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Thread: Saw Robert Cray Wednesday Night......(spoilers)

  1. #1
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    Saw Robert Cray Wednesday Night......(spoilers)

    I saw The Robert Cray band for the first time Wednesday night at The State Theater in Kalamazoo Michigan. To be honest, I have never explored Cray’s music much in the past. I knew his hits, but that was about it. A friend of mine talked me into going to the show and I am glad I did. The venue holds 1500 and I would say it was probably about 75% full. Cray’s style of blues rock is molded in a layer of soul. Cray’s guitar work is never flashy, but the dude can play. At several points in Wednesday’s show, Cray brought his guitar down to a whisper, so low that you could hear a pin drop in the room. He could also wail when he wanted to, but those solos were less emphasized over the course of the show. Cray is in his late 60’s and his velvety voice has held up quite well. He can still sing as well as ever and sounded great. Cray’s band were all top notch with keyboards, bass and drums filling out his sound. My only complaint was that the show was a bit on the short side. He played a little over an hour before leaving the stage and coming back for a 2-song encore. In all the show was less than 90 minutes and I think he could have stretched it out a bit. Cray’s setlist was all over the place, but he avoided playing some of his hits other than “Right Next Door (Because Of Me)”. His biggest hit “Smoking Gun” was not played. Overall, I was very glad that I went to this show and enjoyed it a lot. Here is the set list:

    PHONE BOOTH
    POOR JOHNNY
    YOU CAN’T MAKE ME CHANGE
    TO BE WITH YOU
    I DON’T CARE
    HOT
    THE THINGS YOU DO TO ME
    GREAT BIG OLD HOUSE
    I SHIVER
    FIX THIS
    I CAN’T FALL
    RIGHT NEXT DOOR (BECAUSE OF ME)
    THE FORECAST CALLS FOR PAIN

    ENCORE:

    ANYHING YOU WANT
    TIME MAKES TWO

  2. #2
    Member moecurlythanu's Avatar
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    I saw him open for Clapton in...1987 (?) and he was outstanding. So was Clapton. This was when his Strong Persuader album was getting a lot of airplay.

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    Member rapidfirerob's Avatar
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    I used to see him at Larry Blake's on Telegraph in Berkeley before he made it big. Always excellent.

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    Member StarThrower's Avatar
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    I caught him at a local festival about 10-12 years ago. He sounded very good! His vocals were impressive as was his guitar work which is quite distinctive. He performs at a consistently high level while barely breaking a sweat.

  5. #5
    I caught him at the Ottawa Jazz Festival in 2012. I've been a fan since Strong Persuader, so it was great to see the band, especially since the bassist from the Strong Persuader days, Richard Cousins, was back (I'd always felt he was a major contributor to the potent grooves from Cray and his band). You can read the review here.

    Also, here's an image that I took at the show:

    John Kelman
    Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
    Freelance writer/photographer

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    Member Boceephus's Avatar
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    Saw Robert Cray Wednesday Night......(spoilers)

    Robert Cray is great. I always preferred his stripped down sound to his R&B tracks with horns! His technique is so tasty & reigned in. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen him play live. I hope to do that soon! I’ve been a fan since Strong Persuader too! The two albums prior to SP are more bluesy & fantastic too!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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