Ray La......who cares

[FaceOnMars]

Ray is famous for his prickly personality.  Apparently it's like pulling teeth to get the guy to tour in the first place, and you get the impression that he hates every minute of being on the stage.  His people skills definitely aren't his strong point.

Probably not the wisest thing to say to the poser pit, but from what I've read, the guy comes from a very working class background.  To see a bunch of enthusiastic fans (the "regular folks") beyond the fence dancing and getting into his music, while the poser pit sat there, got up to get a drink, talked to their neighbors, etc...  Yeah, I can kind of see his point.  But again, probably not what you want to say to the people that will ultimately be in charge of inviting you back or not.  Also, I was a little ticked that he didn't allow KOTO to stream him.  There may be something with his recording contracts that doesn't allow him to do it, but still...

Dylan is hard too but some of the best things come out of  raw unfiltered expression. I laughed hard . No BS. To blow smoke up someone's butt to appease is BS. No wonder this society has low coping skills. This society is ruined by fear of expression. Afraid to offend. Where is Lenny....

 Intellect comes from the weighing in and making your own choices and decisions in life and in art. Must we be sheep to be excepted?

Similarly, Neil Young came to my mind first .... can't help but wonder if there'd be a different reaction if it were him instead of Ray?

[BanginBlue]

Agreed IMNBTR. It really was a great set, albeit different from the foot-stomping awesomeness or acoustic sweetness that we all expect. 4 days in, the penultimate set, and our ears and expectations are pretty set. There's a lot of darkness in his music and in his words, so maybe not terribly surprising to find  some cynicism in his live persona. I do think that it's bad form, but I too have seen some cranky shows that musically were amazing. I saw a Van Morrison show years back that made Ray L look like a warm fuzzy hugger. If we want these guys to bring their all, we probably need to expect the whole spectrum; bad form or not.

[IMHBTR]

Neil and Van are GREAT examples. Don't look at those guys wrong. You will pay.

At least Ray was on time. I can't tell you how many shows I've been to where the artist is
late and I mean "want to strangle" late.

[completejohn]

Last time I saw Van Morrison he demanded that all cell phones be off and all cameras put away.  If you were caught taking a picture, the security people would confiscate  your phone or camera.

[BanginBlue]

Well there you have it. Crazy Love. But I'd still wait all night to see him.

[BuckeyeDog]

My 2 cents on RL. He certainly is free to say what he wants. I look at the performance. Almost every artist there either had some stage presence, great vocalists, exceptional instrumentalists or a unique sound, one thing that made them stand out, something memorable. RLs set had none of these qualities. Kept asking the folks with me and on the tarp next to us why is he here. His comments just reinforced that sentiment. Also, having sat in the poser pit on a few occasions, most of the people sitting there are the other artists and families, friends of PB, etc... They ask people not to stand there during the day so as not to obstruct the folks behind. You can dance off to the side if you want. And for Salmon, PB takes out most of the chairs and lets all the volunteers in to dance and do whatever.
When I learned that RL refused to have his show streamed, well that was apropos. At least KOTO listeners did not have to hear his rather mediocre set, IMHO.

[AlohaGirl]

I still think Ray is talented and want to see him again!!

I think it was bad timing for Ray, many people hung over, inattentive, talkative, sad the weekend was over etc.

Come back Ray!!

(And Alison acted like she was just a back up singer for the last set of the Festival...that was a little disappointing for those of us who stayed till the very end, seems to me that musicians are just humans too, with moods and proclivities).

[Skubes]

So I've been a big fan since Trouble came out. No doubt he's a gifted artist with a beautifully haunting voice. That said, this whole SuperBS album thing he's up to is confusing at best. My FB feed was overwhelmed with his plugs for network television and of all things Starbucks.  As such, when he vetoes the KOTO feed and blatantly insults the audience, he moves out of the realm of eccentricity to that of hypocrisy. You can't sell out to the man then proclaim your disdain for said man.

[Skubes]

PS, Aloha, Allison has had major vocal cord issues. She flew to t-ride after a show across the country the night before just to sing 3 or 4 songs. Mad props to her for her commitment!

[BuckeyeDog]

PS, Aloha, Allison has had major vocal cord issues. She flew to t-ride after a show across the country the night before just to sing 3 or 4 songs. Mad props to her for her commitment!

Same here. I was happy she was there. I would love to hear someone like Tony Rice come back and sing just one number, even with his voice issues, or play just a couple of solos.

[AlohaGirl]

PS, Aloha, Allison has had major vocal cord issues. She flew to t-ride after a show across the country the night before just to sing 3 or 4 songs. Mad props to her for her commitment!

I love Allison...sorry she was feeling poorly.

[skyrunner]

Oh yea, Even having a bad night. Allison krauss is still one of the most pitch-perfect singers on earth. Her music may not be exactly my style. But she can still give me goose bumps all performance long. 

[HuckinFappy]

Oh yea, Even having a bad night. Allison krauss is still one of the most pitch-perfect singers on earth. Her music may not be exactly my style. But she can still give me goose bumps all performance long. 

I get goosebumps thinking about the performance I missed.

Yeah, she's that good.

[tarprun]

Agree on the whole about Ray's performance. An uncomfortable and uninspiring stage presence, vocal talent washed out by too much electric noise etc. But when he and Zacharia were up there by themselves acoustic for that handful of songs, he won me back for a few moments. Then, sadly, lost me again with the negativity at the end... instead of blowing my mind with Going to California. Who cares about record sales and tour dollars, I would travel across country to see the Machine and would much rather funnel my concert dollars to musicians who are loving what they are doing. How do you play on that stage to that audience and not FEEL it? Reminded me of that horrendous show by Natalie Merchant years back.

[ShatteredArm]

Ray is famous for his prickly personality.  Apparently it's like pulling teeth to get the guy to tour in the first place, and you get the impression that he hates every minute of being on the stage.  His people skills definitely aren't his strong point.

Probably not the wisest thing to say to the poser pit, but from what I've read, the guy comes from a very working class background.  To see a bunch of enthusiastic fans (the "regular folks") beyond the fence dancing and getting into his music, while the poser pit sat there, got up to get a drink, talked to their neighbors, etc...  Yeah, I can kind of see his point.  But again, probably not what you want to say to the people that will ultimately be in charge of inviting you back or not.  Also, I was a little ticked that he didn't allow KOTO to stream him.  There may be something with his recording contracts that doesn't allow him to do it, but still...

Dylan is hard too but some of the best things come out of  raw unfiltered expression. I laughed hard . No BS. To blow smoke up someone's butt to appease is BS. No wonder this society has low coping skills. This society is ruined by fear of expression. Afraid to offend. Where is Lenny....

 Intellect comes from the weighing in and making your own choices and decisions in life and in art. Must we be sheep to be excepted?

Similarly, Neil Young came to my mind first .... can't help but wonder if there'd be a different reaction if it were him instead of Ray?

That's a little unfair. Now, I haven't seen Neil live, but I've heard some recordings, and while he may not be the most personable, I don't recall him having a reputation for being rude to his audience...

But Neil is on a whole different plane anyways. It would be a rare privilege to have Neil play; not so much for Ray. One guy is the best songwriter alive, has a solid 50 year career, and legitimately influenced younger artists in multiple genres; and the other has a few pretty good folk songs.

Basically, Ray should feel honored just to be invited to play Telluride. I don't even know if I'd put Ray in the same echelon as Brandi Carlile when it comes to career accomplishments, and she seemed thrilled to have been invited back.