Ben Kweller @ Shepherd's Bush Empire

You could tell what sort of night this was going to be like as soon as the crowd went crazy for the first song Ben Kweller played off his debut album Sha Sha. Having already played three or four songs of his later two releases to admirable and pretty good receptions, the first few chords of Walk On Me set the room off and from then on the night was his.
He seemed really excited about being back on stage in London, which he exclaimed a couple of times, but his whole demeanour expressed this, he looked like he was having a great time up there, as did the rest of his band. The set was a collection from all three albums, with tracks off the new self-titled record getting played a bit more, which just lead to his earlier material getting an even better reaction from the audience, tunes like Falling and The Rules were just lapped up. BK just has a knack for writing cheery, catchy, pop rock songs that are so easy to sing along to. Even on the new album, which has lost alot of the quirkiness of the first two, has all the best qualities of a Ben Kweller's work.

Halfway through the set, the band left the stage, leaving Ben to entertains us sololy, which he did aptly, playing some of the slower, more poignant songs like On My Way and Thirteen, which kept the London crowd silent for the entirety. Then before we knew it, the band had rejoined him and were again rocking out. The best receptions of the night came for Hospital Bed with its oh so catchy chorus and, probably, most famous song Wasted & Ready, which closed the set perfectly. There was such a party atmosphere at the point that i wish he played it earlier or carried on playing because it was such a good feeling.
There were a few glaring emissions from the setlist, with the likes of How It Should Be and Lizzy, especially, not getting any airing, which i was a little pissed about but all in all it was a super fun night of singing, dancing and grinning.

Ben Kweller - Wasted & Ready
Ben Kweller - Hospital Bed
Ben Kweller - Run

Cheers to dogfacedboy for the great photos