LIVE REVIEW by Don Swede
Porter Cellar Bar, Bath
It's a sunny Tuesday night. The weatherman is predicting rain over the weekend so all who can are taking full advantage of the last twinkling of the sun. All except myself that is. I am seated in the Porter Cellar Bar awaiting the start of Ben HillŐs latest solo performance.
When it comes to songwriting it really is very hard to find anyone on the scene as good as Ben. He may not be the most prolific of songwriters (I think heŐs only written twelve songs in the past year) but the quality is astounding. Since the recent split of his band The Distance he has been concentrating on his solo material and as such has a couple of surprises for those of us who have heard him before. The first set is over far too quickly but thankfully the break is short.
After the break Ben is joined on stage by guitar God Benji Bartlett who does a great job of looking like Brian May while playing like Mark Knopfler. While his guitar gently weeps Ben runs through a set of new and old tracks at such a rate its no surprise when he ends earlier than planned!
By the time Ben has played the final notes of his final song the room is filled with a bunch of jolly people cheering and begging for more.
A gentleman as always, Ben obliges them by repeating nearly half of his previous set. This does not concern any one who has sat through the first two sets as his songs are so good people are more than happy to hear them again. With stand out tracks like "Wishful Singing." "My Oh My." And "Control"
Go Back
|
itŐs not hard to see why people like BenŐs music so much, but with the addition of his more amusing numbers ("Set The Animals Free" and "Big Mouth" being two he played tonight) its easy to see why people like the man so much as well.
We laughed, we cried and we drank, a great night of music with a dash of comedy thrown in for good measure.
Don Swede
|
|
