Star Tribune photo by Renee Jones Schneider

Ray Davies knew he was in St. Paul Tuesday. And he remembered the Capital City, mentioning that the Kinks had opened their "Soap Opera" tour there. (He's right, I was there in 1975 at the old St. Paul Civic Center Theatre, where the Ordway now sits.)

Even though technical problems at sound check Tuesday delayed the start of his concert at the Fitzgerald Theater by a half hour, Davies was in terrific spirits, good voice and the sound was just fine.

While Davies seemed simpatico with Irish guitarist Bill Shanley (sorry, I misidentified him in my review in the newspaper) during the acoustic set, the electric set felt more like a star and his hired backup band. But when Davies and the 88 rocked (the guitarist I cited, Keith Slettedahl, is in the 88), it was a Kinks-y good time.

(By the by, the 88's opening set of power pop impressed but, the late start coupled with the Fitz's heat working in overdrive, diminished the quartet's impact. A Fitzgerald manager told me that cool overnight temperature kicked the heating system into high gear and it took a long time to get things cooled down with a less than state of the art air conditioning system.The 88, out of L.A., has played the Twin Cities before, at the 400 Bar.)

Davies' 90-minute set was heavy on Kinks material from the 1960s. Some fans were disappointed that "Lola," the Kinks' best known hit, wasn't performed. He has sung it at other gigs on this tour.

Here is what Davies played at the Fitz:

ACOUSTIC SET: I Need You/ I'm Not Like Everybody Else/ Sunny Afternoon/ Dead End Street/ Waterloo Sunset/ Dedicated Follower of Fashion/ Apeman/ See My Friends/ A Long Way from Home/ Victoria/ 20th Century Man (band joins in midsong) ELECTRIC SET: David Watts/ This Is Where I Belong/ Where Have All the Good Times Gone/ Tired of Waiting for You/ snippet of Show Me (old R&B song)/ Nothing in the World Can Stop Me Worrying About that Girl/ Too Much on My Mind/ Till the End of the Day/ All Day and All of the Night/ Celluloid Heroes/ Muswell Hillbilly/ You Really Got Me ENCORE Low Budget