Wife and I went to see Ben Harper last night at the Flynn. Before cruising over there we went to Verita Pizza for dinner. Was a little packed which is a good sign so we ate at the pizza bar. Service was not too bad and the food was quite good. We has a salami insalata and arugula salad which were nice. We then shared a sauteed onion, mozz., and sauce pizza that was good. It was a nice meal.
The concert itself was also good. The scene was packed when we arrived. The lobby was jammed w/ 30-40 yr olds who were all blitzed out after their once every 4month joint session and were drinking beers at the overwhelmed bar. The stoner factor was very evident in the bathroom line. The line to the men's room was shockingly about 8 times longer than the ladies room and snaked around a bit. About 8 idiots wandered up to the front of the line and stared quite confused before mentally doing the gymnastics needed to get to the back of that line. Upstairs it was fine. It was very hot and got a bit uncomfortable from time to time. The crowd was also annoying... it was like the first time these morons were out of the house. First there were the people that screamed their requests all night. Did I mention it was a gentle one man acoustic set so every screaming patron was very obvious. Then you had the guys from the back row who wandered up to the front of the theater to stand in front of other patrons while they took cell phone pics. You also had the stoned white guy who failed to get the crowd to stand up in solidarity during the cover of "Get Up, Stand Up". Finally was the idiot who sang at the top of her lungs to "The Drugs Don't Work" nearly louder than Ben himself. Mr. Harper was a good sport interacting with the crowd and generally seeming to enjoy himself. He might have told a few too many stories and there was a ton of name dropping but some of these stories were pretty entertaining and he told them without a hint of smuggery. The music was quite good with a mix of old faves, new tunes, and a couple cool covers. He played a ukulele, electric guitar, a slide guitar, acoustic guitar, and this other thing I forget the name of as well as the piano and the xylophone. It was quite a virtuoso performance. I really liked the cover of "Indifference" on the xylophone. Another highlight was when he busted out "Burn One Down"... security was on high alert, pun intended, ready to crack some skulls if anyone even thought about burning one down!
I forgot to mention the opening act. No idea what his name was but he had the most dorky cliched vocals that brought down excellent acoustic guitar work. His highlight was when he told us how he wrote his latest song while on Spring Break... the dude looked 30!
It was a fun show nonetheless and I had a good time not burning one down!!
Tonight is mercifully the end of the worst Red Sox season I have ever seen... I think the guy that begs for change in front of Starbucks will be starting for the Sox tonight and the lineup will feature the Natick 8th grade outfielders, Fenway parking garage attendant at first base, Ted Williams frozen head at second, some blind guy at short stop (Nomaaaaaaaa!!!), Mo Vaughn and Mo Vaughn's enormous gut at third... and catching the chair that Clint Eastwood was growling at. Should be a good one.
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