The third in my many recent concerts was Ben Harper at the Del Mar Racetrack. It would seem that whomever was in charge of the booking this year really had their act together. Ziggy Marley, Ozomatli, the Offspring, Cake, Ben Harper, but to name a few.
I found myself surprised by the number of people that have only see him play festivals or open for someone else. Ben Harper tends to ramp in his shows, so if you only catch a short set, you tend to miss out on the best bits. It had been a while since I'd had a chance to see him play a full show, so sufficed to say I was quite excited.
Up until now I have only seen Harper with the Innocent Criminals. As he toured with them for so many years there was a certain tightness that formed so when Harper locked in, they locked in. Not so with the Relentless7. They started out with a bit more energy, but didn't really ramp up with Harper. Rather they had a monotonic energy level throughout. That's ok though as Harper's intensity and stage presence made up for it.
Today's show was a bit odd. He gave extended solo time for him and his band mates early in the show (first three songs). Usually that's something you do at the middle/ end of a show, but whatever. Perhaps he was trying to motivate them or bid farewell before his acoustic tour, on which I would assume they are not going. The majority of the show did focus heavily on the Relentless7 material. There are some good songs on those albums, but limiting yourself to two albums when you've got 10 or so makes for a less interesting show. This is of course to be expected, but the man has so much material its a shame to overlook all the other things he's done.
Fortunately he did play a few of the older songs towards the end such as Burn One Down, Diamonds on the Inside, Better Way, and Amen Omen.
Due to a roadie mistuning a 12 string for "Fly One Time" Harper played an impromptu solo fingerstlyle electric version of "When She Believes" which completely blew my mind. Even more so, strangely I did not have the whole of the album it was on so I had never even heard it before.
Additionally to fill time Harper was happily admiring all the things being thrown up on stage at him. There was a wide variety of things from nuts, to shredded wheat, to skittles, to art, hats etc. Some artists just ignore the people in the crowd, but I think he feels they're as much a part of the show as the band itself. A very good attitude to have.
One of the highlights of any Ben Harper show is always his acoustic set. Usually he does a longer one, but I suspect that the earlier 12 string issue ate into the time he had for that. That said he played an awesome rendition of "walk away" followed by "Burn One Down."
He closed out the show with "Better Way." Just completely blew me away the amount of energy and emotion that he put into it eight years on. So much fun seeing him play again. It really makes me want to go check out his "acoustic tour" assuming it comes to town.
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Side Note:
Of course I was also really excited about the fact that on all the acoustic bits he actually played his Ben Harper HM signature model Martin. Which for anyone reading this, if you can get me one without the signature I will take one please! I have played two over the years in my search for the perfect "heirloom" to pass to future generations. Such an amazing sounding guitar, but I just can't justify buying something with someone else's name on it. I think it's just that I play my own music not someone else's. That said, it completely turned me on to the M series body (aka 0000). I've been playing something similar for years but with a bit more depth. Not sure if its all the endangered species woods in it, but damn... me likey!
