Brendan Benson’s latest album, The Alternative To Love, played heavily into this summer’s soundtrack. His name has been a frequent one on music bloggers’ lips (fingers?), especially with talk of his upcoming project with Jack White and the Greenhornes in a band called The Raconteurs. Suffice it to say, we were looking forward to last night’s show at Black Cat.
The aforementioned Greenhornes opened for Benson (which brought all of the Raconteurs to D.C. this week, following the White Stripes show on Tuesday night at Merriweather). The Cincinnati three-piece took the stage with an unconventional set up, as the drum-kit was brought up front and aligned with the guitarist/lead singer and bassist. Immediately, the audience was told that all three played equal parts. Their set backed up that notion, as all three were heavily featured in each song, all three sang, and all three deftly played their instruments. They had a strong rock sound with heavy blues and jazz influences.
After a short break, Brendan Benson and his band un-assumedly took the stage. Without a word they launched into their first song. We had been wondering how the relatively soft sound of the album would translate to a live club show, but we got our answer right away as the rock was kicked up quite a few notches; the familiar notes from our iPods were arranged to beef up the drums and guitars, but still managed to maintain the harmonies and lilts that make Benson’s albums special. As much as we love The Alternative To Love, the live versions of its songs largely blew it out of the water, which is a rare surprise. The one exception was with the live arrangement of the title track, which paled a bit in comparison to its recorded counterpart.
Benson and his band moved fluidly from one song into the next, only pausing three times — to ask displaced Louisiana residents how their home was, to answer an audience member’s call about his Berkeley pride, and to thank Black Cat and The Greenhornes. His unassuming presence (added to by a truly tiny frame) and complete lack of grandiose swagger made the show that much more enjoyable. He clicked with the audience without repeatedly begging the question, “How ya’ll doin tonight?” To put it simply, he seemed like a really, really nice guy — with a great set of pipes to boot. They played just about all of The Alternative To Love, as well as songs from some of his earlier albums throughout the (roughly) hour-long set plus an encore, and sent the sparse Black Cat crowd home happy. We’re anticipating a much more crowded audience the next time Brendan Benson visits D.C.
