David Gray celebrated all things Past & Present as his North American tour made a stop at the iconic Chicago Theatre.
Up-and-coming artist Sierra Spirit has been given the opening slot for David Gray on the North American leg of the tour. The Chicago Theatre was fairly packed by the time she took to the stage, giving her an ample-sized group to entertain. And entertain she did. All too often, people are still finding their seats and catching up with their friends at this point in the show, but that was not the case here as Sierra had their full and undivided attention.
Sierra embraced the storytelling traditions of her Indigenous roots in her songs. She performed a range of her own songs, such as her latest release “American Pie,” but also performed a beautiful rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep.” Sierra was joined on stage by guitarist Christine Meisenhelter, AKA Mistine. The twosome created a beautiful performance, with additional instrumentation being provided by backing tracks. This is Sierra’s first tour which makes the performance all the more impressive.
With the Chicago Theatre packed and ready for the main event, David Gray took to the stage slightly earlier than initially scheduled. Although his latest album, Dear Life, was just released on January 17, this is called the Past & Present Tour. Each show has a completely different setlist from the one before it and covers a wide range of his back catalog. The Chicago crowd were treated to “Nemesis” which was the first time this song has been performed on this tour so far. Songs like “Please Forgive Me” from the international hit album White Ladder had the entire audience up on their feet, clapping and dancing along to the beat.A large portion of the set was made up of songs from White Ladder, such as the title track, “My Oh My,” and, of course, “This Year’s Love” and “Babylon.” However, there were still a good number of songs from the new release, Dear Life.
Throughout the show, Gray looked like he was having just as much fun as those in the crowd. He was donning a huge smile across his face for most of the evening, and often, when the music and atmosphere infused his soul, could be seen bouncing around the stage. An image of pure joy if ever there was one. Whether he was playing the guitar, or the keyboard, or dancing around while singing, he looked every bit at home on the stage. It’s not surprising he’s having such a great time on this tour. After each show, Gray has been posting videos to his Instagram account, stating how different each show has felt to him. Getting to perform a completely different setlist each night must help keep each of the shows fresh and varied for him and the band.
It’s not surprising when you go to see a seasoned professional musician perform live that they sound great. But what stood out about this show is that Gray’s voice sounded so good, he sounded exactly like his recordings while performing 100% live.
The North American leg of the tour continues until the end of February before heading to Europe in March for two additional months of touring.
DAVID GRAYWebsite Facebook X
