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Just got back from my very first Ben Harper show. Amazing. I'm a late
convert to Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals. I got my first CD about 3-4
years ago when Warren Haynes proclaimed Diamonds on the Inside his favorite CD of 2003. I had conflicts to seeing him over the last couple years, but have followed him closely and collected his music.
I went with our own birthday boy Patrick Crenshaw (wore long pants!) to the
Fox tonight and I can't tell you how happy I am I did. They focused heavily
on their new album which had much more power live, although it is a very
solid record.
Imagine this: Ben sang 2 minutes a capella in front of 4500 people...without
a microphone! I've never seen anything like it. After drenching the crowd
with tons of soul & R&B, the first song of his encore was 7-8 minutes of
solo instrumental lap-slide guitar that was part Derek Trucks, part Jerry
Douglas...really. The crowd stayed with him the whole time.
I felt like I just went to church on a holiday on Auburn Avenue. And, he
did it without playing his 6-7 traditional fan favorites (Bill Wither's Use Me Up served the Sexual Healing spot).
I saw another solid show about 3 weeks ago at the Fox....Ryan Adams & The
Cardinals...except they did NO encore. It was ready to be an off-the-charts
show by a modern genius but he had to show he was eccentric. Ben Harper, on
the other hand, knows who pays his paycheck and he gives it 110% every time out, if this was any indication. I saw a pro's pro tonight with as crisp of
a band as you'll find.
Oh yeah, I'm not sure I've seen more attractive 25-35 year old women,
dressed to the nines, at a show in my life. Not a bad extra.
I'm one of those that say the best era of music was 1967 - 1973, but I was reminded tonight that there is amazing music being made & performed in 2007.