On January 30th, my dreams came true: I got the priviledge to see the rising star, Ben Howard. Ben Howard is a singer-songwriter from England. I’ve loved Ben Howard for about 3 years now and his music is personal to me. His songs can put anyone into a trance of pure tranquility, or give a nostalgic touch. His songs range from emotional, deep songs, to funky rhythmic tunes. Ben Howard is definitely in my top 3 artists of all time. His major debut album, ‘Every Kingdom’, came out in 2011 and his new album, ‘I Forget Where We Were’, came out in October 2014. He is known for his melodic folksy voice and beautiful lyrics. Although he hasn’t exactly hit stardom yet, his concerts always are quick to sell out. He is touring all of the United States as well as Canada, and then in April, he’s going to Europe. That’s why I was so excited when I got tickets to go see him at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC. I took my boyfriend to his first concert. He loved it; he thought Ben sounded better than ever and the atmosphere was energetic yet comforting.

My review: it was absolutely amazing. The lighting was beautiful, as you can see in the photo on the left. The lighting was obviously thoroughly planned out to go with the melody of each song. Ben was sitting for almost the entire show as he was playing the guitar and singing. He hypnotized his entire audience with his passionate singing. The majority of the songs he sung were from his new album, but, he snuck in two of his songs from his first album; The Fear and Black Flies (two of my personal favorites). My favorite part was just listening to people singing along to music because it just brought the entire theatre together. It’s an understatement to say that Howard is a performer. He connected with his audience and sang each song more dramatically and intensely than his studio version. He certainly was a crowd pleaser. Ben fed off of the audiences’ energy and used it to create an amazing performance. I highly recommend listening to Ben Howard if you are into the singer-songwriter genre. All I can say is, I can’t wait for my next concert with him!