Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals
Burn To Shine Tour supported by Pacific Underground, Christchurch Town Hall June 1st 2000
Sound check:
Please Bleed
Set list:
Glory and consequence,
Excuse Me Mr / Burnin’ & Lootin’
Faded, Please Bleed, Burn to Shine, Burn one down
Don’t take that attitude to your grave, Ground on down
Forgiven, Woman in you, Steal my kisses
Encore one:
Another lonely day, Beloved one, I shall not walk alone, Pleasure and pain
Encore two:
Oppression/ Get up Stand up, By my side, Manic depression.
I have seen Ben Harper play live three times in my life… I remember very little of the first show of his… The venue, The Edge in 1997, (now a pool hall in Chch) was oversold by about 300 ppl so needless to say considering I am only five feet tall I didn’t see much.
In 1998 Ben Harper came to Christchurch again, It was January 25th, I remember because it was my brother’s birthday. Well the show was amazing; I had never really been to a show quite like it in my life at the time. I don’t remember exactly what he played but I do remember “Gold to Me” the most because of the bright and blinding yellow/ gold lighting on the stage. I sat upstairs at this show, so I had a good view of what was happening this time. The support Act was meant to be Brad but they didn’t come south on the tour, (only playing Auckland) so Jeremy Taylor (ex Cinematic) played… It was really unfortunate for Jeremy because the audience really ignored him; they were all there for Ben. I must say the majority of the audience were skaters types… I suppose inspired by the then popular Ground On Down video.
The Third Time I saw Ben Harper was June 1 2000, this was more amazing than the last two shows combined. This time he played “Excuse Me Mr” which left me very happy, He didn’t play it in 1998, which disappointed me, not that you could ever be disappointed by a Harper show. As we were waiting to go in, (It was a sell-out show.) I could hear “Please Bleed” being played inside, I can only assume this was a sound check. This Time around I was downstairs in the Town Hall and I could actually see! It was such the nicest atmosphere; everyone made room for each other. I could see my friends Dan and James upstairs, who actually got up and danced to the songs, especially “Get up, Stand Up”. I have a copy of the first songs of the show in video (courtesy of CRY music TV in Chch, on CTV where I worked at the time) the one thing that really struck me about this show was the people singing with Ben. It was especially obvious on “Another Lonely Day”, “Excuse Me Mr”, ” Please Bleed”, and “Ground On Down”. Still Ben Harper Is the best live act I have ever seen.