Who says there can’t be nuance among noise? When Benjamin Booker and his band played T.T. The Bear’s on Wednesday night, there was a giant helping of noise, to be sure, but the lyrics behind it found a way through.
Like on “Spoon Out My Eyeballs,” Booker sings in the rollicking finale, “Do you remember April 17th when I lost my shit and a couple of teeth and I said ‘oh, God’ I need someone to help me keep moving on my feet. It’s getting harder, harder, to be real?”
On a quieter song, he laments that satellites are taking over and computers are taking up most of his time, “we still can’t help you.”
Touring as a three-piece, with Booker on lead guitar, Max Norton on drums and Alex Spoto on the bass, the band is firing on all cylinders. That should be no surprise: the band — only just over two years old now — has toured in a coveted support slot with Jack White. And, they may have learned a few tricks from White.
For a few songs during the set, Spoto played a fiddle, while Norton picked up a mandolin and played the kickdrum along with it. It was an unexpected but great turn on a set that was mostly an in your face hour of power.
Booker himself seemed to have a good time, too: he downed a beer before playing even a single note, and kept his raspy, growly voice fully lubricated drinking a couple more during the night.
When Booker and company emerged for the encore, it left little doubt that single “Have You Seen My Son?” off the self-titled debut record would be played as the closer. And they delivered. In a nearly eleven-minute (eleven!) rendition of the pulse pounding questioning of faith, one’s faith in rock and roll might just have been restored. I don’t want to mince words: it was incredible, like the rest of the show. See for yourself.
Next time Booker’s back in town, there’s little doubt he’ll be in a much larger room. Don’t delay on buying tickets.
Blank Range, a Nashville band, supported Benjamin Booker. In a display of remarkable confidence, the band opened with the intro to the Beatles’ “The End.” There are two ways this could have gone: a cynical eyeroll, or fistpumping. It was the latter, but perhaps a bit of a baffled fistpump. The rest of their set consisted of songs that reminded me of specific contemporaries in the folk rock scene: Deer Tick and Langhorne Slim. Yet they were able put their on stamp on it, trading off three singers who would take the lead on songs. That might be the one critique I had on the set: it traded a clear lead for a bit of inconsistency.
In all, it was a sold-out night that exceeded expectations.
Check out Benjamin Booker’s tour dates here.
