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« on: May 06, 2007, 11:36:57 PM »
Alright guys; review time! As per usual, I'm doing starting this at 2:15 AM so please forgive errors/lack of info. I'm sure others can fill in, and I'll fix stuff when my brain is fully functioning.
First off, Ben was amazing. Of course. But especially considering he already did a show earlier today in New York, he didn't show any lack of energy.
Alright, so let's start from the beginning.
I arrived with my three friends (all personally converted by moi, thank you!) shortly after 5 pm. One of my friends and I had previously decided to each take our cameras, though they have a no camera policy. We figured the jacket-pocket-trick would suffice, as we'd known other people who had taken pictures at Mullin Centers shows. We go to the doors and see that they're doing pat down searches on the walkway up, one line for females, one for males. A recent show my camera friend went to also had the same thing (we think maybe because of VA Tech.?). We wound up deciding to leave our cameras in the car. Though our friend in a wheelchair didn't get searched AT ALL so we totally could've hidden them with him. Arg. Oh well.
So since we had handicapped seating, our view was pretty sweet. We were up on the second tier right against the banister on the left side, middle, in this sort of open space. Read: perfect view of Ben's hands. I've always been pretty lucky with that. We're settling in and after a bit I notice Ben's piano is on stage with the stool on top. So I get really excited. (My friend thinks it's hilarious how excited I get over just seeing his instruments out, even on TV.) Then I notice his synth. Then I get really excited.
Here's a summary of the rest of the show, just so you guys know. There was this band 80 Proof that played even before doors were done that I think were basically serving as a general sound check. They sounded local and like they listen to a lot of Green Day and a bit of Weezer. Also all of their songs sounded the same. Then came Sara Bareilles who was quite enjoyable! Up until yesterday they had said Eef was opening (he's on the poster I have), but it got switched to Sara. Seemed nice. Then Mr. Belding. Oh, Mr. Belding. My friend and I decided the most accurate description of his presence was "sad, but awesome." He clearly has no work other than this. But it was really cute; he tried (really hard) to be really inspirational (telling us we "are the future"). He also sang the Saved by the Bell theme song. I'd really enjoy telling you guys more about this, but I'll save it. beamer and others might like to share their thoughts, too, haha.
OK Go was fun! I'm not a huge fan, but I like their stuff. They were all about using videos on a backdrop screen while playing. And they did this cool thing where they put cameras on the main mic, on the drummer, and a few other places that were transferred onto the backdrop, that switched between up close views of them. They also played a couple songs literally in the middle of the crowd, which was cool. No dancing though. Boo. And then there was Talib Kweli. Oh good lord. He...was not very good. I went into his set with a lot of enthusiasm, ready to grin and bear it by cheering and dancing and whatnot, but it was just...not good. First of all, directly after he finished his first song, without even taking a breath he starts bitching to the sound guy about how stuff needs to be louder, switched, etc. He did it a couple of more times. The music/bass wound up being SO loud. And I actually like rap music, when it's quality. This was not quality. Half of the songs were him saying "WHAT" "UHH" "SAY YAAAA" over other songs like Annie Lenox's "Sweet Dreams" and (good lord who let him do this) The Beatles "Elenor Rigby." And all I could think of when Ben Kweller told us the story of how he had just found out that Kweli had sampled "In Other Words" without asking back in Dec. '05. Oh jeez.
So by this point, a little after 9, we were all in need of some Ben. After lots of set change/soundcheck, Mr. Belding had us do some more inspirational exercises, the lights went out, and "Final Countdown" began. The boys came up on stage and all was well with the world. The setlist is realitively as follows below. It doesn't seemed to have varied too much from his recent shows. Also there was a curfew (blasted curfew curse!), so you could tell Ben was trying to keep banter fairly low so that he'd be able to cram in the songs; and no solo set.
(This is not in order, except for the first three, which I know are right; I was too excited to move my eyes away from the stage long enough to write stuff down.)
- Dr. Pyser
- Trusted
- All U Can Eat
- Annie Waits
- Jesusland
- McDonald's Rock This Bitch (improv) (This was pretty amazing. It was improv, I guess, but it sounded way too full/good to be improv. It was fantastic because he sang about where to find good food in this part of Massachusetts, how he's staying at the Holiday Inn on Rt. 9 and there's a McDonald's across from it, how he could've gone into Northampton to get a sandwich, etc. The music was great; I really hope somebody will put up video/audio of this; I looked to around to see if I could see anybody recording, and there was at least one or two that I could see. From what one friend and I remembered, the chorus went something like, "I tried to rock this bitch/But I could not/McDonald's/Was all I got.")
- Gone
- Bastard
- You to Thank
- Still Fighting It
- Bitches Ain't Shit (My across-the-hall friend was thrilled! Afterward he said he couldn't discuss it because it would "bring him to tears." haha)
- Landed
- Army
- Losing Lisa
- Narcolepsy (amazing. as always.)
- Such Great Heights
- Kate
- Underground (Holy crap, I forgot he had been playing this one. So crazy to hear live!)
- Encore: Not the Same
Also somewhere in there:
- He mentioned he played at the New York show at noon. They must've come straight there because all of his equipment was on stage at 5. He also said something about how the NY audience was confused, and now he was, or something.
- "It's really hard for me not use a rocker voice in an arena like this. (With rocker voice:) ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?! (or something.) DO YOU ALL LIKE THE TASTE OF ALCOHOL???!"
- Did the brown note thing before Narcolepsy. "You know, there's been a lot of cliched stuff done in arenas [p.s. OK Go has us do the wave, lol], but never before in an arena have people silently waited in the dark to hear a musical tone that will cause them to shit in their pants. You'll be a part of history." He also used the would "shart" at one point during this which was amazing in itself.
- There was a little bit of fooling around with the synth, and he did wind up taking one of his shoes off to hold a note, and then took the other off and played barefoot for the rest of the show.
- And of course, he rocked the maracas.
The sound was sort of sub-par, but I suppose that's to be expected in such a large arena (kind of muffled, echo-y). It got better as it went along though.
My favorite mental image of the night: During "Bitches" when he starts the audience singing the chorus, they put the lights up on the sides, and I put my hands up to clap the beat, and Ben looked up and smiled. It was lovely.
So in general, sorry about the lack of media for you guys. I did see a handful of people taking videos, so hopefully they'll put them up on YouTube. (Especially the McDonald's song.)
Goodnight!
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