by drumdani, translated by yours truly

Ray Wilson was a solo artist whose records I had never listened to - I knew him from Calling All Stations only. A month ago I had the opportunity, though, to listen to some of his output, namely the She and Live 2005 records. I really enjoyed them and so I decided to attend the Birkenfeld gig which happened to take place at just the right moment. I had re-listened to the songs a couple of days before the show in order not to be completely lost in the music.

The location war a gym-turned-”club”, so there was no rush for the first row, we just stood there. The owner of the place gave a speech about the venue (and nobody cared), and another gentleman who had help organising the Birkenfeld gig wanted to say a couple of words. Then the opener Donovan Aston began to play. Some of you may know him as the keyboarder from cover bands Nursery Cryme and True Collins. Donovans band consisted of a drummer, a bass player and Donovan on keyboards and guitar. They kicked off with Gabriels Red Rain, played a couple of their own songs as well as Many Too Many (in a solo piano version). Solsbury Hill was their last number. Donovan played some 45 minutes (from 8 to 8.45pm). After that one of the promoters went to the mike again while Ray was already tuning his guitar. It was mentioned that it was Ray’s birthday (we could sign on a poster for Ray) and so they wanted to surprise him with sparklers. Ray stood next to him and apparently did not understand ist. At 9pm the show began. The first couple of songs were rock numbers by Stiltskin and Cut_. We lit the sparklers during Lemon Yellow sun (my favourite from SHE) and sang “Happy Birthday” to Ray. The last three songs from the first set were just Ray and his acoustic guitar. The first one was a very good version of In The Air Tonight. Ray told the story of how Phil wanted his job back. A young woman called for Home By The Sea and Ray just said “wrong band”. He then played Shipwrecked and Not About Us.

The second part of the show began with Follow You Follow Me on acoustic instruments (with the full band, though). After that they played songs from Ray’s solo career and The Airport Song that really got everybody going. Towards the end of the main set they played the rock trio of Sunshine And Butterflies, Footsteps and Inside. The call for Home By The Sea was repeated before Sunshine and this time Ray said something like “Beneath the sea? That’s a great idea”. Fly High was the first encore and it really rocked. It was followed by Ghost which became louder and louder - a smashing song towards the end. The finale consisted of two cover songs, Knocking On Heaven’s Door (complete with the additional lyrics of “She wants Home By The Sea”) and No Woman No Cry.
The crowd still wanted more, though. The house lights remained off, the aftershow music began to play, but faded away after a couple of seconds. Ray returned to the stage and played a solo version of No Son Of Mine to much applause. A final call for Home By The Sea changed to I Can’t Dance. Someone also called for Calling All Stations and One Man’s Fool. Ray, however, decided to play The Actor. With this song a super gig ended. Ray played some 140 minutes, excluding the ten minute break. Right now I wonder why I have not listened to Ray’s music before. I shall do so now - and I have realized that this will not be the last gig of his I will attend.

Setlist

SHE
Space Oddity
Another Day
Lemon Yellow Sun
Hey Hey
Sarah
Constantly Reminded
In The Air Tonight (solo acoustic)
Shipwrecked (solo acoustic)
Not About Us (solo acoustic)

No Son Of Mine (Solo Acoustic)
The Actor (Solo Acoustic)

*These songs were played in the second half of the show, but I cannot remember the order in which they were performed.

It was the third time Ray played at the Klosterkirche in Remscheid yesterday.
Klosterkirche ist a centre for cultural events in the historic part of the quarter of Lennep. Ray had performed there twice before, once with an Acoustic Trio show, the other time with a semi-acoustic 4-piece show.
This time there were no seats in the venue (except for a couple of rows on the balcony) which has room for 300 people seated. With no seats that night there was an audience of around 400 people who enjoyed a longer show. But who was on the bill? Sometimes it says “Ray Wilson and band”, then again it’s Ray Wilson & Stiltskin - actually the posters said “Ray Wilson + Stiltskin”, but Ray offered a mix of many things with a focus on material from the SHE and Millionairhead albums. The Cut_ CD is now available from the merchandise stand. It has been remastered and now includes three bonus tracks (Dark, Reason for running, Adolescent breakdown).
The show was one of Ray’s better performances. There was just one story, but it had its charme. While Ray was recording Calling All Stations with Genesis in 1996, his mother called and told him “Phil wants his job back, I saw a news on VH-1 - maybe he is short of money.” Eleven years later Ray met Phil backstage at the Hannover Genesis show, and Phil asked him to “tell your mom I got my job back”.
During the show it was also mentioned that the live 2DVD set may become available only late in 2008 because Ray wants to record further shows in autumn 2007 and spring 2008. He has begun to write new songs in the meantime and it looks like an album which “moves between Change and SHE”.
The music: Starting with SHE is a good choice; the rockier numbers went down very well, particularly Fly High, Footsteps, and Hey Hey. Space Oddity sounds really fresh, and its intro sound almost like Pink Floyd. The end of the show was a bit peculiar. Ray announced the last song, Ghost, reaching for his harmonica and spontaneously played Knocking On Heaven’s Door. The audience sang along to this song as well as the ensuing No Woman No Cry.
The unavoidable Goodbye Baby Blue is approaching the same status in Ray’s setlist as Hold On My Heart in a Genesis set: It may have been played a bit too often…

These songs were played:

