Ray LaMontagne Hollywood Bowl 8/12/2009

When ray LaMontagne takes the stage something happens. The room draws silent whether it be a small coffee shop or the Hollywood Bowl. His bearded almost frail appearance in the middle back of the stage screams someone who tries to avoid attention the beard acting as a mask to hide him away from the world. If it were a social gathering he'd be in the corner with a drink and a hard pack of cigarettes holding up a wall and he would appear to be brooding. The reality is that he's thinking and ever writing and constantly creating in this world where his songs bellow from his lips like the soul of a thousand tortured troubadours trying to find solace in the bottom of a bourbon.

When Ray sings people not only listen, they feel they feel the pain that comes behind every raspy note and identify.

"Trouble been doggin' my soul since the day I was born…"

"The very things that make you live are killing you"

This is so far beyond that it evokes images whether they be your first heartbreak or the day where everything goes wrong or a deeper love for someone you can't have or love come and gone. It's all magnified by Ray LaMontagne's soulful power which the LA Philharmonic orchestra was able to round out behind Ray expertly.

Despite a small microphone snag in the beginning the set rolled on as Ray made the crowd his. Trouble was especially wonderful as he went off and told us more about the woman who has saved him. You could feel every single note through the music though his voice and through the Bowl itself. It became the church of ray and we were all saved for one evening.

Jenny Lewis and Blitzen Trapper brought it to the stage and were wonderfully entertaining, but the night clearly belonged to Ray LaMontagne as he and the orchestra gave the music lovers in attendance a set which won't soon be forgotten.

There's something undeniable about the power of the sung word. Writers get kudos for their mastery of weaving the languages into tapestries and beautiful mosaics of language. Hemingway, Shakespeare, Salinger the list goes on while the musician gets credit for a good beat. There are few poets in the music world who get credit for their words. Bob Dylan comes to mind, and for me so does Ray LaMontagne.