Ray LaMontagne

What a gorgeous theater, The State. Along with The Orpheum



and The Pantages, part of the Hennepin Theatre Trust.



which are all roughly the same vintage, c. 1920. They're still gorgeous, beautifully restored. Man, that must have been quite a time, when all three of these were new and full and poppin'.



The crowd was mostly mid-twenties, with the occasional grey-beard thrown in. :) And it was definitely date night: lots of young couples. Aww. Not me, though. Too late getting to the box office when tix first went on sale. All that was left were single seats. :(



So, without a zoom on my cell phone camera, it's hard to see any detail on the pic of the opening act. Her name was Lissie: just a girl and her guitar & voice. She was kind of Alanis Morissette meets Neko Case. You definitely had to pay attention when she sang.

But the balcony seat wasn't too bad, really. The sound system at all three of these theatres is just superb.

Great, great sound was coming from the performers. You never really felt remote from them.



So for the headliner, I snuck down to the end of the balcony for one shot, and to the main floor side aisle for another.



Ray was great. He told a lot of stories, incl. a sweet and funny one about living with his Uncle Bob in Minneapolis when Ray was directionless and drifting in his early 20s. I get that. Sometimes that feeling persists into your early 50s. ;)



He sang all my favorites: Empty, Winter Birds, Let It Be Me, You Are The Best Thing, Trouble. Told a lot of stories. Just a guy and his guitar & voice. And what a voice.