Imogen Marshall reviews Michael Ray’s performance at Bush Hall as part of Country Music Week.
When Michael Ray made his UK debut back in March as part of C2C 2019, repeated cries called for him to make his return sooner rather than later. Returning to the UK this month as part of Country Music Week on his ‘Nineteen’ tour, Ray put on a simply unforgettable, magical performance that managed to be simultaneously energetic and intimate.
Bush Hall can be a difficult venue to master, being slightly too big to evoke an intimate atmosphere, yet too small and formal to evince a party atmosphere, however Ray made the space his own. From the off, he asked the audience into his living room, inviting them to get to know him, in a special stripped-down set where Ray was solely accompanied by his guitarist. Where Ray’s self-titled album and most recent album ‘Amos,’ succeeded in part due to its careful and shrewd production by Scott Hendricks, this could have been his potential downfall. Lengthy acoustic sets, when not done right, can kill buzz around an artist and rather than push their career further can prove the stumbling block to future success. However, Ray’s charisma and easily likeable on-stage personality made this set a triumph, and it was this stripped-down nature of the set that gained him a legion of new diehard fans, who left feeling that Ray had shared his soul with them.
Opening the set with the opener from his first album ‘Kiss You in the Morning’, the audience instantly gravitated toward Ray, setting the tone perfectly after a hugely energetic performance from Willie Jones, before diving into newer track ‘I’m Gonna Miss You.’ It is often difficult for artists to get the balance right when interacting with their audience and introducing their material, yet Ray made the crowd feel like his friends, chatting easily with them between songs. Particularly notable was his segway into ‘Girl from Spring Break,’ where Ray was moved to tears of laughter when the audience corrected him on the English vernacular differences between ‘garden’ and ‘backyard,’ ‘spring-break’ and ‘Easter’ and describing Florida’s spring break culture. It was palpable just how much Ray enjoyed his time on the stage, and Bush Hall’s audience responded with pride and gratitude, bring Ray to tears at one point by the enthusiasm of the crowd.
Diving straight into ‘Get To You’ and ‘Run Away With You,’ Ray’s vocals soared – even over the top of the audience belting out the words to every line of his songs. ‘Dancing Forever’ was another ‘moment,’ with Ray describing the different meanings that the song has taken on for him in his life – from a song for his sister’s wedding day to summing up his feelings toward his new wife Carly Pearce and wanting to see her succeed – and it was a breathtakingly special moment. In songs like these, you were reminded perfectly of the power of Ray’s voice, with its perfect tone combined with his rich and thick Southern twang.
From this, Ray transitioned into his current single ‘Her World or Mine,’ where the crowd completely took over, taking over and bellowing back the entire song. The hits did not let up as Ray followed this last up with ‘Think A Little Less’ and ‘The One That Got Away,’ buoying the audience’s tide of enthusiasm up to an immense crescendo. Though he only performed ten songs, Ray managed to achieve in one tour what most achieve in three, seducing an army of fans and gaining an immense sense of comfortability with his new UK audience. The camaraderie he established with the crowd was admirable and made it clear that this will not be Ray’s only headline tour of the UK. This was one of those ‘remember when’ truly special nights, owing as much to Ray’s charisma as to his faultless vocal.
Set list: 1. Kiss You in the Morning 2. I’m Gonna Miss You 3. Summer Water 4. Girl From Spring Break 5. Get To You 6. Run Away With You 7. Dancing Forever 8. Her World or Mine 9. Think a Little Less 10. The One That Got Away
