It is easy to see why opening act Wons Phreely is a warm up act at a Ben Lee gig. There are clear moments throughout his set that are intriguing, despite playing to a clearly restless crowd. He could easily be compared to a younger Ben Lee, which includes the floppy mass of hair and awkward geek appeal.
A relaxed yet playful Ben Lee bounces on stage and immediately engages an instantaneouly engrossed audience in a sing along. In a clearly stripped down show, Lee is supported only by pianist Nick Jones while an ipod provides drums and backing vocals as required.
With a new album not set for release until November, it’s a show littered with equal smatterings of songs from both Ripe and Awake Is The New Sleep . Free of having to promote his latest recorded offerings, Lee provides plenty of entertainment in every song as he engages in a continuos banter. There’s a riff about kissing Tiffani Amber Thiessen in a music video, a self described pointless instrumental solo that includes random notes on piano that turns into Chopsticks and eventually ends in him playing guitar with his teeth.
Despite earlier pronouncing this gig is not a part of a marketing campaign Lee cheekily confesses ‘I lied,’ bringing out Jessica Chapnick who is his latest collaborator on the soundtrack Lee has written for the Nash Edgerton film, Square .
In response to an audience question, ‘why isn’t anyone dancing?’ Lee* pulls out a brand new track as an answer. The song called What’s So Bad About Feeling Good , is an ode to the lone ‘noodle dancer’ that can be found dancing at live shows, the audience responds in kind and dances along with enthusiasm.
Ben Lee has long established himself in Australia as a love him or hate him figure, this seems to be something he thrives on, even when it comes to his fans. Before playing What Would Jay-Z Do he remarks ‘I take great pleasure in knowing this is most peoples least favourite song from Ripe.’ Lee eventually gives in to audience requests for Birthday Song just when it seems the girl who has been screaming the request all night has given up asking. Cigarettes Will Kill You gets equal cheers of appreciation from the Lee diehards who no doubt love the trip down memory lane.
This is the fourth time I’ve seen him play live and one thing that remains consistent is that Ben Lee loves to provide his audience with plenty of attention. This might be through jokes, question time, taking requests, adlibbed song lyrics, and interesting banter. Ultimately and most importantly what seems to bring people back time and again is an excitable well executed live performance.
