“God bless the dreamers. Though, when they speak of their dreams they sound so silly”. These were the first of many wise words to come out of Ben Harper’s mouth last Thursday night in the packed auditorium of the Canberra Theatre.
As I entered the full arena, the silence was deafening. It’s not often you walk into a room of one thousand plus patrons still able to hear the sound of your own footsteps. It was an eerie scene. Moments later, a cool, calm and collected Harper popped out from behind the curtains as the crowd whistled and wailed in excitement.
This guy was seriously cool. From the moment he stepped foot on stage, the crowd was like putty in his hands. I would never have believed that one man could hold an audience’s attention for an entire two and a half hour set. But he did more than that; he had people laughing, smiling, cheering, clapping and having a great time. At 43, the singer/songwriter didn’t just perform songs, he entertained.
Harper serenaded the crowd with favourites such as ‘Diamonds on the Inside’, ‘With My Own Two Hands’, ‘Rock N Roll is Free’ and many more. The beauty of his set was that by the end of it, you felt as though you really knew him. He did this by simply talking to his audience. Relaying tales of his past and early beginnings, his encounters with famous musicians, how he gave Jack Johnson his start, and his biggest honour – showing Jeff Buckley some tricks playing slide guitar. This story was followed by a rendition of Hallelujah which seemed to stop time itself. All hyperbole aside, it was amazing.
Crowd interaction seems to be important to Harper, as he seemed to acknowledge every shout thrown his way. Whether a crowd member was asking why his guitar looked so funny, if Canberra was his favourite city or just screaming out how badly they wanted to have his babies, Harper laughed and responded to everything. I even had the gumption to yell out, “Hey Ben, what about Obama?” After displaying his approval and encouraging applause, he spoke of the first time he and his son met the President, and the first words the then-Senator said to him were, “I can see who got the good looks in the family” referring to his son. His ability to respond to the crowd and somehow make it appear seamless and all part of the show was nothing short of impressive.
Whenever I review a show, I always like to point out a highlight of the night, however Thursday night’s performance had so many that it’s impossible to define just one. I’d have to say, a great moment came when Harper returned from backstage for his encore, picked up a guitar (one of the 15 he had spread across the stage!) and was about to launch into a song, before a crowd member yelled out “play Sexual Healing!” Harper simply smiled obligingly, put down his guitar replacing it for another, and played the best rendition of Sexual Healing I’ve ever heard. During the song his microphone sagged and drooped from the stand, to which he laughed and responded, “C’mon! It happens to the best of us”. The crowd was in hysterics.
The beauty of the show was that Harper treated his crowd as friends rather than customers. You could tell he genuinely cared about his audience. After what everyone assumed to be his final song, he took the time at the front of the stage signing autograph after autograph. But the crowd still chanted for more. Ben responded by picking up his ukulele, inviting a giddy fan on stage (well, she kind of invited herself but he waved her on) and played a final song, unplugged. No microphone, no amps, it was old school. The crowd sang along to this pleasantly surprising added extra which topped off an awesome night, which left everyone walking away smiling and laughing.
Ben Harper’s performance at the Canberra Theatre was undoubtedly one of the best I’ve been to in a long time; I can only hope to be lucky enough to catch him again the next time he returns. In the meantime, I think I’ll just grab one of his CD’s.
Photography by Chris Whitfield
