It has been over a decade since I had last seen Ragan live and that was with his old band, Hot Water Music. I had picked up his solo albums in recent years and always meant to go see him when he would come to town, but, life tends to fill up with “meant to…” pretty quickly.

With the release of Till Midnight, I was greeted by an album that felt like Ragan had firmly moved on from being “one of the guys from Hot Water Music” to the front man of Chuck Ragan and the Camaraderie. The album sounded great and the songs all melded together well to create a solid work from start to finish.

So, how would it translate on stage? Seamlessly.

Ragan has been playing with the Camaraderie for many years and the tightness showed. From the older songs on the set list like the opening tune, Between the Lines, to excellent new tracks like Whistleblower’s Song, the band kept the energy high and the sound perfect. The maintained tightness of the band was quite the feat given the obvious sound issues on stage.

Through all three acts, monitors were cutting out, microphones were electrocuting singers and even the bass amp for Ragan’s bassist blew out. You would expect a few miscues from it all, but, outside of a few pouty moments from Jonny Two Bags and his band, the audience would have never known of the issues besides seeing sound guys checking cables.

Sometimes, the best shows are the ones that leave you with less to say and Chuck Ragan and the Camaraderie put on one of the best shows I have seen in recent times, which is saying a lot, as I have attended some really great shows. The ability to pull from the entire discography, the maintained energy and obvious connection between artist and audience made for a hell of a night.

Before Ragan and company hit the stage, The White Buffalo played.

My exposure to The White Buffalo at this point had been minimal, so I was not sure what to expect from the band. I had heard, though unaware at the time, the song, Oh Darlin, What Have I Done, on Sons of Anarchy, but really that was all I had to go on. The album, downloaded weeks earlier, still sat, unplayed on my listening device…at least until after the show.

Opening with When I’m Gone, the set instantly turned into a rowdy, rambunctious affair.

The amount of sound that came from the stage was wild considering the setup was a single acoustic, a bass guitar and drums. The ability to go from acoustic ballad to a downright dirty rock feel was impressive.

Songs like Joey White and The Whistler tore through and captivated the audience, which was largely comprised of White Buffalo fans. The buzz outside of the venue was mostly about how this was the band’s first stop in Houston and this show had been long-awaited by those folks.

Opening the show up was Jonny Two Bags. I have seen Jonny Two Bags on lead guitar for Social Distortion a few times over the years, so I was looking forward to seeing his solo set.

A slow sound check led to a late start to the set. Then various sound issues followed by moments of his lead guitarist brooding kept the set from gaining any strong momentum. However, when all the mess got put aside and the band tore through a song, the output was great.

All I kept thinking was how I would love to see the band play a set without any issues and a flow to the set without a few minutes of complaints between each song. The set was cut short due to the time eaten up by extracurricular, but, the audience demanded another song, so that should tell you how good the band was when all issues were put aside.

This was a fine night of music with three acts that all could captivate an audience on their own. Combining the three acts together made for a night where the call of a last song led to genuine disappointment from every band that played. You cannot ask for more than that from a show.