Ben Harper seems like he's touring all the time. He has released an album each year consecutively since 2003. Harper is like the friend you always know is going to be at the party, when you don't know who's going to be there.
All of sudden it seemed like it had been to long since my last Ben Harper show. At Lollapalooza in August Harper had the same set time as Daft Punk, but despite being up against one of the craziest light spectaculars on the touring circuit, he managed to give an amazing performance which featured Eddie Vedder and others on the stage. Those at Daft Punk still heard about it, and many at the Harper set who wanted to catch the last part of Daft Punk ... didn't.
Although the show wasn't sold out, Saturday's Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals at New York's famed Radio City Music Hall was just as "amazing."
Opener Piers Faccini yodeled through his set before a dapper Harper took to the stage in a three-piece suit and began the show with some lullaby guitar strumming.
The Innocent Criminals walked on, gathered around a mic and went into a Mississippi swamp number that sounded like something off the O' Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Apart from Harper's sit-down guitar work, the only other additional beat was provided my a lone tambourine.
Throughout the evening it was Harper's voice that stood out more than any fancy finger-picking. His lyrics were stretched and sounded like sex romps ("Fool For A Lonesome Train" and "Whipping Boy"). The mood would change from reggae to rock to blues to soul, leading Harper to call out his fans as "the bravest" of music fans.
During the most gut wrenching part of his performance, Harper took the liberty to show off the venues acoustics. He commented at first on its beauty, joking "I have never in my life seen a venue this beautiful, no offense Carnegie Hall." Later in the set, Harper left his mic, hushed the entire hall and sang sans microphone during an impromptu refrain of Bill Wither's "Use Me." The crowd could hear a pin drop.
While Dave Matthews has managed to become cheesy and sold-out to prep-sters, Harper remains original and insightful. He sings as if he has a message, like he is preaching. His preaching is not religious, not self-righteous, but empowering to anyone witness to it. Harper resembled a younger, better looking, less threatening yet just as charged version of Al Green many times throughout the evening, especially during the number "Need You Tonight."
Most of the evening was heavy in new numbers off Harper's recent release Lifeline, but it just felt like hearing new stories from an old friend at a party.
Set I:
1. 11th Commandment
2. Well Well Well
3. Fight Outta You
4. Picture In A Frame
5. Fool For A Lonesome Train
6. In The Colors
7. Gold To Me
8. Whipping Boy
9. Younger Than Today
10. Having Wings
11. Two Hands Of A Prayer
12. There Will Be A Light
13. Needed You Tonight
14. Put It On Me
15. Say You Will
16. Use Me
17. Where Could I GoEncore I:
18. Paris Sunrise #7
19. Lifeline
20. Masters Of War w/ Piers Faccini
21. Like A King / I'll RisePhotos courtesy of: Marcelo Prais, Flickr
