Ben Harper and the Relentless7 @ Webster Hall w/ pics

May 5, 2009


It's been over a year and a half since Ben Harper's last release (2007's Lifeline, recorded in Paris with the Innocent Criminals), but three years since anything of his has really reverberated on American shores (his bifurcated 2006 effort, Both Sides of The Gun). He's huge in Europe. But despite the prevalence of francophones and the excitement of releasing yet another work (White Lies For Dark Times, this time recorded with a new trio, calling themselves the Relentless7) Harper and the Relentless7 eased into the new repertoire. Opening with Zeppelin's "Good Times Bad Times" deliberately instilled the raw, punishing but harmonic hard rock tone that embodies the new album. "Better Way", became a passionately hard effort on its own (sans tablas), and proved an apt segue from old to new songs.

Just because the songs were relatively new hardly meant they'd be trimmed for presentation purposes. Rather the night seemed like a liberation of the White Lies material into the live realm. Tonight they became mature, living, breathing songs that reacted and responded to other stimuli. "Keeping It Together" became an extended jam, with Harper relishing Jason Mozersky's transcendent solo and channeling its scope during his own turn on the slide guitar. The lyrics became even darker (pre-Obama composing I assume?) on "The World Suicide." Harper sang, "The world suicide is irresponsible", the refrain "Love is an old heirloom" echoing like a piece of nostalgia from more compassionate times. The intro of "Lay There and Hate Me" was soft but souful, sensuous three-part "oohs" over a funky shuffle as laid down by drummer Jordarn Richardson--not unlike "Superstition." It then became an impassioned diatribe against a resentful lover, full of Harper's lyrical symmetry, "Ain't no fool like the fool you love."

But the cynical tone of the lyrics didn't overwhelm. Harper was so taken by the crowd's support that he asked for a mulligan on "Fly One Time". An instrument cable input caused a jarring interruption at its most delicate moment so Harper, wanting to give the song's intimacy justice, indulged himself by righting the wrong. Amazingly, the crowd was as excited by the slow tune the second time around. The slow encore number, "Another Lonely Day," was equally well received, the entire crowd singing along in unison. Injecting new life into his covers catalogue Harper et al busted into Queen's "Under Pressure" after teasing he'd never honor another "Sexual Healing" request. The concert should have ended then but they carried on for a few more, wanting to initiate yet more new tunes into the live arena.


Setlist:

Good Times Bad Times
Better Way
Number With No Name
Shimmer and Shine
Lay There and Hate Me
Why Must You Always Dress in Black
Skin Thin
Fly One Time (2x)
Keep It Together (So I Can Fall Apart)
The World Suicide
Boots Like These
---------
Another Lonely Day
Faithfully Remain
Under Pressure
Up To You Now

Good Times Bad Times

King Khan and the Shrines @ Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ pics

May 1, 2009

King Khan was the sovereign and the audience his court, just as one would suspect. Notorious for his stage antics and backing himself with the controlled chaos of a garage-inspired eight-piece funk outfit (his Shrines), dancing cheerleader, roller-skating geriatric hype-man, and any other member of the audience with the conviction to share the spotlight in various stages of undress, King Khan unleashed a riotous set at the Music Hall of Williamsburg Friday night. Unlike my last King Khan and the Shrines experience, the result was relatively tame by comparison--and not for Mr. Khan's lack of wanting.

After assembling on stage the Shrines set the mood for the imminent, and dramatic, entrance of King Khan himself. Regally walking down the stage left stairs, gold cape flowing and cobra staff in hand, Khan acknowledged his outsize persona and launched the group into "Land of the Freak." Within the first 15 minutes (which included numbers "I Wanna Be A Girl", "Pickin Up The Trash", "Le Fils Du Jacques Dutronc", pants-less dancing horn players, and Khan body-surfing for several verses) I'd heard two people remark, "It's too much! Too much!" and, "This is the best thing ever!" And there wasn't even a game of trash dodgeball between Khan and the audience this time around.

Instead Khan got sentimental on "Shivers Down My Spine", wheezing like a wounded lover to supportive hollers, and then inspirational and televangelical on a long crowd-pleasing song about climbing into a woman. The fulcrum of the set was "Burnin Inside", a fast tambourine-paced track, with Khan singing his best James Brown cries. It was funky chaos both on stage and off.

But as Khan and his Shrines kept their foot on the gas, the crowd couldn't keep up. "(How Can I Keep You) Outta Harms Way" and other songs and their accompanying phantasmagorical gags had exhausted the crowd visually and physically. By the encore, "Live Fast Die Strong", Khan's tight band and surrounding miscreants were themselves disintegrating, and what was left of the once ebullient crowd was lifeless. Either King Khan and his Shrines outpartied them all, or they were simply heeding his advice, "Life is way too short to be wasted in a bar."