Ray Davies... a well respected man

I went to see Ray Davies in concert last night as part of the BBC's wonderful Electric Proms. Yes, he's 63, a veteran rocker, but that didn't stop him bringing the (Round)house down. An amazing mix of Kinks and solo work kept the broad cross-section of fans and newcomers alike happy and, much like seeing (two thirds of) The Jam live a few months back, this was a rare and welcome opportunity to hear classic old tracks, in this case by The Kinks, that I never thought I'd witness performed live. Watching Ray perform "Waterloo Sunset", complete with angelic choral backing, is something that will live long in the memory... who knows how many more such shows there will be?

If you missed the edited highlights that were broadcast on BBC2 last night, you can watch the gig, unexpurgated, online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/electricproms/2007/artists/raydavies/.

Just one minor gripe, and it has nothing to do with Ray or the Roundhouse but some of the crowd - if you're going to go to a gig, why on earth would you spend the whole time talking loudly and boorishly to your drunken mates. Don't you want to hear what is being said on stage? Have you even thought that others standing near you might want to hear, at least? Ray is pretty softly spoken between songs, and the three buffoons standing in front of me babbling on with their droning voices became very tiresome, very quickly... proof, if proof were needed, that you can't have everything in life...