or about 1974 performing Here Comes Another Day? By the way, 5 of my 7 siblings are dedicated Kinks fans for life.
July 14th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
DM: I’m really sorry you had that experience. I was up front so the big screen wouldn’t have been near me anyhow. I felt that Ray was really warm and animated and considering the fans got over an hour long set for FREE…I mean, yeah he could have come out and played an encore when we cheered but really, I felt very strongly that it was a priveledge to see him play period. Then again, I’m a huge Kinks fan but am sadly not really into any of the other musicians and bands you listed. I did think it was nice to see Andrew Bird (who I love) on stage with My Morning Jacket, though.
July 15th, 2006 at 10:52 am
Thank you for sharing your photos. Its good to see that Ray can still get off the ground.
“Far from all the soot and noise of the city,
There’s a village green.
It’s been a long time”
God save the village green!
July 16th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
Kirstie:
Thats o.k…...
you are more civil than most of Ray’s fans. I am glad you enjoyed the show.
July 17th, 2006 at 11:55 pm
DM, I wonder if Ray’s problems with the US federation of musician’s (or whatever it was) boycott of The Kinks from ‘65-’69 which effectively ended their US career might have had something to do with how Ray and his band reacted to working with the Teamsters, et al at The Taste of Chicago..?
It’s too bad. I know the Chicago fans love Ray. I saw him there several times.
July 19th, 2006 at 3:12 am
DM, Who among us hasn’t had a bad day, been in a foul mood, etc. etc. etc. I’ve met Ray Davies six or seven times, and he has always been friendly to me. I know Ray is a bit eccentric and at times aloof, but he has always been pleasant with me…of course that was before he was shot in the leg. Cheers!
August 2nd, 2006 at 1:47 pm
Thanks for posting these great photos. I flew to Salt Lake City (from Oregon) to see Ray, and made it to the front of the stage for the whole show. Shaking his hand during the encore of Low Budget was the best!
I’ve been fortunate to see the whole band about 10 times in the 80s and 90s on the east coast (Madison Square Garden, Roseland theater, NJ Meadowlands, JFK Stadium, and a few smaller theaters in NY and NJ), and I saw Ray in Portland in 2001, but being up that close was really great.
I still can’t believe he did “Long Way From Home.” I never thought I’d get to see that one performed.
Again, thanks for the website and here’s hoping Ray tours again soon.