Early 2000s singer/songwriter shows how he’s every bit the vital artist 25 years later
My personal connection with David Gray’s music occurred during the explosion of White Ladder in 2001. Chockful of hits like Please Forgive Me, Babylon, Sail Away, This Year’s Love and My Oh My, these songs were heard everywhere, from TV shows to shopping malls. I met my wife in mid-2000, and this album soundtracked the nascent days of our relationship. Sail Away’s lyrics mirrored my own feelings at that time (and still today, almost 25 years later
). My personal story with White Ladder brings feelings of innocence gained and lost. The world changed entirely and forever on September 11th, just a few months after I first heard the album. This music will always signal the joyous naivety of the before-times.
Gray’s story is one of persistence as White Ladder was his 4th album, first released in 1998, yet sat languishing until a re-release on Dave Matthews’ ATO record label. The launch from unknown singer/songwriter with heaps of talent to pop star was one he looks back on with bewilderment and a touch of rock star ego regret. Successful albums followed, releasing songs like Dead In The Water, The Other Side and Be Mine from 2002’s A New Day at Midnight and Life in Slow Motion that brought out The One I Love and Hospital Food after 3 years off in 2005. David Gray slowed down considerably for much of the next two decades, yet playing at least one show every year since 1993, apart from 2004. In the years that followed Life In Slow Motion, Gray was still releasing music but modulating away from the folktronica sound he pioneered, combining acoustic guitars with electronic sounds and breakbeats. It took being immersed in his songs to create the question in my mind, without David Gray, is there ever an Ed Sheeran?
2025 brings Gray back with his stellar new album Dear Life and the Past and Present Tour to support it. He described it on Instagram as a night featuring a handful of new songs and focusing on one of his other albums. Mixing up setlists for each show and plucking songs from througout his vast catalogue, in Toronto, on January 31, Gray equally bookended his show with his most famous album and his latest. In between, he touched on the two that followed White Ladder.
Gray took the stage at Massey Hall for an early show into his Past and Present Tour, and from the first note, it was clear: his voice remains as rich and expressive and his songs are still as meaningful as in 2001. With a five-piece band of multi-instrumentalists seamlessly shifting between bass, guitars, pedal steel and keyboards, Gray delivered a set that spanned decades, blending nostalgia with fresh inspiration from his latest work.
Eyes Made Rain showcased Gray’s effortless ability to blend voice and melody into something transportive. His lyrical prowess, seen more by his fans than us simple spectators, was on full display throughout the show. Next was Plus & Minus, a song that should be in everyone’s ears this year, but the world is unjust. Between songs, Gray’s easygoing banter about aging was both humorous and endearing, drawing warm laughter from the crowd. A highlight of the night was Please Forgive Me, which rose a massive cheer. Gray urged the audience to dance and succeeded in getting people on their feet. Drummer and long-time collaborator Craig McClune nailed the folktronica rhythms he created that helped define a big part of Gray’s early 2000s sound.
Gray’s new album offered a fresh perspective to his songwriting. In a flurried description and paraphrasing, he said, “This new album, I was possessed by a clearness that’s hard to come by. Inspiration is a casual word, and there are Walls that inhibit us. When a song comes from nowhere, I feel like it’s been growing in me. I recognize it in a strange way, and the walls seem to fall. It’s like there’s no one behind the till at the sweet shop, and you can grab what you fucking want.”.
An emotional moment came when Gray dedicated That Day Must Truly Come to his longtime guitarist, Neil MacColl, who is currently battling cancer. The song was a demonstration of Gray’s fingerpicking guitar work, with the band entering one by one, building it with subtle complexity. Another standout of the set, Last Boat to America carried a particularly poignant backstory, as Gray shared how he mixed the song while his father was dying. Dead in the Water was another showcase of Gray’s impeccable songwriting, while Be Mine and Meet Me on the Other Side, for someone like myself who hasn’t dug in depth to his catalog has a forever-changed sky-high opinion of his output.
Not every song hit with equal impact— new song Singing for the Pharaoh received a lukewarm reaction. But when it unexpectedly segued into a cover of Depeche Mode’s Just Can’t Get Enough the entire hall erupted to join in. Babylon‘s late appearance assured its status as a timeless anthem that had the audience singing at full volume. For the encore, Gray brought out The First Stone, a reverb-washed song full of angularity and simple intricacy. The encore then built to an emotional peak with yet another a heartfelt singalong with This Year’s Love, before Gray paid tribute to one of his influences with a cover of Van Morrison’s Just Like Young Lovers Do—a moment that highlighted the parallels between the two artists. And finally, there could be no other closing song but Sail Away. As the final notes rang out through Massey Hall, Gray left the stage exhibiting a genuine love of his fans who brought not only their voices but their enduring support.
For a first show of 2025, for myself and likely a number of others, it’s going to be hard to beat the warmth of this show on a cold night and the communal ebullience and celebration at an uneasy time outside the Hall doors.
David Gray’s Past and Present Tour‘s North American leg concludes throughout February in the American west and south before heading back to the UK and Europe. Those details and tickets are here.
Aron Harris
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