I've been a huge fan of Benjamin Booker for over a decade now. His self-titled debut was my top album of 2014, and I've been impatiently waiting to hear what he would do after 2017's Witness. It was a long wait, but LOWER, released earlier this year is a strong contender for 2025's album of the year, and honestly gets better with each listen. Once I heard he was playing Crystal Ballroom, I knew I had to see what he would be like live in 2025.
Booker took the stage with a drummer and Kenny Segal on roughly five different types of keyboards and DJ equipment. The trio formed a triangle on stage and started off with a sample about playing music for yourself, and to make sure you enjoy how it sounds. That was obviously a message to the audience, as Booker's current sound is virtually unlike anything he's played before... or really anyone else has done before. If anything, Booker has become an even more amazing performer since I last saw him at TT the Bear's back in 2014. Live he currently sounds like Kendrick Lamar as a soul singer and a noise rocker at the same time. It's a sound that I've never heard before, and live he was utterly compelling.
I was curious how the audience would adapt to his new sound. Before the show I tried picking out people in the crowd that remembered him from 2014's Newport Folk Festival or NPR around that time, and was wondering how they would react to this new sound. Turns out the people I assumed would be displeased seemed the most excited. I only picked up on "Violent Shiver" from his debut, and a snippet of "Believe" from 2017's Witness. Everything else was brand new from this year's album. But I don't think it would be possible to not be transfixed by his performance. Most times Booker was singing softly enough that I was shocked he was audible above the musical noise. At one point he was playing guitar hard enough that it became unplugged, which I'm still unsure if it was by design or by accident. The show was pure chaos at various points, in the best possible way. Quite the follow up to what could be the album of 2025 with what could be the live performance of 2025.
Besides playing with Benjamin Booker, Kenny Segal also opened the show. He played a DJ set that lasted about forty or so minutes. I can be a purist with DJ sets and tend to get bored when it doesn't involve two turntables, but Segal kept me entertained with a fun and varied set. It definitely helped that he brought out two local collaborators towards the end. The first was Pink Navel for their song "Character Select," which was followed by two songs with K-the-I??? I am somewhat familiar with the former and am now a disciple of the latter.
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