Ben Kweller and the Sam Roberts Band played a deafening, passionate show to an enthusiastic crowd at the Fox Theatre last night.
Being the only opening act, the Sam Roberts Band had a hefty task warming up the crowd for Ben Kweller, but the minute the band came on stage, it was greeted with a noise normally reserved for headlining bands.
As the Sam Roberts Band progressed through its set, the energy level only went up while the crowd sang along with nearly every song they played.
The sound stopped just briefly between songs when lead singer Sam Roberts made a plug for the band’s new album.
“We’re Canadian, we’re not above begging,” joked Roberts, when he made mention of the fact that his new disc was for sale at the merch booth.
However, no begging would be required, as evidenced by the line of fans waiting to purchase T-shirts and CDs immediately after the set was over.
From sounds reminiscent of The Beatles to a 15-minutes jam session that sounded more like it belonged in a Pink Floyd set, the Sam Roberts Band did the job far better than three separate openers ever could have.
After a brief intermission, Ben Kweller appeared on stage with only an acoustic guitar and proceeded to enchant the crowd with a truly intimate acoustic set.
Kweller closed his acoustic set and immediately exploded into his next song before his entire band was even on stage.
The crowd was ecstatic to hear the whole band and made sure Kweller knew it by jumping around, singing along and screaming for more after every song.
“Boulder is magic,” Kweller said over a deafening roar after he finished performing “Magic.”
The show continued with ever-increasing energy until Kweller performed his last song and left the stage.
The crowd refused to let him leave on that note and screamed for an encore. Only minutes later Kweller and his band returned to the stage to perform a two-song encore.
The evening closed with a stunning performance of “In Other Words” that was impossible not to sing along with.
When two bands perform flawlessly, like the Sam Roberts Band and Ben Kweller did last night, everyone leaves feeling good and hoping that they will be lucky enough to catch a show with the same amount of energy and passion in the near future.
