Friday, July 7th, Harper hit The Taste of Chicago stage sporting a Chicago Cub's world champion tee-shirt and was quick to share his love for the city speaking to his past experiences that deeply influenced him; music and food. Clearly Harper has an affinity for Chicago, and Chicago for him. 

Touring with his original entourage of The Innocent Criminals, Harper and co. packed a powerful and tight show. Harper opened up the set sitting down to play a solo on his Weissenborn lap slide guitar, a standard in his repertoire.  It was intimate, intricate and deeply blues. Then the band came out to play "Don't Take That Attitude To The Grave" from his 1994 debut Welcome To The Cruel World. These hard hitting lyrics as relevant today if not more so: 

"You say what's mine is mine
And what's yours is mine too
Now you've got more than you can spend
But all of the money 
In the whole wide world
Is not gonna help you in the end"

The band is very accomplished but is so much more than musical chops. They reveal their brotherhood too.  With twenty plus years of touring, Harper retains is youthful enthusiasm and advocacy for justice, coupled with an mature wisdom and heartfelt compassion for humanity. 

The Innocent Criminals will be touring Europe in August returning to the states in September. For local concert dates: www.benharper.com/tour.