David Gray, Ray LaMontagne, Tift Merritt @ Open Sky Theatre, Harrah's Rincon Casino 9/4/2010

Last night I had the pleasure of going to Harrah's Rincon Casino for David Gray, Ray LaMontagne, and Tift Merritt. The show was billed as a co-headlining tour, so David Gray & Ray LaMontagne both played full sets. Tift Merritt opened with a short set, but if you dig her alt-country vibe, she's doing a KPRI cruise next week. You can subscribe to their newsletter for info.

We arrived at the casino around 6:30 after a *meh* dinner at Bistro 221 in Escondido. We were in the center in row 18, but there were a lot of empty seats. I had planned on moving closer for David Gray, but now I wish I'd moved closer earlier because there were tons of empty seats. I suppose that's the gift and curse of casino shows...lots of tickets are given as comps for gamblers but they end up going to waste. In the meantime, Jeff threw down a lot for the tickets, so thanks Jeff, but it still makes me cringe thinking about how expensive the tickets were.

Anyway, it was about 93 degrees when we got there, but the sun dropped behind the mountains and it cooled off considerably, making it a gorgeous night in Valley Centre, complete with shooting stars and gorgeous music. For more photos and video, click 'keep on reading'.







I had only been to one other show at Harrah's, and that was for INXS a couple years ago. My dad got comp tickets and my mom and I sat in the side bleachers, but I forgot just how nice the Open Sky Theatre is. There's a lot of space between rows and the seats are huge. As I tweeted last night, if Humphrey's had chairs like this, it would lower the capacity but make the concerts a far more enjoyable experience.



This is taken from our seats...




I moved up during Ray LaMontagne's set to snap a couple pictures from about the 5th row. I wish I had stayed there.






This is the longview from our seats. The lighting was really cool and I couldn't resist moving forward.


I found a seat on the end of the 3rd row, but a lady said her friend was sitting there. Then she told me the seat in front of it had been empty the whole show. I watched the entire set from the 2nd row. So awesome.


























I love David Gray and have met him at least three different times and I think I've seen him now about 7 times. My only complaint is that I LOVE when he plays piano, but you can only really see him from the nose up when he does. I know the logistics of having a low baby grand are challenging, but it would be so much better if you could see him when he plays songs like "This Year's Love" (still easily one of my favorites).


After the show I attempted to get a setlist, but to no avail. I had been keeping track of the songs in my phone but somehow deleted them, so I appreciate the chick who let me take a snapshot of the setlist. For the uninitiated, TYL is "This Year's Love" and TOIL is "The One I Love". Also, for the encore I only remember "Flame Turns Blue" and "Please Forgive Me". But I was freaking out about losing the setlist on my phone, trying to set up my camera, and then the sudden decision by the crowd to stand up. My video sucks because there were new obstacles, including the couple who had been sitting next to me in the 18th row (and making out most of the set) and the female doing jazz hands and then the crowd going into a giant clap along (which I hate) .



I also found this setlist on one of Ray's equipment cases onstage, and though the date is wrong, I'm pretty sure that Ray stuck to this order. I think my favorite track off his new record is "Rock n Roll & Radio". Check it out here.



And here are my other two videos from the night. My parents were hanging out at the casino so I found them and hung out for a while as we waited for the traffic to die down.

All in all, a beautiful night.

Lemonheads review

Andrea wrote a novel about the Lemonheads, Vietnam, and Reeve Oliver show on Sunday. You can read all about it here. While you're there, don't bother friend requesting her...she only has bands as friends.

In fairness to my accusations about Ray LaMontagne, I think it's lame that Evan cancelled his appearance on Sunday's Coup d'tat on 94/9. Maybe he was sick, maybe not but they had the whole next day off. Sometimes you just gotta suck it up...honor your commitments, and give the people a damn encore...even if it's just one song.

KPRI - Their side of the story for Ray LaMontagne

Here is the text of an e-mail I received from KPRI this morning:

Dear Rosemary,

If you attended the scheduled Private
Listener Concert with Ray LaMontagne On Wednesday November 8 at the Hard Rock,
you know that Ray did not perform because of illness.

Some of you asked me why we didn't tell
you sooner. Here's the time line: At 8:07PM, I got a call from KPRI's Tammy
Thompson telling me that Ray was "not feeling well." At about 8:15
PM. I arrived at the Hard Rock and immediately met with his tour manager, who
reported that Ray had been to the doctor, and had been advised to rest. Tammy
& I quickly met with the Hard Rock's management and discussed several
options, none of which appealed to any of us. By 8:30, we had located Lisa
Sanders who was in the club and asked her if she could step in. By 8:45, we had
cleared her to use Ray's guitar and tech set-up, Lisa had designed a set list,
and we began the show 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

That's what happened.

