05.15.05 Berkeley, CA, United States
07:00PM Surprise Concert @ Berkeley Community Theater with Phil Lesh & Friends, Hot Buttered Rum String Band, Emory Joseph, Corinne West
Set 1
Guest Set 1
Ben made a surprise appearance at Wavy Gravy's 69th Birthday benefit for Seva and played a 30-min acoustic set. Tom Freund sat in on "Pleasure and Pain" on round neck acoustic guitar and sang backing vocals.
Later during Phil Lesh & Friends' set, Ben and an ensemble of the night's performers played on Van Morrison's "Turn On Your Lovelight."Who Went
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Comments/Reviews
Outside of celebrating Wavy Gravy's birthday, Ben's surprise performance at Seva was the highlight of the evening. It was my first opportunity to hear him and I was more than pleasantly surprised. From the first lines of When It's Good to the last of Pleasure and Pain the audience was captivated. There Will be a Light was so beautiful I wasn't sure if the lights were shining on him or rising from him. Perhaps both. His unique style - (playing a beautiful-sounding Weissenborn slide) and soulful lyrics touched me so deeply that I feel blessed to have been there.