Live Review: Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite

The Perth Concert Hall is a serious music venue for serious musicians and the enigmatic Ben Harper is certainly as pure a musician as this generation has had. Spanning blues, gospel, funk, reggae and everything in between, Harper has been a fixture in playlists since the '90s. His latest collaboration, however, marks a return to the roots of southern blues, with the one and only Charlie Musselwhite.

This world tour celebrates the release of the second collaboration between Harper and Musselwhite, entitled No Mercy In This Land, the natural successor to 2013's Get Up!. With Harper on lead vocals, alternating between guitar and Weissenborn slide, and Musslewhite on the electric blues harmonica, together the pair are a match made in musical heaven.

Eyes shrouded in shadow from his broad-brimmed Stetson, Harper sat with the slide on his lap and introduced the standing Musselwhite, whose eyes sparkled above his signature grin.

The pair kicked off the night with When I Go, the lead track off the new album. Its dirty, circular lead riff, with tinges of Musselwhite's harmonica, rung out under Harper's signature soulful vocal style. Close your eyes right here and you're hearing an album Hendrix would have loved to cover. Musselwhite took the first solo of the night - slow, wistful and meandering. Throughout the night, the duo would trade solos, running blues riffs underneath incredible licks that could only come from a lifetime of practice and introspection.

Bad Habits lifted the pace with quick saloon-style off-beats, which provided interesting change-ups from the pulsing down-beats that generally underpinned the album. Harper addressed the crowd and Love And Trust was strong on the night. Trust You To Dig My Grave marked the dark, down-on-your-luck sense of romance that the blues is known for. The title track No Mercy In This Land featured the dual vocal approach — with Musselwhite's smoky vocals alternating verses and the pair working together on solos. The track demonstrated the true value of the collaboration.

The encore, however, was entirely unexpected as the band delivered an absolutely crushing version of Led Zeppelin's When The Levee Breaks. The track that wasn't on anyone's radar, but once it started it made complete sense. Harper and Musselwhite were the perfect candidates to carve out the cover, and it was one of those truly special moments that every live music lover treasures.