A Requiem for The Benjamins

March 2, 2002 . The Globe East . Milwaukee, WI

So, ya wanna go see The Benjamins when they are featured on the Warped Tour this summer? Too late! Too bad! Too wrong! Yup, that's right, the former Drive-Thru Records boys are no more. After four years of high times, forgotten nights, and a sound that was as good to listen to it was to watch them on stage, the proud Milwaukeeans have dismantled and gone their separate ways. Now, this just didn't happen overnight. This great demise was planned and has been in the making since last fall. Sometime in the latter half of last year, the word got out that The Benjamins were gonna split faster than a fat chick's hot pants. Well, they finally got around to their grand finale in the dark, smoke-filled, congested cracker box called The Globe East.

Now, you gotta love this place. The setup they have there for concerts is so unconventional. The bar protrudes out onto about 55% of the concert floor. After getting through their mouse-hole door, there is about a 14 foot space between the wall and the bar that you have to get through if you wanna get up to the front. No matter where you are in this place, you always feel like you are in the way! But really, you have to love this place. Besides being on the trendy (just feel cool cause you are there) feeling that you get from Milwaukee's east side, you can watch the whole show while standing in more liquid than they have at the entire bar due to that overflowing urinal in the men's bathroom and the cubic ton of melted snow and slush that everyone has tracked in with their shoes. Anyhow, this article is about The Benjamins (God rest their souls), not the blessed concert hall that The Globe East is.

So anyhow, the demise is upon us. Ben, The Benjamin's bassist, spent the last five weeks before returning home for the show on the road managing the space rock band, Manplanet, who kicked off the evening along with Sulu. Could this be a possible career for Mr. Ben in the future? Only time will tell.

I've been in college now for a few years and in that time, you could say that I've seen my share of over-indulged, inebriated twenty-somethings. I would go as far as to say that I've probably seen just about all there is to see. If ya don't believe me, just ask my old roommate about that whole pink thong incident and you'll see what I mean. (nuttin' but love Paul) Anyhow, I had the fortunate experience of being introduced to Ben before the show by a good friend of mine. Needless to say, I'm the only one to remember it. I actually was re-introduced to Ben a few days after the show and after our second introduction, I can definitely say that I was the only one giving a first impression for the second time.

Usually bands get free drinks at the bar when they play a show. I'm sure that The Benjamins not only got the free drinks, but I also think that they each got their own intravenous needle to plug into their veins from the tap to pump unholy amounts of beer into their systems.

Well, this was the state of the pre-show scene. Once the men of the night hit the stage, I think that Ben summed it up the best, "I'm so drunk. I hope I can still play my guitar." Speaking on the behalf of the entire band, it was time to play. Despite the fact that their six-string guitars now had twelve due to their impaired vision, The Benjamins managed to play on.

In a surprising twist, the band began their set with an out-of-place cover of the Garth Brooks classic country hit, "Friends In Low Places." The most amazing thing about it though, was that more than half of the people in the whole place could sing along with most of the words, myself included. After that, what else could be expected? How about probably the hardest song that anyone could ever try to sing sober, but sung minus the sober. No, not that song in the old McDonald's commercial about the two all grease patties, cheese, special sauce (hehe), ect... Although it would pose quite a challenge now that I think about it, the song of choice was "It's the End of the As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M. For a man to not even know his own name and be able to sing all of the words to this song is a miracle that even God would be proud of.

The cover tunes were unexpected and well done, but everyone was ready for some vintage music by The Benjamins. The first song they slurred into was "Couch," one of the catchiest tracks of their album, The Art of Disappointment. The audience full of old friends, fans, and people that didn't know where they were, erupted as the band found their way into way into the crowd favorite, "Wonderful." The most amazing part of this whole show was the fact that for every two minutes of music that was played, there was about five minutes of stage banter amongst The Benjamins. Topics of the unwitty banter ranged from an argument between the bassist and the drummer (they are breaking up after all), the desire for the consumption of more alcohol, and about two guys in the front who most likely ended up wearing each other's panties by the end of the evening.

The band managed to stumble on quite successfully into the rest of their songs off of their album. Apparently The Benjamins have had a lot of experience playing in an intoxicated state since they were quite good at doing so that night. That's about it for the concert, I'm sure you can kinda get the gist of how the rest of it went. It was enjoyable. If you ever get to see The Benjamins play, which means you must own a time machine, let me know cause I'd like to see them again with you, and besides, I think it's our civic duty to go back circa 1998 and warn ourselves about a man by the name of Fred Durst who will one day destroy what is left of the integrity and ingenuity in music. If you beg to differ, get off this website and go listen to some Staind while sitting in a Puddle of Mudd and simultaneously choking on some Korn.

R.I.P. Benjamins 1998-2002. We'll miss you.

Scott Hanson
scott.hanson@xroxx.com

XROXX.com Concert Rating: XXXX (4 out of 5 possible X's)

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