LAST MINUTE PLANS: Brendan Benson Is A Golden God
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 28, 2012 9:00PM
Photos by Jim Kopeny
It's been a while since we last saw Brendan Benson, but whether he's performing solo in a small room or on a festival stage with his other little band The Racontuers, Benson always delivers live. On record his material has only grown stronger and his affinity for timeless melodies has served him well. From his early collaborations with the like minded but less publicly prolific Jason Faulkner to his latest album What Kind Of World, Benson has grown steadily as a songwriter slowly building on past successes to create a formidable back catalog from which to draw his sets.
Benson's inclinations are strongly rooted in late '0s Brit-pop with a healthy dose of '70s stadium sized classic rock bolted on. Bt instead of going for the obvious attacks on those fronts Benson grafts vulnerability and an honesty that steers his material away from the danger on genre clichés. This translates well to the stage where Benson can bulk up his quieter number without sacrificing poignancy, and on the heavier rockers he can turbocharge those tunes to eleven and beyond.
Benson plays tonight at Lincoln Hall, so check out a sample of one of the more subdued tunes from his new LP below and then head over to the venue this evening for what promises to be a terrific show.
MP3: Brendan Benson "Bad For Me"
Brendan Benson plays tonight, June 28, at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N Lincoln, 8 p.m., $20, 18+