with The Pierce Brothers
Women’s Memorial Gardens, Kings Park
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
As the crowd slowly dribbled into Kings Park Women’s Memorial Gardens on yet another spectacular evening. As everyone was setting up their deck chairs and picnic blankets The Pierce Brothers took to the stage.
Twin brothers, Pat and Jack, took the opportunity to honour the custodial owners of our beloved Kings Park and then launched into a high-energy set.
The multi-instrumentalist brothers made use of every instrument they had on stage. Even to go as far as to look beyond what they had on hand as Jack ran around the stage with his drum sticks, tapping the stage, the crowd barriers, and his brothers guitar as more percussive tools.
They had such a full sound for just two guys and some eclectic numbers ranging from songs with that felt like Mumford & Sons, with a splash of Ennio Morricone and that classic Irish Reel. The brothers have a very synergistic presence together that one could only attribute to being twins and they bring the rawness of street busking to the stage in a way that works really well. Citing the opportunity to support Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals as ‘truly a dream come true’, their joy and enthusiasm was apparent in every song.
Just as the crowd began asking themselves ‘where are they?’ Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals drifted onto the stage and broke straight into Oppression.
Right from the outset this promised to be a memorable evening. The Innocent Criminals, Ben Harper included, are a remarkable team of musicians easing flawlessly from folk rock, to country, through reggae, into church for some gospel, and out the back to the fire for an acoustic jam.
Ben took the opportunity to pay tribute to his ‘good friend’, Heath Ledger, by playing Morning Yearning, which Heath had directed the film clip for. Ben told an endearing tale of how the film clip came about and how it felt to play that song in Heath’s home town. A heart felt moment shared by all.
Throughout the show The Innocent Criminals presented the crowd with extended versions of signature tunes like Fight For Your Mind, Faded, and, a pure classic, Burn One Down.
A reinterpretation of Roses From My Friends came to the punters as a wholly different song, but no less memorable.
The night was filled with crowd favourites that had throats raspy from singing along, fantastic musicianship that blew minds and it was presented in a venue that is as wonderful as Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals’ music.
A solo set by Ben brought lumps to throats with leading number Another Lonely Day, followed by Waiting On An Angel. Both songs exquisite in every way.
The full band returned to the stage to close the night with With My Own Two Hands, and the crowd certainly made use of theirs come the end of the song and the show. With an endearing bow from the whole band, the crowd launched into genuine and grateful applause.
Photos by Paul Dowd
