Ray LaMontagne & Members Of My Morning Jacket Bring Ouroboros Tour To Boston – Review, Setlist & Photos

Words & Images by: Andrew Bruss

Ray LaMontagne :: 6.25.16 :: Blue Hills Bank Pavilion :: Boston, MA

The first of two sold-out Ray LaMontagne shows at Boston’s Blue Hills Bank Pavilion took material from a dull studio collaboration and brought it to life in a rich and organic way. Ouroboros, LaMontagne’s most recent album, was produced by My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James. The members of MMJ not named Jim are currently on the road with LaMontagne in support of Ouroboros, which made the set something for his fans to get excited about – as well as Jacket fans reeling from the absence of a summer tour.

With no opener the night started out with a short solo-acoustic set from LaMontagne which featured fan favorites like “Trouble,” and “Jolene” before four-fifths of My Morning Jacket joined him for a full run through the album they made together. The album itself is slow, dreary and lacking flavor but in the live setting, the material really popped. None of the guitarists that have backed LaMontagne in recent years raged as hard as Carl Broemel and seeing the two guitarists join bassist Tom Blankenship huddling around drummer Patrick Hallahan during the liftoff of the better jams was a familiar site for anyone who’s seen MMJ own the stage.

Where the record sounds distant and lonely, the same songs sounded warm and energized before a capacity crowd of 5,100. More than sounding like LaMontagne or My Morning Jacket, the material had a rocking-yet-mellow fluidity that brought to mind classic albums like Dark Side Of The Moon, Quadrophenia and White Light/White Heat.

After a full run through Ouroboros, LaMontagne and his Jacket cohorts kept rocking through staples like a pair of LP title tracks “Gossip In The Grain” and “Supernova.” Supernova was the first album LaMontagne made where he really experimented with a psychedelic sound and the material sounded better accompanied by Carl, Tom, Patrick and Bo Koster than it did the first time Ray took those songs on the road.

Bottom line: Ray LaMontagne has always been more of a smoky voiced crooner than a rocker. If you heard that Jim James had lent Ray LaMontagne his band and expected a rock concert you were destined to be disappointed. That said, it was LaMontagne’s name on the ticket stub as well as the marquee and anyone who managed their expectations saw a truly unique and inspired collaboration they’re unlikely to see again any time soon.