Gig Reports
The Music Room at PizzaExpress, Maidstone - 11th May 2007
On Friday 11th May, Ben Mills was scheduled to play a 40 minute solo set in the Music Room at PizzaExpress, Maidstone. Ben, it would seem, had other ideas and as a result the unsuspecting audience were treated to over two and a half fantastic hours of Ben and his old band, Benzego - and all this without any rehearsing!
This was the biggest BenMillsOnline gathering to date and considering how many of us the staff had to deal with, the service was top notch, with all those mentioning the site when they booked being seated together. With drinks and food ordered and excitement growing, we waited in anticipation for Ben and the band to appear.
After what felt like a life-time the band made their way onto the stage, "The Great Ben Mills" was announced and to rapturous applause he came out and took his seat at the piano. The atmosphere was electrifying. For me personally, this was my first 'Ben Gig' and as they started to play I actually had butterflies in my stomach I was so excited about what was to come!
Their set began with a very relaxed "Fly Me To The Moon". Ben said that he thought he'd start out a bit "mellow" as we were eating, though a good few of us found it nigh on impossible to eat a thing - the result of having some incredibly gorgeous dude sat in front of you 'tinkling on the ivories'! Next up was a beautiful rendition of "First Cut Is The Deepest". I absolutely adore this song anyway, but after hearing Ben sing it I had goosebumps and shivers down my spine.
The set list for the rest of the first half was:
The Weight
Easy (Like Sunday Morning)
The Weight (reprised)
Try A Little Tenderness
Bring It On Home To Me
Aint No Sunshine
Moondance
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Like A Rolling Stone
Many thanks to Ros (rosweiller) for keeping track of all the songs. Glenn was too busy filming and taking photographs and I was in too much of a daze to realise I should be doing something like that for this report!
The second half opened with Ben's haunting rendition of "Smile", complete with a wonderful solo courtesy of Ivan Thompson on the sax. Ben described this as "a lovely little song" and it's one he does SO well. Following that was Bob Marley's Redemption Song, after which Ben came out from behind the piano, made himself comfy on a stall, guitar in hand, and treated us to an acoustic version of "Beside You". Lacking in the backing singer department, he told us what the lyrics were (as if we really needed to be told!) and then encouraged us to sing along. Naturally the BMO girlies jumped at the chance, though I don't think we're destined to be asked back for a repeat performance any time soon!
Back behind the piano Ben went for another Rod Stewart number and one that seems to have become a regular on the set list - Maggie May. I have a real soft spot for this song as there's a line in it that describes me so well. You know the one that goes, "The morning sun when it's in your face really shows your age"?!!
Ok, second half set list continued thus (again thanks to Ros):
With A Little Help from My Friends
Nothing But the Truth
I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing
The Last To Fall
Long Train Running
Express Yourself
I Got A Woman
When The Saints Go Marching In
Rockin' Robin
Funky Nassau
Play That Funky Music
Superstition
Picture Of You
(something I couldn't place - lyrics include "I know the score")
Stay With Me
Watching these guys play was absolutely mesmerising and I could have quite happily stayed there listening to them all night. Unfortunately, just as they say all good things must come to an end, so did this gig. However, unlike a lot of musicians who will go off stage then return for an encore and do one final song, these guys just stayed put and did TWO final songs, much to the delight of the audience.
That was it for the music, but the evening was far from over - BenMillsOnline had a very special presentation to make to Ben. Our PR team managed to secure a private room upstairs where we gathered and waited for Ben to join us. A separate report about this can be found here.
And so it ends. To quote our Bentionary, it was a BENtastic evening, amongst wonderful company, with great music. Huge thanks go out to Paul Brown, the manager of PizzaExpress, and all the staff on duty that night for being so accomodating, and for booking Ben in the first place of course!
Report by Saara - Webmaster & Co-Admin
Photographs by Nix - Events PR