Ryan Montbleau Band & Televised Baseball

These two gigs at The Paradise were in celebration of the release of Patience On Friday, so it was no surprise that both sets featured the new songs prominently. Montbleau’s band took the stage accompanied by a horn section for a nasty version of Draw The Line, which found Montbleau wailing away on his electric guitar.

Nearly every song in the set featured some sort of guest, but my favorite sit-in was by Jesse Dee, who joined the boys for a cover of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy. Dee has more soul than any white boy I’ve ever seen sing before — he could totally win American Idol, and I’m disappointed I’d never heard of him before. Montbleau had a huge smile on his face as Jesse poured his heart and soul into every single word he sang.

Other highlights of the first set were a typically gorgeous version of Stretch and a fun Boat Song, which quickly turned into a sing-along. It was great to finally see all of the band’s new tunes with 75 and Sunny standing out as the best of the bunch. Ryan started that song by telling the audience how the band has spent the summer on the road, so they were understandably psyched to play for their hometown crowd. Every time they’d play in podunk towns throughout the country they would long for the large crowds that awaited them in Boston. The nearly sold-out crowd roared their approval after each song and after each solo, showing that the people of Boston missed the band just as much as the band missed them.

The Red Sox broke the game open for a second time in the middle of the second set, just as Montbleau started singing about Love and Love Lost. The audience went apeshit each time the Sawx would get a hit or a crucial out on defense. I’m a Yankees fan but I couldn’t help but appreciate just how jubilant the crowd was to be celebrating the release of Patience on Friday and the Red Sox knocking on the doorstep of a world title on the same evening. Ryan rolled with the punches and smirked as the crowd went nuts while he was singing about death.

One of the best parts of the show took place towards the end of the night when the RMB launched into Grain of Sand. Grain of Sand could be the best song on the new album, and it truly cooks in concert. Viola player Laurence Scudder, bass player Matty Gianarros and percussion player Yahuba Garcia all added beautiful backing vocals that propelled the harmonies to new levels.

Ryan Montbleau Band’s gig was billed as a release party, and the night was surely a celebration. At times the music took a backseat to the action at the ballgame, but the band knew the deal and partied right alongside the crowd. Sadly I had to get back to New York City on Sunday night, so I couldn’t stay for what turned out to be both a monumental gig and celebration of the Red Sox winning a second World Championship in four years. I can’t believe I just typed that fucking sentence.

For more from the artist’s perspective, Ryan shared his thoughts about Sunday’s concert with his fans over on the Bleauboard:

I still can’t believe last night really happened. It was just a special night from start to finish. Jesse Dee, Dwight and Nicole, Tom Bianchi, Julee Avalone, Amber Rhubarth, so many of our close friends on the stage as well as in the crowd. It was family. We were all in it together. May sound cheesy, but that’s it, that’s my dream.

There was something in the air last night. I’ver never felt so comfortable and had such a good time on stage. Never in my life will I forget that one.

And to all the people who bought extra tickets and went the extra mile to support this show, your generosity just blows me away. I don’t know what to say. Community. Thank you for being a part of this. Thank you for letting this happen.

We officially sold 222 tickets last night, which is more than double what they thought we were going to do. Saturday night was 40 shy of a sellout, so we did 785 tickets over the two nights. Totally a success. We’re all still high from the music, Live Nation is happy (far as I know), and I’m pretty sure everybody in that room had an experience to remember.

I have to be honest, the first thing I did on Saturday night was apologize to the promoter from Live Nation who has always been supportive of us in the past. Not for the decision that we made, but for some of the name-calling that I did this week. I’m glad we stood our ground, and we did the right thing, but I didn’t mean to demonize anyone involved in this. The business is messed up, ClearChannel is too big and powerful and fucked up at times, but we have to remember that there are real people behind this stuff. And there are some really good people too, believe it or not.

Just saying, it’s all gravy, baby. I’m elated and the powers that be are content.

And more importantly, our community thrives…