Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals

I arrived at Supreme Court Gardens at about 7:00, thinking I may have missed a few Harper songs, as gates opened at 5:00. When I got in support act Scott Thomas was on stage, so I breathed a sigh of relief. He has a good angsty voice, but I thought his lyrics were a bit lacking.

At about 10 to 8, a huge cheer announced Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals were on stage. To my dismay, they launched into “Diamonds”. With that out of the way, the set progressed with mainly new songs, and any doubts I had were erased.

Towards the middle of the set, Ben played his quieter acoustic numbers, and this proved the ignorance of the crowd. With the reduced volume of the music, the lack of attention the crowd was paying became obvious. About 50% of the audience was blind drunk, shouting to each other and not even watching or listening. The low volume meant it was pretty much impossible to hear the words. Compounded with this was the annoying way the fencing was set up. The front third of the area (closest to the stage) was fenced off for under 18’s and the only way in there was with a wrist band. Unfortunately, these were only given out at the start of the concert, before I even arrived. The area was not even close to crowded, but there was no way to even get close enough for a photo.

For the first part of Harper’s first set, I stood as close to the front fence of the licensed area as I could get (I could still hardly tell which guy was Ben Harper I was so far away), but because the Supreme Court Gardens are dead flat, I couldn’t see over the crowd in front of me (I am average height for a guy). So I moved to the back where there was some space in front of me to get a better view which, despite being miles from the front, I settled for until the end of the concert.

Harper was brilliant. He could have played for 5 hours and I wouldn’t have gotten bored. Although he played many songs I had hoped he would, there are a load he didn’t have time for, but isn’t that always the case for such established musical geniuses? My only gripe is with his performance of “Excuse Me Mr.” I imagine the Criminals are bored of this song by now, and so they have restyled it with reggae type guitars and distortion in parts. Although this shows their variability and helps reduce the boredom they must endure playing this song, I didn’t think it suited like the original music. The song is about being fed up with society taking no responsibility for the problems in the world, but the reggae guitars were much too happy to create the mood required by the lyrics. All other songs were performed well, with some terrific instrumental parts and some great lead breaks and slide by Harper.

It was clear “Burn One Down” was a crowd favourite, as it was met with rapturous applause and clouds of smoke, and as for the new material, “Gather ‘round The Stone” and “Morning Yearning” are fast becoming favourites, while “Better Way” is an instant classic, and proved to be the perfect closing song.

Overall, Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals proved they are still in their prime, while I hope there is never another large concert held at the Supreme Court Gardens. I would have rather payed more to see Ben at another venue with people there just for him, not to get drunk and talk.

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