so fresh...

photo courtesy of derreck's cell phone

what: ben westbeech live at cielo
when: wednesday, december 12, 2007
band:
ben westbeech, vocals
yuval gabay, drums
marc rapson, keys
benji muscat, bass
gus pirelli, samples
setlist:
(in no particular order and i may be missing a couple of songs)
so good today intro
dance with me (including "dance to the drummer's beat" break)
get silly
nautilus
gotta keep on
so good today (album version)
so good today (osunlade mix)
hang around
get closer

last wednesday night i had the pleasure of attending ben westbeech's first stateside show and BOY WAS IT GOOD! the show was to celebrate red bull on the move's 1 yr anniversary as well as part of louie vega & kevin hedge's weekly roots party so everyone was definitely there to dance (i think i spotted ball commentator extraordinaire selvyn mizrahi). after 4 hours of dancing and resolving of some technical difficulties, ben finally took to the stage around 2am.

i made the mistake of standing directly in front of the stage, which was fine when i could see ben side-stage dancing to the roots remixes of sunshine anderson's "force of nature" and the dreamgirls cast's "we are a family" but quite problematic when he was onstage as i had nothing but a fantastic view of his crotch (his shoes were very nice, no scuff marks or anything). i spent most of the evening with my head tilted back and doing this weird little clap two-step.*

he performed for about an hour and did a lot of songs from his album with some other stuff thrown in for good measure. his four-piece band was tight, especially the drummer. i know my mouth was agape in amazement a couple of times while he was playing. he was so good i had to compliment him on my way out the door.

all in all i was very pleased with the show and i'd be surprised if he didn't win over a gang of new fans with that performance. i'm ready to be his one-woman u.s. street team. redbullonthemove.com should have some footage up later this week so i'll try to link it.

* i don't know why i insist on standing at the front during live shows. i don't think i'm the kind of fan ppl want in the front because i'm too busy trying to take everything in and enjoy the experience to dance (on beat). i'll even close my eyes sometimes. i hope my face isn't showing in any of the footage.