Arriving at the House of Blues for the Ben Kweller show was slightly disorienting. It was a night with 3 bands scheduled to perform, but walking in there was no sign of any show. I was soon informed that the show did not sell enough tickets for a main stage concert, and that all the bands were performing on the side stage. This is was interesting in light of the fact that Kings of Leon used to open for Ben Kweller and now he isn’t selling enough tickets to warrant a full blown House of Blues event.

Recession issues aside, the show was still amazing. Ben Kweller, with his signature orange hair, took the stage with his guitar and the rest of the four piece band, and despite the low tickets sales, put on a great show. The fact that is was in a small stage made it feel like a private, intimate show for the devoted fans in attendance, which in a way was an unexpected treat.

Ben Kweller is no stranger to the music industry, and has toured with such names as Ben Folds and Gomez, performed on Letterman and Conan, worked with Guster, The Lemonheads, and has released seven albums since 2000, although he’d been performing with bands since 1993.  His music has been sampled by rappers such as Talib Kwali, as well as featured in movies and TV shows. And despite all that, he seemed very humble and gracious on stage.

I’m not too familiar with his music so I didn’t recognize all the songs he played, however most of the crowd did and were singing along. His music is indie/folk/country rock. He played slow and melodic ballads, as well as upbeat numbers that made the crowd dance. He inserted “San Diego, CA” when the song called for a city name, much to the audience’s delight. He also played his probably most popular single “wasted and ready,” which he prefaced with “This is special, I’m serious.”