Dark rain clouds circled like vultures above Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College as Ray Davies took the stage. Fortunately, the seasoned musical veteran’s enviable back catalogue of hits proved to be waterproof.
Due to his infamous rift with his brother Dave, Ray relied on a much younger band to assist him and this group proved more than capable of the task. While their beefy sound helped breathe new life into familiar classics, the supporting harmonies rescued Ray when his voice sometimes strained to hit the high notes.
Ray’s solo songs were perfectly adequate and greeted with respectful enthusiasm but it was clear what the audience wanted. Davies didn’t disappoint, bookending the show with two different versions of You Really Got Me and saving the biggest and best hit until the very end with the inevitable encore (Lola).
It would have been understandable if Ray had performed on auto-pilot but he was in good spirits and noticeably sprightly throughout the set. He seemed genuinely touched by his audience’s commitment given it was an outdoor gig under drizzily skies, a fact which he commented on before the rather-ironic-given-the-circumstances Sunny Afternoon.
With hopes of a full-scale Kinks reunion still far from certain, this is probably the closest we will get to the real thing. Based on this performance – that’s fine by me.
The set list (all albums listed are by the Kinks):
You Really Got Me (snippet)
I Need You (from Kinkdom, 1965)
Where Have All the Good Times Gone (from The Kink Kontroversy, 1965)
I’m Not Like Everybody Else (b-side of single Sunny Afternoon, 1966)
Tired Of Waiting For You (from Kinks-Size, 1965)
Dedicated Follower Of Fashion (single, 1966)
Sunny Afternoon (from Face to Face, 1966)
Dead End Street (single, 1966)
Victoria (from Victoria (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1969)
20th Century Man (from Muswell Hillbillies, 1971)
Misfits (from Misfits, 1978)
Come Dancing (from State of Confusion, 1983)
A Long Way From Home (from Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One, 1970)
I Heard That Beat Before (New)
Rock N Roll Cowboys (New)
All Day And All Of The Night (from Kinks-Size, 1965)
Celluloid Heroes (from Everybody’s in Show-Biz, 1972)
Days (from the Europe and New Zealand editions of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, 1968)
Waterloo Sunset (from Something Else, 1967)
You Really Got Me (from You Really Got Me, 1964)
Lola (from Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One, 1970)
Low Budget (from Low Budget, 1979)
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