I love Allison…sorry she was feeling poorly.
Oh yea, Even having a bad night. Allison krauss is still one of the most pitch-perfect singers on earth. Her music may not be exactly my style. But she can still give me goose bumps all performance long.
I get goosebumps thinking about the performance I missed.
Yeah, she’s that good.
Agree on the whole about Ray’s performance. An uncomfortable and uninspiring stage presence, vocal talent washed out by too much electric noise etc. But when he and Zacharia were up there by themselves acoustic for that handful of songs, he won me back for a few moments. Then, sadly, lost me again with the negativity at the end… instead of blowing my mind with Going to California. Who cares about record sales and tour dollars, I would travel across country to see the Machine and would much rather funnel my concert dollars to musicians who are loving what they are doing. How do you play on that stage to that audience and not FEEL it? Reminded me of that horrendous show by Natalie Merchant years back.
That’s a little unfair. Now, I haven’t seen Neil live, but I’ve heard some recordings, and while he may not be the most personable, I don’t recall him having a reputation for being rude to his audience…
But Neil is on a whole different plane anyways. It would be a rare privilege to have Neil play; not so much for Ray. One guy is the best songwriter alive, has a solid 50 year career, and legitimately influenced younger artists in multiple genres; and the other has a few pretty good folk songs.
Basically, Ray should feel honored just to be invited to play Telluride. I don’t even know if I’d put Ray in the same echelon as Brandi Carlile when it comes to career accomplishments, and she seemed thrilled to have been invited back.
Didn’t Brandi say she came here to play one day after her partner had a baby?
Nobody would ever put Ray in Neil’s category of
legendary artist but after seeing Neil 8 times I stand
behind my words. Neil can be a prick on any
given night. I once saw him in a very chatty bring in food/drink
Type venue and he could not have been more issues at the audience, stopping
On occasion to just stare at audience like a teacher
Would in class. BTW, there were more moments on the tarp
Where I heard more chatter from the audience
Than the artist. Just satin :evil
That just struck me as one of the things that makes “my favorite Telluride artists” be my favorites. I’ve spent the last 25 years watching Sam, Jerry, Bela, Chris (well, not for 25 years 
), Alison, Tim, Los, YMSB, String Cheese, and more return year after year and express their awe at the entire scene. Then we see the new folk show up, and most of them stand up on stage and gape and gawk like kids in a candy store.
if you’re somehow able to sink below all that, and get up on stage completely mired in your self-centered, ego-centric mindset, and can’t see the beautiful forest due to your own internal trees, I don’t have a lot of respect for you.
That is so true, I was amazed at the level of "chatting " on the tarps that often made it hard to hear the artist on stage. On the NOLA Jazz Fest forum they call these people CFWs and that stands for Chatting F#^% Witts. I can’t understand why these people sleep out over night to be up front and the stand in front of everybody and chatt at the top of their lungs. When you ask them to be a little quieter they loom at you like you just sole something from them. we had the misfortune to be in the proximity of one such tarp almost every day and I swear if you asked anyone of them who played the festival this year they would have a hard time coming with 5 acts. :pirate
I guess you’re preaching to the choir in terms of my personal preference for Neil Young over Ray’s music, but I chose Neil since he has had a reputation along these lines AND I believe he’s been a long time favorite of Ferg … who as you may recall, tried to bring Buffalo Springfield to Telluride in 2011 as non-TBF stand alone show in Town Park.
I’ve only seen him once (lucked out in 2011 … already had plans to see Furthur @ Shoreline that summer and one of the Buffalo Springfield shows @ the Fox in Oakland turned out to be the day before). Even though he didn’t go off on the audience that night & seemed to be in relatively good spirits, I could immediately tell that his personality is very quirky & that he’s his own person with very little hesitation to say what’s on his mind … regardless if it’s well received (by the audience, press, OR the promoter who wrote him a big fat check).
Again, I’m with you & would personally choose to see Neil a 100x over vs. Ray La … but the point being is that I believe there’s a creative spirit in ALL of us which is best nurtured and expressed with integrity to oneself without regard for how it’s perceived by others. IOW, I don’t believe you have to be a “Neil Young” or the like to earn the ability to act in such a way … it’s mostly part and parcel to the process along the way if that’s the way your creative force/spirit happens to be “tuned”.
This wasn’t only a problem on the tarps, but at Nightgrass, as well. I’ll never understand why people go through the trouble of pushing their way up to the front at any show, especially a Nightgrass show, and then talk through the whole thing. If you have to yell to keep up your conversation over the band, maybe you should take the chit-chat to the back of the venue. Maybe that’s just me being “old” and “crotchety”, but it’s one of the things that can really ruin a concert for me.
NEIL YOUNG! WHATS THE QUESTION? I WILL PICK OUT THE GREEN M&M’S FOR HIM IF THAT’S WHAT IT TAKES! Way too much chatter during Rays set.
Sounds to me like everyone is to blame here. The crowd was tired and not into Ray’s set so they started talking and not paying attention. In response, Ray made some rude comments to express his disdain to those fans. Do you really blame him? Telluride is the most beautiful place on Earth, but Ray is human just like everyone else and couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Every artist wants the people at their show to feel their music. It’s hard to give next level energy in return when nobody cares if you’re even up on the stage. All in all, I thought PB nailed it when I saw Ray was playing TBF (reminded me of the Glen Hansard slot from 2 years ago), but it was a flop. These things happen occasionally. Ray should have kept his mouth shut, but that just isn’t his personality. It’s not surprising that people were offended, but I think it’s probably time to move on.
These feelings for his performances aren’t limited to TBG. I’ve seen quite a few non-flattering comments on other social media sites. I don’t know if he lost a bet or something, but he really doesn’t seem to be into this tour.
Some musicians just don’t like touring. I don’t understand this, as I think the tours would be the most fun part of being a professional musician. Brian Wilson used to pay Glen Campbell to tour for him as a member of the Beach Boys. I think the energy of a live show and the direct connection with the fans would be incredible, but some people don’t feel that way. I could see Ray being one of those musicians who tours to make a living but really wants to spend all his time in the studio.
Ray is a professional musician getting paid gobs of money. No excuses for unprofessional behavior and shitty attitude. So a few folks talked while he played. That’s his fault for not holding their attention and playing his whinny money crap. He can’t hold Del or Sam’s toilet paper. LOOSER is all I can think of to describe this dude.
That’s a bit mean spirited. One comment directed at about 0.8% of the crowd. He’s still a super talented dude that played a solid set of cool tunes. I can’t believe how harsh this thread is getting.
Ray has other people take his selfies . . .
Not mean spirited, honest. He’s getting paid to entertain people, not drag his petty ego and small self worth out in front of everyone and put on his pouty face. 99.9% of the artist at Telluride are so grateful and humble just to be there. I feel the same way when artist choose to use the stage for their own political agenda. Doesn’t belong.
The title of this thread is “who cares”… so far 2050 readers.