We've done dozens and dozens of these
shows, and this is the first cancellation of a KPRI event that we've
experienced. Maybe we were overdue. As I'm sure you know, this happens, even to
major artists. Sting, David Gray, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and other
artists have all cancelled major dates recently because of illness or injury.
It's one of the hazards of touring and being exposed to germs etc. (Although in
Keith's case, I'm not sure it was a "germ.")

I know this is of no comfort at all to you
if you stood in line for hours only to be ultimately disappointed. While I hate
that this happened, as someone who uses his voice everyday, I'm always ready to
give the artist a break when it comes to something as important as the health of
his vocal instrument. I know you join me in wishing Ray a speedy and complete
recovery.

Some of you asked if we could re-schedule
a date with Ray. We would love to do that, but it depends upon his schedule and
what happens to his career between now and the next time he heads this way. We
hope it will happen, but we're unable to promise.

In the meantime, if you would like to be
on a "priority invitation" list for a future event, please reply to this e-mail.

Thanks for being a Freeq.
Robert Hughes
KPRI Owner

I'm sorry, I don't buy it. If I had gone to a doctor (presumably between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.) and was told to rest, then I wouldn't negotiate whether or not I should heed his/her advice for 4 hours. If I feel like shit, I know it from the minute I wake up in the morning. Also, I don't know if this apology is significant enough for people who had to make two trips...one to get the tickets in the first place and the second to downtown...imagine the white tennis shoe crowd having to get babysitters, many driving down from North County, only to be let down. No offense to Lisa, she is amazing, but we can see her around town a bit more easily than Ray. I am bitter. And I'm still assed out on the PY thing.

Pete Yorn dilemma

If you're registered for KPRI's Freequent Listener e-mails, then you received an e-mail around 9 am this morning to let you know that Pete Yorn is doing a private listener concert on November 21 at the Hard Rock downtown. If you are a diehard Yorn fan like me, this was exciting news.

When I walked to the Hard Rock a little before noon to get my ticket, to my dismay I was informed that the venue did not have them yet. When I asked if the guy would take my name since Dave and I were the 2nd and 3rd people to come in for them, he said he couldn't do that. He also said that people with passes to the cancelled Ray LaMontagne show have priority, none of which was mentioned in the e-mail.

I really do love the station, and I have a lot of friends there from back in my advertising days...friends who hooked me up with amazing opportunities, concerts, meet and greets, and the like, but this is the 4th private listener show that has had problems...

Barenaked Ladies (which I did not go to) had a line around the block when the venue was already at capacity. The station has corrected this by lessening the amount of overbooking they do.

G Love and Special Sauce...about 30 people were turned away from this show when we were told that they had to hold space for hotel guests (???) . First come, first served apparently doesn't apply to people who stay in hotels in La Jolla.

Ray LaMontagne...the venue was full, people were still waiting outside, his start time rolled around and he called in "sick".

Pete Yorn...e-mail sent with no tickets yet available at the venue.

I think someone who loves the music should be working there handling this stuff...like ME. I'd be all over it.

Music Gossip Rules

I was supposed to see Ray LaMontagne at a KPRI Private Listener Concert at the Hard Rock Cafe downtown last night. Andrea and I walked over from the HoB CityBeat party, got our wristbands as they were calling capacity at the place, only to find out from Kirsten that Ray LaMontagne was "sick" and wasn't gonna show up (he supposedly called 20 minutes before the show). We walked back to HoB for the last 20 minutes of the party and heard from an anonymous source (who supposedly had talked to Tristan Prettyman earlier in the night) and he/she revealed that Ray was in fact, in town. He and Tristan are apparently dating and he was staying with her in Encinitas? Leucadia? Whatever. Point is, he totally bailed on the radio thing because he was with his chick. Fucking bullshit if you ask me. I didn't stick around to see how the station handled it, but seeing as most of their listeners are from north county and made their way to downtown for a 9pm show on a Wednesday night, I imagine they were not happy about Lisa Sanders replacing Ray. What a bastard. And Tristan can write all the cute little MySpace blogs she wants, the two of them need to realize how disposable musicians are these days. This little stunt doesn't help their longevity in my book. And Ray...that second album? I'll pass. Or maybe my friends will burn it for me...then you can go back to being a shoemaker in Maine and realize the blip on the radar that you were.