Band of Horses' Ben Bridwell Gets Personal With & Rocks KROQ [REVIEW+PHOTOS]

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The Red Bull Sound Space has been a favorite intimate venue for many lucky KROQ winners for sometime now. It wasn’t my first time attending a performance there, but August 29th, 2016 I witnessed was perhaps the most dynamic and sincerest performances I have ever seen. With a heart of gold, and the joy of being able to share his music, Ben Bridwell and his Band of Horses played a short, but amazing, set.

Prior to the band playing their set, KROQ’s DJ Stryker was scheduled to interview Ben. To the surprised delight of everyone in the crowd, Ben was introduced to the stage by none other that Social Distortion’s Mike Ness who just happened to be “in the neighborhood”.

After the crowd’s excitement died down, Stryker and Ben got to talking about football, Bridwell’s drumming experience and family ties. They delved into Ben’s music, and his creative history, to which Ben explained that started playing and writing music in his mid/late 20s without even imagining being in a band let along “make people happy or sad for a living”.

“I was a really terrible drummer for this band briefly” the singer recalls, “We were just buddies.”

After his first band broke up, some equipment west left at the rehearsal space and that’s how it all started.

“I put my hands on the strings … I didn’t know where I suppose to put them [that’s why] there’s something about my immaturistic wack style”.

Believe it or not, Bridwell never took any guitar lessons and never tried to learn classic guitar, explaining that he like to keep things “weird”. With a huge smile beaming from his face, Ben mentioned that he still played with the guitar pedal he took from the rehearsal space.

Ben also shared that he was pretty content with the fact that success didn’t come to him overnight, explaining that he probably wouldn’t have been “mature” enough to handle success properly. As the father of 4 girls, he success is something that handles very methodically. He explained that it was his family that kept him grounded, and joked that his daughters had no idea about their daddy’s “art” because he didn’t want to subject them his “terrible” music. The modesty when he explained that to the audience revealed the truth in his soul, and I found it to be a very revealing moment.

The band started with “Is There a Ghost” from Band of Horses second album followed by another oldie “A Great Salt Lake”. Even after 10 years you can still see the excitement on Ben’s face while they played those songs. The energy was dynamic and the good vibes were contagious as the smiles Ben shared eventually found themselves on the faces of everyone in the crowd.

The band didn’t forget to play the new tune ‘Casual Party’ that KROQ has been spinning lately to promote the new record, “Why Are You OK”, the guys released in June. But the nothing could beat the last two song’s they performed: “No One’s Gonna Love You” and “The Funeral”. That was the climax of the show. That was the moment when the crowd synchronized with the band’s powerful stage presence. You could feel it and it was awesome.

To me personally it was one of best Sound Space live shows where the amount of talent matches the artist delightful personality and intensity of the live performance.

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