Ben Ottewell – Tuning Fork June 23, 2017

With his band Gomez on indefinite hiatus, gravelly-voiced Ben Ottewell carries on with his solo career. He’s just released his third album and, last night, he presented a good portion of that record to a live audience at Auckland’s Tuning Fork…his second solo show there in three years.

And just as he did back in 2014, Ottewell has brought his friend, LA musician and songwriter Buddy along to warm up the crowd, which he did, ending his set with a wander into the middle of the room, surrounded by patrons and singing without aid of amplification.

Ben Ottewell is a big man with a big voice, which made his initial appearance sporting a tiny guitar somewhat absurd.

Ottewell himself pointed out, “This is a small guitar, I’ve not grown that vast yet”.

He then proceeded with Steal Away, a tune from new album, A Man Apart. The delicately-plucked guitar was the perfect counterpoint to Ben’s big, burly voice. It’s a voice that commands immediate attention and feeling. No doubt he could make singing the phone book (remember them?) an emotional experience.

I did notice that there was quite a bit of reverb on his vocal, an effect that seemed unnecessary and distracting, but either the sound engineer dialled it back or I got used to it as I didn’t give it another thought as the show progressed.

Ottewell performed a good number of tunes from the new album, mixing in songs from his first two along the way, and throwing in the odd Gomez tune for good measure.

As he introduced Free To Run, a track from Gomez’s 1998 debut Bring It On, he recalled how he was invited to join the band after a chance meeting with Ian Ball in a bar in Sheffield.

Later he revealed how he had collaborated with Ball over the phone to write Rhythm And Blues Alibi.

Anytime you’re confronted with a show consisting of simply a musician and their guitar, the interaction with the crowd becomes more and more vital.

Ottewell was relatively quiet early on but began opening up as time went on.

He explained how the songs on the new album were written “against the backdrop of the Brexit vote”, which took place a year ago to the day. This prompted him to introduce Cradle as “a song I wrote about Tory wankers”.

It turned out the day was notable for another reason…it was Ben’s 41^st birthday. And after a “medley” of Starlings and Chicago, the crowd sang back Happy Birthday to the performer after he revealed that he had turned 40 on the eve of the Brexit vote.

A year later Ben Ottewell was definitely among friends. Despite standing in the darkened room for an hour and a half, the crowd was polite, respectful and quiet leading Ottewell to thanking them for “being so lovely…you actually listened!”

The intensity of the performance ratched up for the final song of the set, Gomez tune Bring It On, which ended with a dramatic crescendo of Ben singing “make it right!” followed by abrupt silence, before finishing off the piece.

Throughout the night Ottewell showed off his formidable guitar-playing skills, but as he finished with an encore performance of Tijuana Lady I couldn’t help but think of Chris Cornell and the similarity in the tone and power of their voices.

I’m guessing Gomez will reunite next year, as it’s the 20^th anniversary of the release of their first album. But in the meantime, Ben Ottewell proves that he’s got a potent voice all on his own.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Ivan Karczewski:

Ben Ottewell set list:

1. Steal Away
2. A Man Apart
3. Rattlebag
4. Patience And Rosaries
5. Free To Run
6. Cradle
7. Rhythm And Blues Alibi
8. Blackbird
9. A Better Lie
10. Starlings
11. Chicago
12. Watcher
13. Red Dress
14. Bring It On
15. Bones
16. Tijuana Lady