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By: Wal Reid

Artist: Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals

Date: Thursday 27th February 2020

Venue: Logan Campbell Centre, AKL, NZ

It almost feels like a homecoming when Ben Harper is in town.  The American Blues/Rock singer’s heavily tattooed Ta Moko arms while head adorned with trademark Borsalino hat, was way overdue.  His pop doll-esque stature hard at work precariously hunched over his slide guitar as notes rang out on Gold To Me, was a welcome respite to the stifling heat inside Auckland’s outdated Logan ‘Concrete’ Centre.

Harper and his band The Innocent Criminals have returned to our shores for a six-date tour. They’ve just wound up playing New Plymouth's TSB Bowl of Brooklands, Christchurch's Hagley Park and Queentown’s Cargo Brewery.  Tonight it’s Napier's Church Road Winery and tomorrow at Tauranga's Mount Park. Tonight’s support from wunderkind award-winning Australian artist, Matt Corby started thirty minutes earlier, so I only managed to catch his encore Miracle Love – gutted. 

Harper is a frequent sight down these ways. When time affords, he’s probably surfing our craggy Aotearoa coastline trying to remain incognito with the locals. All this has me wondering whether we could claim him as one of our own? Maybe he could join Crowded House or collab with the ol’ Tikster? Now that would be cool. 

He was relaxed tonight if a little overdressed after his washed out New Plymouth gig a couple of days ago. Opting instead to treat the crowd to a mix of covers & originals, Harper & Co smashed out Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced?, Stevie Wonder’s Superstition and Buddy Mile’s Them Changes to pleasant effect.

All covers were wonderfully given the ‘Criminals’ treatment.  Bassist Juan Nelson kept the walking blues lines funked up while Harper’s bluesy voice delivering the coup de grâce, all the meanwhile gauging the crowd’s response for his next song choice.

Grammy Award winner and seven-time nominee, Harper is without question one of the most celebrated singer-songwriters of our generation. He’s a political renegade-surfer who demands respect, he’s also a melody maker who has the ability to tap into peoples emotions. His grasp of issues that affect the world are offset by his love of music, drawing from the myriad of musical landscapes, from blues, rock and reggae; to soul, funk and folk – he’s dabbled in them all.

Staid favourites Burn One Down & Steal My Kisses were met with rapturous applause, as percussionist Leon Mobley danced around the stage straddling his djembe drum like a hobby horse; his beaming smile infectious to all in attendance. Harper’s penchant to seamlessly weave in and out of musical styles was apparent on Fight For Your Mind, as he then masterfully brought it down a notch to an audible murmur on Walk Away.

His broad gamut repertoire of songs showed Harper’s longevity in the industry, handpicked from fourteen studio albums, including Burn to Shine; Diamonds On the Inside and most recently in 2018, No Mercy In This Land with Blues legend Charlie Musselwhite, it was a night of nostalgia and the vocal crowd were definitely up for it.

I love Ben Harper but it surprises me how that ‘blot on the landscape’ Logan Campbell Centre is still operating as a gig venue.  It has little or no ventilation and is terrible for listening to concerts to the point of distraction.  Missing most of Matt Corby’s set was unfortunate but sweltering in the heat of the venue hall upstairs even worse. Lucky Ben Harper is a consummate professional, and like it or loathe the venue – it was a damn good time.

Review Edited By: Ben Doy