Ryan Bingham

Friday 26th April, Union Chapel, London, Ryan Bingham. The Union Chapel is a working church in North London and its moody lighting, high vaulted ceilings, stone walls, wooden pews make it the perfect setting for some great acoustics. Coupled with the supreme talent of Ryan Bingham, we are set fair for a perfect evening. And that’s exactly what we got.

With a new album out and a spectacular back catalogue of fine albums to draw from we are treated to ninety minutes of the finest country tunes you could wish for. Bingham is a great raconteur and regales us with stories of his childhood, upbringing, hitch hiking, learning the guitar, rodeos, musical influences and much more. It’s an emotional journey for both him and the audience and at one stage wiping away a few tears he recalls part of his eventful early life which drives home the importance of these autobiographical songs to him. More poignancy with the track ‘Wolves’ about gun crime and the reality of life in the US where he described an event where someone was shot outside his tour bus on his most recent US tour. Whats worse was this was not the first time this had happened.

There are lighter moments of course and such a rich and much travelled life can only provide even more material to his musical arsenal.

It’s difficult to find fault at all tonight, just a man with an acoustic guitar or two, perfect sound, great songs and that trademark whisky gravelled voice. Of course the oldies are welcomed with open arms but the new rockier tracks more than hold their own even in the acoustic setting.

To pick a highlight seems churlish as to denigrate the other tracks but of course ‘Southside of Heaven’, ‘Long way from Georgia’, a slightly reworked version of ‘Weary Kind’ and ‘Hallelujah’ nail it.

The dilemma now is do I bin off Band of Horses on the same night in June to see Ryan back again with full band. That’s a first world problem I am happy to have.

One final comment for the chapel, get some row and seat numbers to stop the bun fight to get a seat where there is I’m sure more coats left on pews than actual people attending. If the Ryman can do it then so can you.

Till the next time keep on country rockin y’all

Monday 2nd February. The Borderline. Ryan Bingham. It’s the first gig of the year and the first of a very busy February with 6 gigs in 25 days. We first saw Ryan Bingham 7 years ago at the same venue and he refers to that gig in the set tonight. Since then he’s had a number of successful albums, including an Oscar and a Grammy for the Weary Kind in the film Crazy Heart. He’s at home fully plugged in front of a band rocking out but tonight its solo acoustic. I have written before about there is nothing purer than just one man and a guitar and tonight exemplifies that magnificently. At the heart of Ryan Bingham’s appeal is the quality of the songs. He travels the well-worn tracks of country music with heartbreak, despair and hope in equal measure in the style of the storybook song.
He has a gravelly voice that’s been scraped off the floor of a Texan dustbowl, driven over by an eighteen wheeler and spat out the other side. A late starter on the guitar from seventeen, he’s sure got the licks now. The set draws heavily from his new album with its standout track for me, Snow Falls in June leading the way tonight. Other highlights are Hallelujah, Depression and slide guitar favourite Sunshine. The crowd are quiet and appreciative and Mr Bingham holds the crowd’s attention between songs with his simple anecdotes some of which sound so far-fetched they must be true.
It’s a perfect start to the new year and I can’t wait to see him again with the full band in October where he’s sure to rip it up. Keep on rocking y’all

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend both of Ryan’s shows at City Winery in NYC and this review covers the second show on Tuesday night. Both shows were TERRIFIC! But in my opinion Monday night had a few more songs, a few more stories and a “better” more appreciative audience. The shows are intimate, acoustic performances with Ryan taking the stage about 10 minutes after the scheduled start time and then performing for 2+ hours alone with a guitar, the occasional harmonica and a boatload of stories that covered his entire background, the family and friends that contributed to making him the person and artist he is today. He is a great performer whether playing, singing or storytelling and it was a great treat. The storyline (essentially his life story) was very consistent but there were enough changes and differences to demonstrate that it wasn’t a script but rather heartfelt.
The songs he performed were drawn from all of his prior work and a few new “works in progress.” I was very happy to have seen both and I encourage you to see him perform, either in a show like this or with a band in a full on concert, he definitely knows how to entertain.

