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Ben Rector Setlist
Tour Dates
10/07 Singletary Center - Lexington, KY
10/08 The Pageant - St. Louis, MO 10/09 Ryman Auditorium - Nashville, TN 10/10 Ryman Auditorium - Nashville, TN 10/17 New Daisy Theatre - Memphis, TN 10/18 Rudder Auditorium - College Station, TX 10/22 House of Blues - Houston, TX 10/23 South Side Ballroom - Dallas, TX 10/24 Stubb's - Austin, TX 10/25 Cain's Ballroom - Tulsa, OK 10/28 Tennessee Theatre - Knoxville, TN 10/29 The Fillmore - Charlotte, NC 10/30 The Ritz - Raleigh, NC 11/03 Charleston Music Hall - Charleston, SC 11/05 Louisiana Tech University - Ruston, LA 11/06 Alabama Theatre - Birmingham, AL 11/07 Tabernacle - Atlanta, GA Read More
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With singer-songwriter Ben Rector, everything is new again…make that Brand New-
The Nashville resident has been gradually building his loyal audience for years, releasing three EPs and seven albums on his own terms, the most recent being Brand New on his Aptly Named Recordings label, and his recent performance at the recently refurbished Northrop Auditorium on the campus of the University of Minnesota, showed that brand new is just fine with his multitude of fans.
The evening began with a spirited and fun performance from another Nashville band, Judah & the Lion, and Americana folk band who are finishing their upcoming full-length, hot on the heels of last year’s self-released EP, Kids These Days.
Vu saw the band at a sold out 7th Street Entry show last November and the group (six on stage) is growing leaps and bounds in terms of their animated live show and growing audience. The band has a blend of “city-fied” bluegrass and alt-country music; from the banjo lesson we all got on ‘Southern Ground’ to the snap-a-long/clap-a-long participation of ‘Water’ that closed their 40 min set enthusiastically as singer Judah Akers jumped into the crowd, raced around the aisles, and ended the song high-fiving everyone at the entry doors.
With a stark spotlight on the piano, a solo, suit-jacketed Ben Rector began his 90 min set with the delicate ‘Something Beautiful’ before moving into the anthemic title track of his new album. The sound in the “new” Northrop carries farther and adds some additional punch to percussion and lower-end, each of which benefited Rector’s live band.
After the fifth song, a touching ‘When a Heart Breaks’, Rector took a breath to address the crowd, mentioning Minneapolis as the first city to sell out, when Rector first started touring. ‘The Men That Drive Me Places’ from the new album was inspired by a story of a cab driver, with Rector determined to preserve his story as an everyday hero in our land of opportunity.
‘Note to Self’ brought out the vocal harmonies and then the band gathered around a center mic for a mini-acoustic set, including a re-arranged ’Forever Like That’, spotlighting two members of the band, that both come from the area originally.
For main set closer, ‘Follow You’ Rector again revealed the secret of the encore- “we just walk twenty five feet over, wait for you to applaud, then come back out”, and after the song, they did exactly that, instead of staying out on stage. Several homemade signs were held high in the crowd throughout (something you don’t see a lot of, especially at this venue) and Rector spied one held by a little girl and invited her onstage briefly.
The two encore songs were tailor-made for weddings, the new ‘More Like Love’ and 2010’s ‘White Dress’, the latter being one of Rector’s biggest hits and had audience members young and old (a good number of families there) clapping along from the song’s beginning.
Rector’s inspired music captures the upbeat magic that happens on an everyday basis, that is often not noticed or appreciated, but it’s clear his loyal fans notice and value every note, whether old or brand new.
The Nashville resident has been gradually building his loyal audience for years, releasing three EPs and seven albums on his own terms, the most recent being Brand New on his Aptly Named Recordings label, and his recent performance at the recently refurbished Northrop Auditorium on the campus of the University of Minnesota, showed that brand new is just fine with his multitude of fans.
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Judah & the Lion |
Judah & the Lion
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Ben Rector |
After the fifth song, a touching ‘When a Heart Breaks’, Rector took a breath to address the crowd, mentioning Minneapolis as the first city to sell out, when Rector first started touring. ‘The Men That Drive Me Places’ from the new album was inspired by a story of a cab driver, with Rector determined to preserve his story as an everyday hero in our land of opportunity.
‘Note to Self’ brought out the vocal harmonies and then the band gathered around a center mic for a mini-acoustic set, including a re-arranged ’Forever Like That’, spotlighting two members of the band, that both come from the area originally.
Audience
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The two encore songs were tailor-made for weddings, the new ‘More Like Love’ and 2010’s ‘White Dress’, the latter being one of Rector’s biggest hits and had audience members young and old (a good number of families there) clapping along from the song’s beginning.
Rector’s inspired music captures the upbeat magic that happens on an everyday basis, that is often not noticed or appreciated, but it’s clear his loyal fans notice and value every note, whether old or brand new.
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Ben Rector at Northrop Auditorium, Minneapolis (24 Sept 2015) |
