Gig Review: Ben De La Cour - Kitchen Garden, Kings Heath, Birmingham. Monday 20th April 2026
Sometimes good things happen to good people. The easiest activity is laying your money down, sitting in the front row and letting the entertainer take the strain. When the chips are stacked against the artist, the stage must be the loneliest place on earth. What didn’t happen in July 2024 came to fruition in April 2026, a vindication of a performer at the sharpened peak of his ‘A’ game. Ben De La Cour is a perceptive songwriter of extraordinary depth conveying stark realism in his songs. A dedicated Kitchen Garden gathering stuck by him on a tough evening when England’s Euro 2024 final loss proved a distraction. 21 months later, a near sold audience savoured a crowning performance in true British respectful style.
Two conduits connected these shows. Ben De La Cour made a low key return to the venue last year when opening for Nick Harper. However, a more likely impactful factor was wooing hundreds of Lucinda Williams fans at Birmingham Town Hall in January with a stunning opening set. The appeal has been further enhanced by a recent addition to an album back catalogue well-received in the UK over the last decade.
There is an unsurprising new trend of travelling US artists offering a conciliatory take on world affairs. You don’t need any introductions to where they stand and Ben De La Cour took to it to another level expressing a belief in people rather than the concept of America as a nation. Poignant words, and it is people who are frequently at the core of his songs, not just those courting a story but characters existing beyond the tracks. Whether fictional or not, reality is depicted and brutally exposed via the folk songwriter’s pen.
It was your usual fare at the Kitchen Garden, an excellent performance in modest surroundings. Two evenly spread sets in exchange for a reasonable outlay. A singer-songwriter communicating not only through the lyrics but affable chat shaping the background. The songs frequently spoke for themselves. The motives for travelling thousands of miles to play music were detected among the humour and humble demeanour.
A full breadth of songs were played from the back catalogue. An outstanding older one was ‘Uncle Bourdreaux Went to Texas’, while bringing things right up-to-date we enjoyed the live versions of tracks such as ‘The Devil Went Down to Silverlake’, ‘Stuart Little Killed God (on 2nd Ave)’ and the excellent one-minute epic ‘Christina’, all found on last year’s NEW ROSES record. Some of these songs benefited from co-singers in the studio but ploughing the solo furrow is the touring domain for Ben De La Cour. The title track from 2023’s stellar album ‘Sweet Anhedonia’ sparkled in a live setting and the hugely appealing ‘God’s Only Son’ flourished with vigorous guitar playing. This was lifted off the favourably reviewed SHADOW LAND album that further opened doors for this Nashville-based artist in the UK when released in 2020.
Ben De La Cour will return to Europe in the summer with a schedule including the Maverick Festival in Suffolk and Static Roots Festival in Germany. The former successfully hosted him on that 2024 tour, while our European friends will surely provide a warm welcome. It doesn’t take long to grasp Ben De La Cour’s music identity. Namely a long haul association exploring a wide scope of themes and deep rooted stories channelled through seriously impressive songwriting All on display during a triumphant return to the Kitchen Garden in Birmingham.
Comments
Post a Comment