Mr. Ray

Soulful. Chilling. Beautiful. Tear Jerking. Brilliant. All words that come to my mind in regards to my experience in watching Ray Lamontagne at The Beacon last night.

I took a dear friend from High School (Naperville!) who has never seen Ray live and mid show- she leaned in and whispered- "Thank you for inviting me."

Thank you Ray- for having such an amazing energy that pulls you in. Its one of the voices that you imagine a rainy night, a bottle of wine, tunes and candle light. Tears are likely to be caused listening to his beautiful lyrics and story- beware.

Yes, Ray has quirks. He silences the crowd. He mumbles into the mic when speaking to us. He has an insanely dark dry sense of humor that the crowd crumbles at. One moan show- Cabbie lid- interchanging between guitars of choice- this man has found his own mastery.

Ray was introduced to me years ago when I lived in CT by an amazing group of friends in a room we referred to as "The Record Room." He is fitting for the wee hours we worked in CT. The beers. The company. Ray carries a "right in your own living room" feel which he carried at The Beacon standing on his "stage" which was an old dirty living room rug.

I am wearing his adorable concert series shirts that reads "Mr. Ray" that are a part of the smiley face series with a smiley face adorning a full beard. New favorite Tshirt!

PS. Ray has officially made it onto my Top 5 shows of the year:

1. Wilco @ Coney Island

2. Ray Lamontagne @ The Beacon

3. Depeche Mode @ MSG

4. Rodrigo Y Gabriela @ Terminal 5

5. Kanye West/ NERD/ Lupe Fiasco @ MSG

6. Mew @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

7. The Killers @ MSG

8. MGMT @ Prospect Park Band Shell