John Ralston HOB Review
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
By Aaron Keker
HOUSE OF BLUES, Chicago – Last evening John Ralston opened as a special guest for Chris Carrabba’s Dashboard Confessional solo acoustic performance at House of Blues in Chicago, Illinois.
John commenced the sold out evening with “When We are Cats” from the album Needle Bed. “When We Are Cats” concluded John received a small ovation.
From what I observed and listened to as John Ralston performed song after song on his set list, I really enjoyed his performance. However, I had two problems and it had nothing to with John Ralston’s performance.
I am not sure if it is terrible acoustics, because of where we were situated, but I could not always hear every word that John sang.
Not only could I not always hear every word that John sang but also the noise around us was very obnoxious. Besides the acoustics, I will partially blame the social gathering of individuals around us that talked through his entire performance. If they wanted to gather socially, they should have congregated at a bar or restaurant.
John Ralston performed a majority of his songs on his set list from his new album Sorry Vampire that was released on October 2, 2007. He performed songs like “Ghetto Tested,” “Lessons I & II,” “No One Loves You Like I Do,” “The Only Evidence” and “Fragile.” Also, he performed one of his most popular songs titled “Gone Gone Gone” from the album Needle Bed.
If you are unfamiliar with John Ralston’s music, visit his website at www.john-ralston.com or his MySpace page at www.myspace.com/johnralston and listen to his music. If it turns out that you really enjoy John Ralston’s music, make sure you purchase his albums Needle Bed, Sorry Vampire and Fragile – Single at www.john-ralston.com, iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody or any other store that sells his music.
Besides listening to the songs that John Ralston played on his set list, make sure you listen to “Keep Me,” “Time for Me to Ruin Everything” from the album Needle Bed and “I Guess I Wasted My Summer Now,” “Second Hand Lovers,” “Where You Used To Sleep” from the album Sorry Vampire and “Love/Exit” from the single album Fragile – Single. Hopefully, John Ralston will perform several of these songs next time he performs in Chicago because these are really good songs too.
Finally, I am looking forward to providing future coverage of John Ralston whether it will be an interview or watching another live performance by him. Hopefully, if I watch another live performance by John Ralston, he will be performing at another venue like the Metro or The Vic Theatre. Below is the set list for John Ralston’s performance at the House of Blues in Chicago.
Chicago Set List:
- “When We are Cats”
- “When I Was a Bandage”
- “Gone Gone Gone”
- “It’s Not Your Fault”
- “Ghetto Tested”
- “Lessons I & II”
- “No One Loves You Like I Do”
- “The Only Evidence”
- “Fragile”
