Ben Howard Tour Review
When moving to a new city for college, one of the things I was most nervous about was what the concerts would be like. However, when I realized that Ben Howard would be the first show I went to, I was pretty excited. My roommate and I spent the day doing move-in things around campus and when it was time to head to the venue, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I knew it would be good. I always know it’s going to be a great show when things start to run smoothly from the second I get to the venue and that is exactly what happened. From the smiles on everyone’s faces, I could tell that people were just as excited to be there as I was. Not only were we in for a few hours of great music, we were in a venue that was unique. Union Transfer was definitely a great first venue to see a show at while in college, so when the lights finally dimmed and I stepped in front of the narrow barricade to take photos of Gill Landry, all the questions and fear I had were long gone.
Gill took to the stage with some southern charm and immediately grasped the audience’s attention. Midway through his set, he mentioned that he was in a band called Old Crow Medicine Show. Although I had read a bit about Gill before the show, I missed that little detail which I found to be exciting since his band was the first band I ever took photos of at a show in Arizona. He played a variety of his songs and a few from the band, but kept the audience laughing and singing along the whole time. His set was a great start to the night and lasted the typical 30 minutes.
Shortly after, Ben Howard was up on stage and the crowd stood in awe. Ben started off the show seated using his guitar as both a drum and guitar while playing “Depth Over Distance” and then proceeded into one of my personal favorites, “Diamonds.” His set lasted about 90 minutes and spanned 12 songs. From the random guy yelling “even your sad songs make me happy” to the numerous women proclaiming their love for Ben, it was obvious that the crowd truly respected his songwriting talent. His unique voice filled the room and it made it a show that I didn’t want to end. I was expecting it to be a bit more like Ed Sheeran or any other singer/songwriter where Ben would perform without a backing band, but instead was surprised and delighted to see a talented group of other musicians on stage with him. Ben is truly an act to see live to get the full effect of his music. He is one of those that sounds just as good, if not better, live and if you don’t have his CD, I would highly recommend downloading it.
