After selling out night one in Boston, David Gray brought his Past & Present tour to The Met in Philadelphia for a second sold out show. While the tour comes just one week after releasing his new record Dear Life this year, he is celebrating all the “eras” that make up his career. The 25-song set checked all the boxes of an “ERAS” tour show too; including the ups and downs of life, a deep-dive through his entire discography, high-energy and dancing from everyone, and even a couple fun covers.
With her newly released EP Tulsa-based songwriter Sierra Spirit joined Gray on the tour to warm up the night with her soft and dream-like vocals. Spirit kicked off the night performing songs from her debut EP coin toss which she just released in the fall of 2024.
Sierra Spirit | photo by Ellen C Miller for WXPN
“This is more than a tour. It’s an emotional thing,” stated David Gray while sitting at the keyboard preparing to play “Last Boat in America” for us (a song he has not played in a long time). Gray informed us early in the set that there’s not much time for chatting between songs as it’s a long set list, but he still made sure there was time to tell the crowd about watching his dad die of cancer (don’t worry — it was not dark as that might sound). This was possibly the most serious or “emotional” part of the show, but also still lighthearted as he got the crowd to laugh a few times whilst reminiscing. Gray did share that while songwriting requires to share a lot about yourself, it is important to protect a part of you to avoid becoming “dust in the wind” — so sharing deep life stories in a humorous and lighthearted way definitely tracks.
The whole two-hour set kicked off with Gray literally dancing on to stage and matching the vibe of his fans in attendance before sitting at the keyboard for a new song “After the Harvest.” He slowed it down a tiny bit after the first two songs for “My Oh My,” but got the energy right back up with a Depeche Mode cover, “Just Can’t Get Enough.” This was one of two covers Gray did Saturday night; close to the end of the set he covered “He’s Misstra Know-It-All” by Stevie Wonder. It was not structured in a way that ran through the discography in order. Instead, he built a set list that blended all albums to come together for the big picture and tell a story of life.
David Gray | photo by Ellen C Miller for WXPN
The art of writing a strong set list was evident in the way Gray balanced his old and new songs to further enhance his gentle but powerful voice. The peaks of the set list were spread throughout, so each next peak was greater than last, all the way through the encore. He threw “Babylon” in at exactly mid-set which, was an obvious high point for everyone, but when Gray played that first note of “Please Forgive Me” (the final pre-encore song) every person in the audience immediately stood up and remained standing all the way through the four-song encore. Even the encore was built with an emotional journey through the different eras of Gray’s life as it led off with “This Year’s Love,” followed by his first time performing “Sunlight On Water” from the 2025 record. Then it was finally time to close out big with “Sail Away,” except not before squeezing in “The Other Side” (from the 2002 album A New Day at Midnight) and possibly making his fans nervous he was skipping “Sail Away” this show.
David Gray’s tour continues tonight at The Anthem in Washington D.C., followed by a concert Tuesday at The Beacon Theatre in New York. Find his full tour dates here, and check out more photos from The Met and the full setlist below.