There are few musical artists who evoke, for me, a sense of place. They create a world where I can picture in my mind not so much a story as I can a setting. David Gray’s music always made me think of the sea. There’s a soulfully warm and worn-in quality to his voice. And, little did I know until his show at The Anthem Sunday night, that he had, in fact, grown up in a seaside town in Wales. Maybe one part nature and two parts nurture.
Gray has been one of the artists I’ve never had the chance to see live, so seeing that he was coming back to DC and to The Anthem — his first stop there since 2019 — I jumped on the chance.
At The Anthem on Jan. 26, the night started off with Tulsa, Oklahoma-based singer-songwriter Sierra Spirit Kihega (who goes by Sierra Spirit) whose sparse two -person set was moving. Throwing in a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep,” the duo kept the crowd entranced.
“Welcome to the past and present tour,” David Gray, taking the stage, told the audience. “So first a bit of the present and then we’ll get to the past a bit later.”
Starting off his set with the beautiful “After the Harvest” from his new album, Dear Life. The new album, by the way, has the feeling of a classic. And, by that, I mean when you’re listening to songs like “I Saw Love” or “After The Harvest” they feel comfortable and lived in. Gray has a comfortably lived in quality to it as well that’s easy to be drawn in by.
“This is called a synthesizer… it’ll never catch on,” he joked before “Singing for the Pharaoh.” Although the show at The Anthem was seated, there was often an energy that’s usually reserved for standing room-only rock shows. The biggest early reaction was when Gray, seated at his aforementioned synthesizer as “Singing for the Pharaoh” went into a band-clapping sing-a-long of “Just Can’t Get Enough” by Depeche Mode as the crowd danced in the aisles. Or the way he put his whole body into Van Morrison’s “The Way Lovers Do” — a soulful, full-bodied rendition.
Reflecting on the album A New Day at Midnight, Gray told the crowd it had been a record he had “neglected,” saying it was “a weird time — so many things collided at exactly the same moment… we tried to make a record under strange circumstances. My dad had just died, my wife was in hospital… it’s taken only a couple of decades, but here I am!”
But that “John Malkovich moment” as he called it, birthed some of my favorite songs of David Gray’s catalog, such as the incredibly haunting “The Other Side.” Hearing him sing his heart out on that line, “this lonely river’s running deep and wide” sent chills running.
Watch the official music video for “Plus & Minus” by David Gray featuring Talia Rae on YouTube:
Some of Gray’s best performances were the most emotionally resonant, like “Alibi” and “The One I Love.” But the one of the many highlights would have to include “Every Time I Look At You” with the whole club everyone clapping and David dancing around before getting back to the keyboard.
David Gray left a number of tracks from arguably his most popular album, White Ladder, from “Nightblindness” and “This Year’s Love” to the encore ender and hit, “Babylon.”
David Gray put on an brilliant performance that kept the crowd hooked.
Gray and his band continue their tour of North America through February, and it’s one not to miss.
The setlist included:
After The Harvest
Singing for the Pharaoh / Just Can’t Get Enough (Depeche Mode cover)
My Oh My
Be Mine
Dead in the Water
The Other Side
Long Distance Call
Plus & Minus
Alibi
The One I Love
Hospital Food
Ain’t No Love
That Day Must Surely Come
The Way Young Lovers Do (Van Morrison cover)
Please Forgive Me
Nightblindness
Acceptance (It’s Alright)
White Ladder
Sail Away
Encore:
From Here You Can Almost See the Sea
This Year’s Love
Silver Lining
Babylon (Followed By Band Introductions)
Here are more photos of David Gray performing at The Anthem on Jan. 26, 2025. All photos copyright and courtesy of David LaMason.
And here are photos of opener, Sierra Spirit, performing at The Anthem on January 26, 2025.
