If you were one of those kids that got way too into a fandom to the point that your friends wish you would stop talking about it, have a meme page, were a theater kid, or just love music that's whimsical and makes you feel as if you’re in a storybook, you should have been at the House of Blues in Anaheim on September 18th for The Rick Tour: One Rick to Rule Them All. Headlined by the legendary Ricky Montgomery, with support from Ray Bull.  Yes, that is the tour name, and I have a gut feeling it was inspired by Rick and Morty, the TV show. Since Ricky has made a joke about the show before, and if you’ve watched Rick and Morty, you’ll also get what I mean. It’s related to something specific in the show that I will not say because it's a spoiler, but if you want to understand, go watch the show. This was a night that wasn’t just filled with music but laughter as well. If you were having a bad day and you walked into this show, I guarantee your night would have ended with a smile on your fact.

Now, what kind of band opens for Ricky Montgomery? Well, needless to say, one with a sense of humor. Ray Bull and Ricky Montgomery both have the type of humor that makes you wonder if these guys are secretly related to each other. A lot of people in the crowd were fans of Ray Bull, so there was already excitement in the air. Ray Bull made the joke twice during the beginning of the set, after a song, that it was the end of their set. The crowd played along with it, which made the joke funnier. Their music has a nostalgic folk-pop feel to it. They knew how to hype up the audience, such as when they started clapping on stage and got the audience to clap along with them. You could also tell they were having fun from the smiles and silly faces they made on stage. It was refreshing to see. I loved that the band has two vocalists that work really well together. They ended their set with their song Name Something Better, which has lyrics that will make you miss camping and spontaneously want to go camping just to see the start.

For our headliner, to get us prepared for his arrival while music was playing during the time in between, there would be moments where the song would stop, and Ricky’s name would be said over and over again. The audience would also randomly scream a lot, so it made you think Ricky was going to jump out at any moment. The set started with the band playing behind a curtain that had psychedelic visuals on it. For a moment, you’d think, "Oh, Ricky is going to pop out from behind there." Well, if you thought that (which I don't blame you for, I thought that too), you’d be incorrect. Instead, he popped out from a door in the center of the stage and initiated one of the most energetic openings to a headliner’s set that I’ve seen in years. Like, if you came in late, you could easily think, "Damn, I missed everything, and they're already on the encore."

His opening song was "Line Without a Hook", which is one of those songs that, even if you don’t know Ricky, you’ve at least heard this song somewhere at some point in time. Heck, even your grandma has probably heard this song. It’s a classic that deserves to be a classic. During "Line Without a Hook", Ricky even jumped into the barricade, which was a field day for photographers in the photo pit. We rarely get such a sick moment in the first three songs. All the fans he interacted with during this moment were incredibly excited too. The rest of his setlist included songs such as "Cabo" (which is one of my personal favorites), "One Way Mirror", "Talk to You", "Ed "Sheeran (SUPERFAN)", "Black Fins", "I Don’t Love You Anymore", "California, Unknown", "Phantom", "Snow", "My Heart Is Buried in Venice", "Boy Toy", and for the epic three-song encore: "Sometimes I Need to Be Alone", "This December", and Mr. Loverman". The lights on stage helped enhance the energy, especially with Ricky jumping around. At one point, Ricky was by the door frame that was lit up, and he gave off the vibe of a powerful video game character. During "Black Fins", the audience had their phone flashlights on, and the whole room filled up with lights as they moved their arms along with the song.

One of the best things about Ricky is his sense of humor, but also how much he cares about his fans. He reminded everyone to embrace their weirdness no matter what and has been a really supportive artist to the LGBTQ+ community. I saw some fans with pride flags in the audience as well. During his performance of his unreleased song "Ed Sheeran (SUPERFAN)", at a certain point, he ended up with a giant flag on him too. A fan gave him a toy to hold when he sang his song "Boy Toy". He even made a joke that he wasn’t going to have an encore, then hinted at it being a three-song encore. Although one of the funniest moments would have to be when he made a joke about money to encourage people to buy merch. The joke clearly worked because it was a packed line for merch by the end of the night. The scenic visuals on the curtain during the encore were beautiful to watch as well. For his song "This December", he had the whole audience jumping, so if you felt an earthquake...that was the reason. All of his songs feel poetic in a way and paint a whole story. You can tell a lot of work goes into the songwriting. It was also fitting for "Mr. Loverman", one of his most iconic songs, to be the last song. To wrap up the set, he threw paper airplanes that were signed setlists into the crowd, and everyone had their hands up.

Everything about the show made for a perfect night, and Ricky is one of those artists that is always doing something interesting on stage. So it’s never a dull moment for a fan or a photographer. Ray Bull also has a lot of potential, and I’m excited to see what they do next. Both artists are highly relatable. I also thought it was wholesome that Ricky encourages his fans to show up in cosplay; he’s a big fan of anime. He often talks about different shows on TikTok, and his fanbase is made up of a lot of anime fans. So I ended up seeing fans in cosplay by the end of the night as well. There are many shows you can see, but few can make you laugh like a Ricky Montgomery show.