A few months ago, I purchased tickets to Ray LaMontagne at the Wiltern here in LA. It was a second show that was added after the first show quickly sold out. I was so glad when it was announced because I hadn’t been able to see him live yet. Anyway, another one of my friends got tickets to the show in San Diego before the second show was announced, as it didn’t sell out immediately like the first LA show. Between getting the tickets and the show, circumstances came about that she might not be going with the person she had originally intended. So one day, I came up with this crazy idea of us sharing our tickets with each other and going to both shows. My friend loved the idea.
I don’t have many pics from the shows…just a couple of really dark pictures from the San Diego show (the Wiltern doesn’t allow photography)…but here is Leona Ness (the opening act) and Ray at the Spreckels Theatre:
I enjoyed both nights quite a bit, but for different reasons. I think the San Diego show was a little better…at least Ray’s portion of it. The set was at least one song longer in San Diego (I think…I wasn’t counting…but the LA show just felt shorter). We had great seats in San Diego, however they were off to the left and the view was partially blocked by the speakers. We basically just saw the side and back of Ray. In LA, the seats were in the balcony, so we were looking down from the center, but much further away. Both venues were excellent for ambiance and sound quality. Very fitting venues for the music. My only complaints…in San Diego, we had some annoying folks around us, a couple where the guy was demeaning and pretty much just horrible to his date, and a girl who kept recording on her cell phone in 30 second blocks the majority of Ray’s set. In LA, I was disappointed how little difference there was in the set list from the night before from Ray. While Leona Ness played pretty much the same songs, she at least switched up the order. Ray’s set was pretty much exactly the same, with the exception being him not performing Roses and Cigarettes in LA. More pics from the weekend are here.
