Ray Davies

Starts, or at least I think so I can’t hear it and nor for that matter can I see it on the big screens. Good job I’ve got quite close. Then the sound comes through but it’s still slightly all over the shop. However Ray looks happy to be here facing a large crowd in the sunshine.

He says he’s not going to play Kinks numbers today and the crowd go “Awwww” so he says, “Oh okay I will!” The crowd cheer and he breaks into ‘Till the End of the Day’ but the sounds still all over the place the bass up way too high and it’s hard to hear Ray’s vocals.

Clearly they’re aware of the problem on stage as he apologises saying, “The monitors were okay when we came on stage, honest.” Giving the sound guys enough time to sort the problem Ray brings on Mark Jones on acoustic guitar, all the way from Australia via North London and they play the opening bars to Lazin’ on a Sunny Afternoon’ and there’s more than a few who sing along.

‘Dead End Street’ follows but it’s clear there are less people who know Ray’s stuff in the audience and that’s a bit of a surprise, but with a bit of masterful crowd interaction and everyone’s singing back. Then after a bit of banter about London football teams the band join him again on a newer song which I can only presume is about singing on the terraces.

Suddenly the sound and the big screens are working, at last! The pictures stop but the improved sound allows us to hear Ray much better and his idiosyncratic lyrics. The first few chords of Lola spark the crowd who start clapping along to the beat. Before long the crowd are off the ground and singing along.

Ray finishes with ‘All Day and All of the Night’ and it’s fantastic. Overall a great performance despite the sound problems but I was just disappointed that there wasn’t time for a few more of Ray’s tunes.

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