In the two decades since the breakout international successof White Ladder, David Gray’s musicianshiphas consistently developed new angles, refusing to stand on those hit laurels. Yet, even with this perpetually evolvingapproach, it’s still his unmistakable vocal prowess that remains the basis ofhis enduring appeal. For a near-capacityFriday crowd, Gray’s voice remained as affecting and honest as ever, as hisfour-piece band attacked a varied repertoire with attention to detail, lushthree and four-part harmony, and a striking balance of skill and sentiment.
The first third of the evening was dominated by entries fromhis exceptional latest album, Gold in aBrass Age, and Gray’s generous use of looping delay pedals. Bouncing between acoustic guitar and hiskeyboard, often within the same song, he opened with a slate of new tracks,leading with “Mallory,” and “The Sapling,” with an ebullient Gray dancingalmost involuntary to the revolving grooves. He prefaced “It’s Late” with a dedication to his teenage daughter,including an anecdote, separate but related, of her tardiness, and a nod ofgratitude to Londonboy Tattooer’s illustrations that grace the album’s booklet,and were projected above the group onstage.
It was as Gray strummed the instantly familiar chords to“Sail Away,” though, where the night turned down what he described as a memorylane that keeps getting longer. Heworked in a brooding “My Oh My,” and the bouncy release of “Be Mine,” bufferingthat with “Freedom”- the latter two being from Ladder’s follow-up, A New Day at Midnight. This was no exercise in nostalgia, however,but an opportunity instead to revisit some catalog rarities.
With his cap tipped to local college radio station, KCRW, hedug 25 years back for “The Light,” and, from ’05, unearthed the deep cut “FromHere You Can Almost See The Sea.” He satalone at the keyboard on the foreboding “The Other Side,” and joked that hecould easily slip into an Elton John vamp. He played a beautiful solo acoustic “Shine,” one of the show’s peaks,and brought the band back as they closed with a string that included a reflective“Say Hello, Wave Goodbye,” a rocking “The One I Love,” and the stand-up-and-sing-alongcloser of all closers for Gray, “Babylon.”
Still, the two-song encore had more to give. Gray delivered sweetly a patient “This Year’sLove,” before the full band rallied for the finale, “Please Forgive Me,” andits clap-along coda, bringing the house to its feet, and Gray shouting histhank-yous to bandmates and audience barely above the din. In all, with his singular, generationalvoice, sterling musicianship from a blade-sharp ensemble, joyful and poeticsongwriting, and dollops of humor and charm, it was a two-hour concert that frombeginning to end showcased all that continues to be David Gray.
