"I'd like to give a big shoutout to my opening act," announced Ben Lee, leading to eruptions of laughter amongst the crowd at Brisbane's Stranded Bar (1 October).
The opener for the Aussie hitmaker was DJ Dad Bod, aka himself. "This started as a bit of a joke and now I'm going to play you some of my mash-ups," Ben explained. Wearing silver pants and a shock of Cookie Monster-blue hair, Ben plugged his USB into the DJ deck. Freddie Mercury sang 'I Want To Break Free' over 'Bittersweet Symphony'; Liam Gallagher whined 'Wonderwall' over Snoop Dogg's 'Gin N Juice'; cheers doubled when the Bluey theme song was joined by Beyonce's vocals from 'Single Ladies'.
Over Eminem's 'Lose Yourself', George Michael's croon on 'Careless Whisper' faded away, replaced by Bob Katter's viral soundbite about same-sex marriage and crocodile attacks.
DJ Dad Bod is lightyears away from the Ben Lee the Australian public once knew: the precocious teenager who caught the attention of the Beastie Boys and signed to their label, and later declaring his own third album 'the greatest Australian album of all time' (many groaned at the time, especially Powderfinger's Bernard Fanning).
Instead of the young and self-serious artist, the new, fun Ben bounced around the stage to NWA rapping over Modest Mouse's 'Float On', much to the crowd's delight.
After a 40-minute set of hilariously inventive mash-ups, Ben returned with his electric guitar for an intimate set of his own. He opened with a treat for the crowd: a new, unrecorded song called 'It's So Damn Hard To Be So Damn Good'.
Ben has lived quite a life throughout his 30-plus years as a musician, and he regaled the crowd with some hilarious stories from across his career and the lessons he's learned.
While introducing 'Hard Drive', the song he wrote for his idol, The Lemonheads' Evan Dando, Ben revealed the origin of the heart-wrenching song's chorus: he hadn't finished writing it while performing it for Evan, but happened to glance at some computer hard drives when he got to the chorus.
With that revelation, the first chorus was met with laughter by the crowd, but the emotion of the song enraptured them by the second.
"I don't have a set list," Ben admitted. However, he did have one thing planned. He revealed he holds the distinction of being the Australian artist with the most songs written about them, and he performed a medley of those songs by The Moldy Peaches, Andrew Hansen of 'The Chaser', Klinger, and The Ataris.
Each of the songs are vicious attacks – the crowd gasped when he sang 'The Chaser''s line: "Could he not take a swim like Jeff Buckley?". However, Ben played them all with glee. His enthusiasm was contagious, and the crowd found themselves shouting the chorus of The Ataris' song, "Ben Lee, you suck!" "It's nice to have a legacy," he deadpanned.
The lack of a set list led to Ben asking the crowd for requests. A chorus of voices piped up with songs from across his career, from recent singles like 'Arsehole' all the way back to his solo debut 'Pop Queen'.
A request for 'Awake Is The New Sleep' deep cut 'No Right Angles' caught his attention. After a successful first verse, he struggled with the second. "Can someone Google the lyrics?" he asked the crowd. A fan obliged, holding their phone up for him. "I bet you Bernard Fanning has a teleprompter," he quipped.
After a sing-along of 'Catch My Disease', Ben announced to the crowd: "We're going to wrap up the night with a dance party!"
As the synth riff from MGMT's 'Time To Pretend' whined, Ben disappeared, returning in a suit covered in colourful streamers. He raced around the tiny venue, jumping on couches and avoiding a collision with a speaker.
Fans may have lacked the stamina to join in Ben's turbo time, but the beaming smiles on their faces showed they shared his joy.
