Review - Ray Davies, 9:30 Club, Washington, DC

From: Dave Plunkert
Date: March 21, 2006

Ray put on a fantastic show last night. 2-1/2 hours including a 15 minute intermission.

The 9:30 Club isn't an arena by any stretch but is also isn't a small venue. The place was packed shoulder to shoulder on the main floor and the balcony. 1,000 people? 1,200? Hard to say. Good vibe in the room although hard to get a beer. I was up and center about 6 rows of folks back from the stage.

Ray opened with "I'm Not Like Everbody Else" with full band accompaniment. He looked quite fit and happy.

A highlight was an acoustic set of several songs from Village Green with guitarist Mark Jones. Ray also did Oklahoma USA and 20th Century man from Muswell Hillbillies and a truly wonderful rendition of "Days" complete with a spot on acapella intro.

There were quite a few songs from the Kinks' power rock catalog including: "The Hard Way, Low Budget, All Day and All the Night, You Really Got Me."

The band seemed very comfortable performing songs from the new album. With "Things are Going to Change" and "Getaway" as standouts. "The Tourist" seemed especially well received by the crowd.

The only negatives were that the keyboardist and back-up singer were hard to hear at times and "Waterloo Sunset" was missing from the playlist. The 9:30 Club is a nice enough venue for a show once inside. However, the outside of the club is dreary by any standard.

After several encores, Ray ended the show with "Lola" and as I was leaving I could see him shaking hands and signing autographs.

David Plunkert