Terminal 5 (New York, NY)
02/24/24
On February 24th, Ricky Montgomery performed at Terminal 5 in New York City to a packed room of around 3,000 excited fans. Kicking off the night was a lovely set of upbeat pop songs from opener Noah Floersch, including his songs “On Your Mind” and “Ghost of Chicago.” Floersch’s impressive set and charming stage presence effortlessly got the crowd moving around and excited for the evening ahead. In the minutes between Noah Floersch finishing his set and Ricky coming onstage to begin his, the excitement and anticipation of the crowd was palpable, with multiple “Rick” chants starting to try and lure him out early. Fans in the audience had signs and mementos that they held up. There were even several fans in the crowd in costume taking photos with each other – all of whom were dressed specifically as Satoru Gojo from the anime Jujutsu Kaisen – a reference to a TikTok audio of Ricky’s going viral backing a fancam of the character. The stage itself was split nearly in half with a large curtain on one side and a doorway on the other. As the lights came down, the band came out hidden behind the curtain and the lighting was done such that their shadowy silhouettes were all the audience saw, increasing the already overflowing crowd anticipation, as finally Ricky jumped through the doorway onto the stage and immediately began singing “Line Without A Hook,” one of his most popular songs. It was the perfect way to kick off a set.
Right from song one, Ricky’s stage presence and energy was incredible as he crossed the full length of the stage, leaned into the audience, hyped up the crowd, danced, and more. By the end of the first chorus, it was a wonder how he hadn’t run out of breath, let alone how he maintained such impressive vocals. The already roaring crowd became deafening when, about halfway through the song, singer-songwriter mxmtoon popped through the doorway to join in. Ricky and mxmtoon recently toured together on the the “Bittersweet Daze” tour with Cavetown, and mxmtoon is featured in a popular version of “Line Without A Hook;” the overlap of their fans is a near perfect circle, and the crowd’s reaction was truly priceless as Ricky and mxmtoon immediately jumped offstage to get into the crowd for a verse.
With a moment like that in song one, one might worry the evening would have peaked too soon; however, Ricky proved to have no difficulty in maintaining that energy and the crowd gave back everything he was giving them. The curtain hiding the band was opened, the lighting brightened, and he dove right into his next songs – “In Your Pocket” off his new album, Rick, followed with a lively performance of his beloved hit, “Cabo.” Another highlight included the projections featured over the curtain-doorway setup for several songs, which were a psychedelic dream-like exploration of a 3D-animated house that became more hectic throughout the set, as it caught on fire, was overrun with uncanny-valley horses, and eventually got sucked into space as the evening progressed. Montgomery’s performance of “Black Fins,” a deeply personal song about losing his father, was a captivating moment that really highlighted his artistry as a performer – he was able to pivot from pure fun, fast paced energy, into a more somber and serious song, in a way that felt incredibly natural and impactful without missing a beat.
The evening concluded with a perfect 3-song encore made up of “Sometimes I Need To Be Alone” off his new album, followed with 2 hits off of his first album, Montgomery Ricky – Noah Floersch returning to the stage for “This December” before closing out with, of course, a stunning performance of “Mr. Loverman.”
Ricky Montgomery is a singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, California and has put out 2 albums – 2016’s beloved Montgomery Ricky, which found itself resurfacing years later after a few songs went viral on TikTok, and Rick, his hit 2023 sophomore release which he is currently on tour in support of. Ricky will continue touring the U.S. and Canada throughout March before going on a European leg of tour, and has a new song, “Unknown Phantom,” out on streaming services on March 15th.