SHE
Space Oddity
Another Day
Lemon Yellow Sun
Hey Hey
Sarah
Constantly Reminded
In The Air Tonight (solo acoustic)
Shipwrecked (solo acoustic)
Not About Us (solo acoustic)

Follow You Follow Me
Change
The Carpet Crawlers
Alone
The Airport Song
Rest In Peace
Goodbye Baby Blue
Taking Time
Footsteps
Sunshine And Butterflies
Inside

Fly High
Ghost
Knocking On Heaven’s Door
No Woman No Cry

This August, as in every year since 2001, Ray Wilson performs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He is going to play seven shows this year. I had seen the last three shows last year, so I decided I would attend the first three shows on August 9, 10 and 11 this year. Admittedly, I also had the hope to experience Edinburg in a nice summer warmth, which should be possible in early August, but temperatures only just reached 20°C (68°F), little sun and the occasional spot of rain. That’s Scotland for you. But then the shows were not outdoors but at the Madogs pub in the city centre. The venue offered room for 100 people, with seats only for some; while the first three shows were not sold out, it was still quite full. The August 18 performance is sold out. The pub has recently undergone a makeover, so there was a wee whiff of paint in the air but it was all very fine.
The location is of some historical interest for Ray, too. It was here that he rediscovered his love for music after the end of his depressive phase and Genesis in 2001 when he played a couple of solo shows for the festival. Back then he lacked (musical) self-confidence, as he reminisces during this year’s shows. It is a flaw that definitely has left him.
Ray basically sticks to a fixed setlist this year, and he intends to play that on all full band shows; he added Sunshine & Butterflies for the third show, though.
The set is a well-balanced mixture of loud and quiet, aggressive and melancholy, old and new.
The audience was in a good mood and there was the occasional contact between Ray and the folks in the front rows because the space was so tightly packed. Still the applause faded rather quickly before the encores and I was afraid that it would stop altogether; a couple of enthusiasts kept the applause level up until the band returned for the encores.
Ray’s father was among the audience during the third night (as in previous years), but Ray did not mention that. Two years ago his father had joined him on stage for a song.
The shows on August 17 and 18 are acoustic performances. They had not been scheduled as such. Ashley, the drummer, had long before arranged a show for these days with another of his bands who cannot make do without him. It took Ray quite long to find a venue for this August. I guess Ray made the best of it because the set is going to be different for the acoustic shows. His performance on August 11 was on the brink of being cancelled; Wolfgang Niedecken, vocalist of BAP [a very well-known band in Germany] had asked Ray to support them at the final show of their tour on Roncalliplatz in Cologne. Apparently BAP had asked him when they all played at a festival in Neustadt/Holstein in Northern Germany on August 5. After much consideration Ray decided to play Edinburgh instead.
There was also an unexpected bonus for me: Many artists appear in the Fringe Festival programme, but many more also play their music late at night in a pubs or simply sing along to backing tracks. During the first show Ray mentioned that Amanda Lyon, who sung in his band until 2003, would appear at Madogs’ the next night. I did not want to miss that! So I waited patiently until she appeared. She began at a quarter to one in the night and played three sets of 40 minutes. Her voice is still impressive. She now sings popular soul numbers you may know from the radio, but when she sings them they sound at least as good as the originals and it was evident that she enjoyed herself. I talked to her a bit after the first set and she seemed happy to meet a fan from back then, as it were. It was only three weeks since she had begun to do these performances. She does them twice a week after her day job in a shop, but since she has moved to a more expensive flat she needs the money. Actually, Ashley had stayed to meet her, too, and they shared a warm embrace. Ray and the others left, though, and it seems that there has been no contact between Amanda and Ray and the folks since 2003.
Last year I saw Ray’s brother Steve doing such a performance in another pub; he, too, played three 40 minute sets (guitar and vocals to a backing track). This year it’s Amanda. Funny if you consider that both used to play with Ray before they got to know each other too well, as it were. Now they have been reduced to performances like these that can be really frustating when you see how almost nobody cares about the show and they all consider it background muzak.

But that’s the great thing when you go and see Ray at the Fringe Festival – there will be the occasional bonus

Setlists:
9.8.07:
She
Space Oddity
Another Day
Lemon Yellow Sun
Hey Hey
Sarah
Constantly Reminded
In the Air Tonight (solo acoustic)
The Actor (solo acoustic)

Follow You Follow Me (full band acoustic)
Change (full band acoustic)
Carpet Crawlers
Alone
Goodbye Baby Blue
Taking Time
Footsteps
Inside
Fly High
Ghost
——————————-
August 10, 2007:
She
Space Oddity
Another Day
Lemon Yellow Sun
Hey Hey
Sarah
Constantly Reminded
In the Air Tonight (solo acoustic)
The Actor (solo acoustic)

Follow You Follow Me (full band acoustic)
Change (full band acoustic)
Carpet Crawlers
Alone
Goodbye Baby Blue
Taking Time
Footsteps
Inside
Fly High
Ghost
—————————–
Augsut 11, 2007:
She
Space Oddity
Another Day
Lemon Yellow Sun
Hey Hey
Sarah
Constantly Reminded
In the Air Tonight (solo acoustic)
The Actor (solo acoustic)

Follow You Follow Me (full band acoustic)
Change (full band acoustic)
Carpet Crawlers
Alone
Goodbye Baby Blue
Taking Time
Sunshine & Butterflies
Footsteps
Inside
Fly High
Ghost

(photos & written by Volker W., translated by Martinus)