Ben Kweller

Flash flooding and a freak lightning storm did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the sizeable crowd who gathered at HiFi early to witness rock and roll’s most swoon-worthy troubadour Ben Kweller showcase the tunes from his fourth LP Changing Horses.

First on the billing were Delta Spirit, a band of misfits hailing from Long Beach California who seemed very excited to be in town, with vocalist Matt Vasquez stating ‘Its nice to be here in Melbourne, I ate lord of the fries and its raining, so come up the front, warm up and have some fun’. Fun being the perfect word to describe the antics of Delta Spirit who play their whiskey fuelled hybrid of post-rock and country with passion. Vasquez and his multi-instrumentalist fellows riled up the crowd with an engaging set that saw the band members constantly swapping instruments (at one stage someone was playing a tambourine attached to a garbage bin lid) and completely losing their shit during the riveting instrumental atmospherics that were a highlight of their short set. Even if you’re not a fan of the alt. country genre, the raw energy and unbridled passion of Delta Spirit’s live show is to much fun not to be enjoyed.

The band room erupted as Ben Kweller walked onstage and began the evening with an apology for his impending ‘shit’ vocal performance ‘I’m sorry but I have a cold and instead of cancelling the show I’ll be clearing my throat and spitting a lot cos I’m just a bogan who does that kind of thing’, before launching straight into I Don’t Know Why. His sore throat did nothing to take away from the magic that is Ben Kweller live with the entire band room listening in an enraptured silence, hanging on his every word. Kweller has an amazing presence and a relaxed performance style that made it feel as though we were spending an evening catching up with an old friend.

The new tunes from Changing Horses sees Kweller paying homage to his Texan roots with a predominant alt. country flavour that was well received by the crowd. Kweller played up to the obvious adoration of his fans by doing jigs for the punters in the front row and he even stopped the intro to Sundress to play Tylenol for the very excited group in the middle of the floor who were screaming for that song. Kweller is in his element on stage and mixed it up between solo songs and rocking numbers with the full band, constantly encouraging the audience to help him out and sing along, which they did with a gusto.

Highlights of the set were fantastic renditions of Lizzy (the first love song Kweller wrote for his wife before penning the track On My Way and proposing to her in Melbourne years ago - cue a room full of ladies swooning), Sundress, Thirteen, Falling and Tornado Love before ending on the grand finale of Penny on the Train Track, which included an impromptu cover of Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl and saw Kweller dive into the crowd to dance with his besotted fans.

Fortunately the show didn’t end there with Kweller and co. returning to the stage with Matt from Delta Spirit in tow swigging straight from a bottle of Jack Daniels. Kweller promised to end the night with a hit from the great American song book and took a moment to find the perfect sound effects on the keyboard before breaking into a surprising cover of I’ll Make Love to You by nineties super group Boyz II Men. Bassist Chris Morrisey took the lead vocal duties and wowed the crowd with one of the funniest and most delightful covers of all time, that ended the night on a high.

Ben Kweller is a bold, charismatic performer who is endlessly endearing with the passionate honesty of his lyrics. He delivered a flawless set that was thrilling, energetic and a whole lot of fun. If you’ve never experienced a Ben Kweller live show than be sure to catch him on his next Australian tour. The man is simply amazing.

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