Ben Kweller at the Mod Club; Sunday February 22, 2009

Ben Kweller at the Mod Club; Sunday February 22, 2009.

I love Ben Kweller, for so many reasons. He's incredibly talented, yet he completely conceals under simple tunes with terrible lyrics. Not a glowing sentiment but he's incredibly charming. I saw him first at Sonic Boom at 3pm in the afternoon. Naturally, I arrived late so I missed a couple of songs. I jumped in mid-way through the song called “Red Eye” a song he claimed he hadn't played in nearly two years... Well Youtube confirmed that that was a lie. Regardless he doesn't play it much and it was one of his ballads. He followed it up wtih “Thirteen” one of my favourite tracks from his self-titled album released nearly two years before his latest called 'Changing Horses' (which i still haven't purchased!!!). “Thirteen” is a song of love and knowing you've found someone, Kweller makes it honest through his ridiculous lyrics... “We practiced Religion, Gave Bread to the Pigeons”. Nice. It's a sweet tune and sounded perfect. Every show i've ever seen at Sonic Boom has had rather full band or has been plugged in. This show was just Ben and his acoustic, completely free of plugs. What a treat.Being the big fan I am i saw him play later at the Mod Club, a step up from the Phoenix. He always mentions his first gig here in the city with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco at Trinity St. Paul (JFSFJKLJ!!JIO:JF!! I can't believe i missed this!). I was like thirteen... but it would have been great. He has a super dorky appearance but he sports it well... It suits his music perfectly and it seems to come so effortlessly to him.The only songs that i could have possibly wanted to hear in addition to his set were “Sha Sha” and “Wasted and Ready”. He played EVERYTHING ELSE, which was great because my big fear was him just pushing his new album... which is significantly more country. He embraced it though by adding a lap guitarists, who alternated between a steel guitar and a regular one. It was real nice, it added another layer to his music that was well needed. It sort of breathed new life into his simple tunes.My favourite portion of the show was his bit alone... He jumped on the piano and played “Thirteen” alone, he even nailed the harmonica part, while playing piano with his other hand. I noticed that instead of saying the word 'phone' like his does in the recorded version he says 'telephone' live... He also played “In Other Words” a pretty ballad from the album 'Sha Sha'. It builds up beautifully and hit's it's peak and falls back down equally as fast. It's definitely the most sophisticated tune off of his first album. He played the tune “Sundress” off of his self-titled but sang it differently, kept it low key and didn't jump into any intense parts until well into the song. A big teaser if you ask me... I loved every second of it.I hope Kweller comes again real soon, i always like when he visits.

March 4, 2009