Ben Harper and the Relentless 7 Rocked the Ritz Ybor on May Day!

To start off May, and end their tour, Ben Harper and the Relentless 7 came to the Ritz Ybor to rock his fans and melt our faces before continuing on to play a few festivals this summer. I hadn’t seen Ben Harper since just before he and the Innocent Criminals took off in 2003, touring and making albums like “Diamonds on the Inside.” Saturday May 1st, 2010 Ben was back with his new band and a completely evolved sound.

As a huge Ben Harper fan, I can tell you I’ve followed him for years. He won me over with “Burn to Shine,” I backtracked into “Pleasure and Pain,” “Welcome to the Cruel World” and “The Will to Live,” and was hooked waiting for the release of “Diamonds On the Inside.” When “Both Sides of the Gun” and “There will be Light” came out, I was already in love. I’d only heard bits and pieces of his work with Relentless 7, but I knew I was in for an amazing night.

To open up the evening the crowd met Alberta Cross. On disc they seemed a bit too whiny but live they were really entertaining and brought a certain stage presence with them that the audience loved. As a Ben Harper fan put it, they were “like Black Crowes and Kings of Leon met and had a baby and produced this.” The lead must have channeled some Jack White to make for his gestures and his aura while singing. The crowd was filling in while rocking to Alberta Cross’s beats waiting for Ben Harper and the Relentless 7.

Outside the Ritz Ybor I heard it was going to be a three hour set. I thought it may have included the opening band but I wouldn’t put it past Ben Harper to play himself, his band, and his audience into beautiful exhaustion.

Around 10pm Ben and the Relentless7 took the stage. The crowd went wild and everyone was dancing, hooting, hollering and staring hypnotically in awe of the musicians. Ben switched guitars with almost every new song – he had acoustic, electric, and lap guitars galore. Every time he transitioned from one instrument to another his fans seemed to get more and more anxious to see what he would do next.

He played every note and sang every tune with such intensity that he kept his eyes mostly closed while playing, as if to stay completely centered with the music. He rocked so hard that three songs in he was drenched with sweat, which prompted the ladies of the crowd to yell for him to “take it off!” He mentioned in the Creative Loafing interview with Leilani Polk that the chemistry and dynamic with the Relentless 7 was so “organic.” This was something made very clear as the show progressed all night. Harper also mentioned that the album and the music made the band and that the band didn’t just create the music. This was evident as well.

He shocked a few fans by not only playing most of the songs off of “White Lies for Dark Times,” but by revisiting some of his work with The Innocent Criminals and his earlier albums. He opened up with “Diamonds on the Inside,” later played “Amen Omen,” and “Better Way.” “Boots Like These,” “Number with No Name,” “Feel Love,” and “Why Must You Always Dress in Black” were big crowd pleasers from his latest work.

He was able to take the fans up, rocking loud and really grooving with them, and bring ‘em back down into slower songs, easing into the next big jam session. The Relentless 7 wowed on the drums, guitar and bass, perfectly complementing Ben’s every whim, note and move. Just when you thought the song was over, or a musical moment had ceased, they blasted out a tune roping everyone back in.

It was a spiritual kind of performance. Ben Harper and his band had developed a new kind of sound, much harder than that of “Both Sides of the Gun.” While some could feel Ben is a somber, low key kind of musician, with the Relentless 7 he is raw, empowering and demands that the music truly moves the listener. An audience member claimed that this was his only album you could really dance to, and everyone else seemed to agree. Standing still was not an option.

After two hours…it seemed like the three hour set rumor was very true and we still had quite the musical journey ahead of us. Around midnight they closed the evening. Ben reappeared for a slow solo encore, bringing a few fans to tears, then left again to be beckoned back onto stage with the band for an amazing finale. To finish on his lap guitar, not only did he take his solo to another level but was able to balance his metal finger slide in such a way to create a sound that was paired with his finger beats on the base of the guitar to sound like a heartbeat. This made for an ominous end to the evening.

Picks, drumsticks, set lists, and then even his metal finger slide were given to his fans. Harper thanked the crowd profusely for being such a wonderful audience. It was an epic evening, to say the least. Ben Harper and the Relentless 7 were very much – pun-intended – relentless in pleasing their fans and making the ending of their tour at the Ritz Ybor, something to remember. After three hours, they left the crowd wanting more, and waiting in anticipation for the release of their next album. Everyone seemed to be happy that he was “Relentless Ben.”