Since his release of Mescalito back in 2007, I’ve been following Ray Bingham’s music career intently, and he’s had some incredible success over the past few years. Seeing him live was something that I’d dreamed of, and finally getting tickets, I can say I was not at all disappointed with the performance, it lived up to and exceeded my expectations in every way. You can see why he’s won Grammys, Academy Awards, and a Golden Globe award, because the quality and skill of his musicianship is something I’ve never witnessed before.
As well as being a fantastic singer, Bingham writes all of his own music, and plays acoustically on his guitar. I was sat reasonably close to the front of the auditorium, and watching the ease at which he was picking through the complicated melodies of his songs was astounding.
He played through Tomorowland in its entirety, creating a magical narrative of music for the audience. He encouraged us to sing along, and got really involved with the corwd, giving us little back stories of each track, and how he came to write the lyrics and melodies accordingly. It was very magical to hear these descriptions first hand.

First of all, The Borderline is my favourite London venue as it's so small and intimate. So to have just Ryan, his guitar and harmonica, and nothing more on stage was perfect. No opening acts, just straight into it. His set list was amazing, especially the new tunes from his latest record Fear & Saturday Night.

Secondly, Ryan is just such a dude. So enjoyable to watch and listen to, so charming, tells great stories between songs, gives insights into how he created them, really engages the audience, and is of course just an amazing musician with huge presence.

I fought hard to get these sold out tickets from a reseller, and it was more than I could've hoped for. He sounds even more amazing live - you really feel his songs at a new depth - which not all musicians do by any means.

Ryan Bingham is one of my favorite singer/songwriters and I'm always nervous to see my favorites for fear that it will change my perception of them. I hate it when singers or bands sound very different in person and it turns out that their sound was manufactured in studio.

This was definitely NOT the case with Ryan. It was such an amazing show, great set list and fantastic musicians. The Royale was the perfect venue for him.

His performance only made me like his music even more and the way he treated his bandmates, fans and venue staff showed that he was a good person too.

I will do everything I can to see him play again soon.

2 hours of songs and stories that provided fantastic insight into the people, places and experiences that made Ryan the performer, songwriter and person he is, and I think that he is terrific. It was billed as an intimate acoustic evening and fully lived up to that. A very engaged and supportive audience made for a great evening. There was a good mix of songs from throughout his career and some new ones that have not been released all were supported by an ongoing dialogue throughout. If you have an opportunity to do so you should see this performance.

21/1/20 Ryan Bingham came to the Blackbox Belfast. The support was a lad John Craigie who not only sang great songs told some great wee ditties in between.
I've see Ryan five times before all with a band, last night was an evening with him his acoustic guitars and harmonica's. After nearly two hours of some brilliant acoustic renditions of which Hallelujah was the highlight for me, I can honestly say that was the best performance of Ryan's to date. At fifteen quid a ticket you won't find better value for a gig all year.
Ten out of ten.

Einfach der Hammer !!!
Das beste Konzert was ich jemals besucht habe.
Ryan spielte in perfekter Manier Stücke aus allen seinen Alben...
Live klingt er noch viel besser als auf CD er bringt einfach Perfekt die Emotionen seiner Lieder rüber egal ob er alleine mit seiner Akustik Gitarre auf der Bühne steht oder mit Band egal ob laut oder leise er steckt immer voller Energie .Das Konzert wirkt noch Tage nach ...

Saw the show at Winstar Casino in Oklahoma. Not very good. The artist lacks rhythm and a good voice. The band was just fair at their best. The sound was not very good. Louder is not always better....the music was distorted. The opening act (Charlie Crocket) was much better. If it wasn't for Charly Crocket, this would have been a total failure.