Ben Kweller at Koko
Ben Kweller
Koko, 15 May 2009
I have to admit I was pretty ill attending this gig: thinking I have never missed a show due to illness, like a trooper I turned up, albeit rather late, and caught the end of Ben's excellent set (the following week though, as for a while I got even sicker, I did indeed miss my first ever gig, A.C. Newman at Luminaire, which I'm really sad about).
I saw Ben play live for the first time late last year when he was just trying out his new style as a new man of country with a fantastic acoustic show at the Union Chapel. It really was a magical way to see Ben live for the first time, with the singer/songwriter only accompanied by a, rather large but hugely talented, pedal steel player and switching between acoustic guitar and piano, it was a great showcase for his brilliant power pop songs and new country singalongs and charismatic personality. He beautifully covered Neil Young's From Hank To Hendrix, and it was obvious Young's influence was all over his new sound.
I was curious though to see Ben with a band and his performance at Koko saw him with the relatively slim backing of a drummer, bassist and pedal steel player but it made a huge difference to the sound: fuller, rockier yet even more country than before (Ben even wore a cowboy hat, check shirt and denim jacket with its sleeves cut off - giving him the look of a countrified Marty McFly - just to make it plainly obvious where he was coming from for this tour).
During the show I looked up to see a young girl on the balcony, she couldn't have been more than 10 years old and she was accompanied by her family. During the song Sundress, a real power pop pogo of a number from Ben's debut album, she was happily singing along to the opening verse but instead of the upbeat crunch of the chorus that was supposed to follow, suddenly it got slower and twangier and the girl, ready to jump up and down at the joyous chorus, stopped dead and looked around confused. Where was the big loud singalong moment? Thankfully Ben hit the distortion pedal at the end of the song and the girl got her chance to pogo along but in some ways her confusion summed up the audience's reaction, which was somewhat mixed: some obviously loving the hugely fun, energetic twang-fest, others looking around wondering where the power chords had gone. It was crowd confusion at its very best: Neil Young would be proud.
I saw Ben play live for the first time late last year when he was just trying out his new style as a new man of country with a fantastic acoustic show at the Union Chapel. It really was a magical way to see Ben live for the first time, with the singer/songwriter only accompanied by a, rather large but hugely talented, pedal steel player and switching between acoustic guitar and piano, it was a great showcase for his brilliant power pop songs and new country singalongs and charismatic personality. He beautifully covered Neil Young's From Hank To Hendrix, and it was obvious Young's influence was all over his new sound.
I was curious though to see Ben with a band and his performance at Koko saw him with the relatively slim backing of a drummer, bassist and pedal steel player but it made a huge difference to the sound: fuller, rockier yet even more country than before (Ben even wore a cowboy hat, check shirt and denim jacket with its sleeves cut off - giving him the look of a countrified Marty McFly - just to make it plainly obvious where he was coming from for this tour).
During the show I looked up to see a young girl on the balcony, she couldn't have been more than 10 years old and she was accompanied by her family. During the song Sundress, a real power pop pogo of a number from Ben's debut album, she was happily singing along to the opening verse but instead of the upbeat crunch of the chorus that was supposed to follow, suddenly it got slower and twangier and the girl, ready to jump up and down at the joyous chorus, stopped dead and looked around confused. Where was the big loud singalong moment? Thankfully Ben hit the distortion pedal at the end of the song and the girl got her chance to pogo along but in some ways her confusion summed up the audience's reaction, which was somewhat mixed: some obviously loving the hugely fun, energetic twang-fest, others looking around wondering where the power chords had gone. It was crowd confusion at its very best: Neil Young would be proud.
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