Ben Harper goes small
Paradise, Boston, May 10, 2009
Reviewed by Jeffrey B. Remz
Ben Harper certainly has downsized. Here, he was playing in a 625-capacity club. Not too long ago, he hit places about five times larger.
But it's not that the star of Harper has faded at all. Chances are that the singer wanted to play a few clubs out of preference, not necessity, five days after the release of his new disc, "White Lies for Dark Times."
He started while seated, launching into Led Zeppelin's Good Times, Bad Times, not simply replicating the song, but putting his own stamp on it, which an artist ought to do.
Throughout the evening, Harper mixed it up between standing and sitting and electric and acoustic guitars. Harper poured his feelings and intensity into the songs time and again. Better Way seemed particularly poignant given the economic times when Harper sang, "Reality is sharp/It cuts at me like a knife
Everyone I know/Is in the fight of their life."
Harper was backed by a crack band, Relentless7, who rocked through the material with a bit of a Hendrix feel to the music. The band was actually three guys - Jason Mozersky on guitar Jesse Ingles on bass and Jordan Richardson on drums. Mozersky was the real spark plug, adding a lot of steely, taut lines, spearheading the music. The rhythm section proved up to the task as well with Richardson in particular setting a sturdy beat.
Harper wasn't too big of a talker except in announcing the score of the Celts/Orlando Magic game every so often for the home crowd, but this was one of those shows where it wasn't necessary to yap so much at least based on the quality and intensity of the delivery.
Just when you thought the song was over, Harper resisted and persisted. Songs seemed ready to come to their natural conclusion, but time and again, Harper stretched out the songs, jamming on and on. The result was a lot of veerrryyyy long songs during the two-hour show.
In this case, maybe less could have been more. The problem was extending the songs became rather predictable and not always necessary. At times, the songs tended to blend together as well with not enough sonic differentiation.
That was the negative in an evening of heartfelt, energetic rock, closing strong with his take on the Queen/David Bowie song Under Pressure to end the regular set. Harper was clearly happy at the end of the night, saying, "Thank you for the best Sunday night I've ever had."
It's safe to say that next time in town, Harper will be playing to larger audiences.
