How was Ben Harper?

I interested in any reviews of last night's show.

me too.

it was absolutely sick. harper and the band played for 3 hours and brought the house down. One of the top three shows i have seen at 930

hope they can rebuild in time for the New York Dolls show… Is Bob available?

3 hours? thats seems a little long…..

actually, they played for close to three and a half hours. it wouldn't end and made those interminable "everybody get on stage and sing along to give up the funk" jams at the end of p-funk shows seem kind of quick and painless in comparison.

also, ben harper should NOT do solo acoustic sets. his fingerpicking sucks and his songs aren't tailored for that format.

i'll concede that he's a good lap slide player, and the first song they played was actually quite good and made me rethink how i generally feel about ben harper (the two previous shows i saw left me bored and annoyed). then they proceeded to play roughly 190 minutes of lame happy hippie jams, interspersed with ineffectual solo acoustic love songs.

What were the other two?

Originally posted by terpfan:
it was absolutely sick. harper and the band played for 3 hours and brought the house down. One of the top three shows i have seen at 930

sounds like i may have been disappointed then. i like his CDs and when i heard him live at Coachella, he seemed to be rocking out quite a bit. he even stood up for a good portion of the set. (some people around me were surprised he stood up at all!) perhaps he changed his tempo for the Coachella crowd. (hes probably not normally sandwiched between Queens of the Stone age and the Beastie Boys)

Originally posted by sonickteam4:
(hes probably not normally sandwiched between Queens of the Stone age and the Beastie Boys)

:eek:

What were the other two?

rusted root from a couple of years ago and STS9

Originally posted by sonickteam4:
sounds like i may have been disappointed then. i like his CDs and when i heard him live at Coachella, he seemed to be rocking out quite a bit. he even stood up for a good portion of the set.

He rocked out a good bit and stood up except for the lap steel numbers and his solo set. He did about 8 solo acoustic songs between the full band sets. I'm more a fan of his rocking stuff and left very satisfied. I'll confirm it was 3+ hours. Very good show.

Lots of reworking of old songs and Charlie Musselwhite on the harmonica was a nice touch too. That old guy can rock.

Phenomenal show with nearly 3 1/2 hours of music. The only annoying thing was people in the crowd showing NO RESPECT by speaking and shouting, especially during the acoustic songs. And those of you with video/phone cameras…the signs out front clearly state NO RECORDING. Why ruin everything for the rest of us?!?

he has been standing up a lot the last couple of years. i've been disappointed with the lack of slide playing, but last night, i think he did a good balance of both, as opposed to the tour a couple of years ago.

i almost didn't go to the show as i wasn't really happy the last time they toured, but i'm glad i did go to this one. the new songs are alright, especially dressed in black which i think is actually pretty good, get it like you like it sucks though.

Setlist -

set [1]:
â?¢ God Fearing Man
â?¢ Ground On Down
â?¢ Jah Work
â?¢ Brown Eyed Blues
â?¢ Wicked Man
â?¢ Everything
â?¢ Burn One Down
â?¢ She's Only Happy In The Sun
â?¢ Breakin' Down
â?¢ Temporary Remedy
â?¢ Please Bleed
â?¢ Amen Omen
â?¢ Where Could I Go
â?¢ How Many Miles Must We March?

enc [1]:
â?¢ Another Lonely Day
â?¢ Widow Of A Living Man
â?¢ Number Three
â?¢ Roses From My Friends
â?¢ I Shall Not Walk Alone
â?¢ Walk Away
â?¢ There Will Be A Light
â?¢ When It's Good
â?¢ Pleasure And Pain
enc [2]:
â?¢ Steal My Kisses/Pressure Drop
â?¢ Get It Like You Like It
â?¢ Homeless Child
â?¢ Dressed In Black
â?¢ Gather Round The Stone
â?¢ The Woman In You
â?¢ Ain't Too Proud To Beg
â?¢ With My Own Two Hands/War

It was an absolutely great show. The total playing time of the show was 4 hours. The opener's set was 40 min, followed by Ben's 3 hr. 20 min. set (drummer for band confirmed the time after the show). It wasn't the best Harper show I've seen (that was probably Const. Hall a couple of years ago) but it was still great. I'm more of a fan of his older stuff, but was pleased with the combination of songs, and when they were played. It was a hell of a time.

I completely disagree with the person above talking about his solo acoustic work. I find all his playing awe inspiring. And thought the solo set he did was a very nice touch. This is especially evident in the two-disc LIVE FROM MARS. I just wished he would have played Faded/Whole Lotta Love.

Originally posted by hitman:
I just wished he would have played Faded/Whole Lotta Love.

I was hoping for the same thing. It seemed to be in his sets pretty frequently a couple of years ago and if ever have heard it live it's pretty unreal.

I had to leave at the 2 1/2 hour mark. Sorry to see I missed The Woman in You. For the first time seeing him, I was blown away. I did think the 8 song acoustic set was a bit much though. I wish I had seen more of the full band before I left.

Every Harper show I've been too has had a solo acoustic element. For those complaining, I guess it was their first time at a BH show. Luckily for them, this solo acoustic stint wasn't as long as the one he did at Const. Hall years ago.

Yes, I said it was my first time. I just think the man has too much talent to devolve into the folk-acoustic-solo mode that millions of others do (like Tim Freund (sp?) who just sounds like Chris Collingwood, or is it the other way around? Which came first?)

Originally posted by Summerteeth:
I just think the man has too much talent to devolve into the folk-acoustic-solo mode that millions of others do

The solo acoustic stuff has been part of his music from day one. How long have you been listening to him?

Originally posted by Dave Stoller:

Originally posted by Summerteeth:
I just think the man has too much talent to devolve into the folk-acoustic-solo mode that millions of others do

The solo acoustic stuff has been part of his music from day one. How long have you been listening to him?

A couple years. Besides, listening to one artist doesn't mean I have to enjoy all that artist does. Clearly, you do. Have at it.