“You stood up just in time…for a ballad.”

That was just one line of many from Ray LaMontagne, who was in rare form last night as both the artist and the comedian. In front of a lively crowd at the Strathmore in Bethesda (North Bethesda…Rockville…somewhere in MD and far from DC), Ray and his band played almost two hours straight and covering all three studio albums.

Wait, speaking of studio abums, last night’s show also doubled as the album release concert! That’s right, Gossip in the Grain hit store shelves, iTunes, and Amazon yesterday. So, the concert was doubly exciting. This was my first chance to hear his new stuff live and in person (and only the third time to hear his new stuff overall, since I listened to Gossip in the Grain twice during work), expectations were pretty high. But not TOO high, because one of my roommates saw Ray tour solo twice and was totally underwhelmed, because Ray was apparently too high to remember his own lyrics.

Thankfully, last night was not one of those nights. He brought his touring band with him (including Ethan Johns, who produced all three of Ray’s albums, along with several Ryan Adams albums like Heartbreaker*), and the whole band was tight, cohesive, and balanced throughout the nearly the entire show.

By Ray’s standards, he interacted quite well with the crowd, saying how glad he was to be playing in front of us because a previous night’s show was “rough.” (he didn’t say where, but my guess is Philadelphia, from a few nights ago, because Philly sports fans might be the worst fans ever, so why not their music fans too?) The mood of the whole show was pretty light overall, even during the ballads, and much of it had to do with what Ray was giving back to the audience, particularly when one female fan shouted for him to take his shirt of…he replied with, “oh COME ON” with a big grin on his face.

So, what about the music, you ask? Well, here is the set list:

You Are the Best Thing
Hold You in My Arms
Empty
I Still Care for You
Let it Be Me
Henry Nearly Killed Me
Roses and Cigarettes
Meg White
Burn
Winter Birds
Sarah
Hey Me, Hey Mama
You Can Bring me Flowers
A Falling Through
Trouble
Encore: Shelter
Encore: Three More Days
Encore 2: Jolene
Encore 2: Gossip in the Grain

Not bad for a Ray LaMontagne show, I suspect. 19 songs, nearly 2 hours, and he knew every lyric, too!

Anyway, I’ve seen some lukewarm reviews online today, and I don’t get it. Sure, there were some technical issues (the bass was entirely too loud on “Trouble” and drowned out Ray’s acoustic guitar for the first minute or so of the song), and some singing issues (Ray seemed to be very flat on “Trouble” also), but all was right with the world when he played Burn. Just Ray, his guitar, and a spotlight. Really, really fantastic stuff, and it sounded surprisingly intimate for such a large venue (see below).

Other highlights were “You Are the Best Thing,” “Empty,” and “Jolene.” Well, that and “Meg White,” which sounded a lot better than the studio version. It should have been relegated to a B-sides collection because the song absolutely does not fit with the rest of the album, and the driving bass drum is really the only thing that carried the live version. But, what good is a 9-song LP? Sounds more like an EP to me. Maybe Ray ran out of material for this one and had to include it by choice. Either way, it’s decidedly the weakest track on the new album.

Each song from Gossip in the Grain translates well on stage — some of the arrangements are different, of course (no string section on stage, for instance), but what makes the album cuts great makes the live cuts great, too: Ray’s voice. Part smoke, part gravel, and completely unique.

Ray and his band put on a fantastic show last night, and it ranks up there with some of the best shows I’ve seen yet in DC. Ray was glad to be there last night, and I definitely was, too. Go see him if you have the chance. He’ll be on Conan tonight, for starters.

* for full disclosure, I did not know who Ethan Johns was. My sidekick mentioned his name to me and then explained why he was so important. I just thought he was a goofy drummer with long hair who didn’t close his mouth once during the show. Turns out, he’s got some producing talent. Who knew?