Pop Break Live: Macklemore ‘The Ben Tour’ at The Met in Philadelphia on Saturday September 23, 2023
Macklemore stopped in at the Met in Philadelphia on 9/23. He is touring in support of his 3rd solo album Ben, released on March 3rd.
Macklemore kicked off his set with “Chant,” the powerful inspirational gem off his latest release, Ben. The Washington native set the rules for the night and had a little talk with the crowd before he played the second song. He told them to get up out of their seats as it’s not an acoustic set and that you get what you give so if they give him 100% he’d give it right back. He told them they were going to sing, dance, sweat, cry and turn it up.
Macklemore was going to take them on a journey and in order to go forward on the journey you’d have to go back to where it all started. The crowd screamed as it segued right into the very recognizable opening chords to his biggest hit “Thrift Shop.” This was one of five hits played off his 2012 debut studio album The Heist, which landed him and Ryan Lewis three Grammy awards. Next up was “No Bad Days,”another new song which had a really catchy melody. He had a little fun on this one as he was armed with a water gun and no one was safe. He even tried shooting it up the to Lodge Box seats. He was like a big kid up there. Macklemore was wearing a Philadelphia Phillies Jersey and told the crowd he had just had a cheesesteak a few hours ago and the crowd cheered. He then told them he had never seen Rocky and he was booed. It was a funny moment. Yep, only in Philly.
He played a highly energetic sixteen song set. One of biggest highlights of the show came early on with “Same Love.” It’s about the hate that people have to overcome when trying to just be their true selves. The bands arrangement was beautiful on this. The audience really took to this as they clapped and sang along. The song “Otherside” was just as powerful. Another stunner was “Wings.” The dramatic red lighting was perfect for the vibe of this song. On some lighter moments, he wore a long blue sparkly cape and matching headband on the campy song “And We Danced.” The crowd loved it and the fun continued when the band played the random instrumental song “Tequila” and Macklemore did it Pee-wee Herman style! I can’t say enough about this band, dancers and singers. They were an integral part of the show and they looked like they were having as much fun up on stage as we did watching them.
His set ended with the uplifting song” Glorious.” Macklemore encored with “Good Old Days” and ended the night in dramatic fashion with “Can’t Hold Us.” Towards the end of the song he wound up in the middle of the GA section. With fans holding him up, he finished the song off as confetti cannons went off. The place went crazy. Earlier in the night he told the audience to forget about your phones, facebook and twitter. He thanked them for getting off their sofa to come to his show and said there is NOTHING like the energy from a Live show. He got that right! It turned out to be a joyous memorable night with an incredible crowd and a beloved artist who is still inspiring people with his words and music.
