For me, summer 2006 was about three things: a new apartment in a new city, a new job, and Brendan Benson’s first three solo records on my iPod. Fresh perspective and exciting new terrain matched aptly with Benson’s warm and wonderfully classic power pop, and on September 10th, 2009, I finally got to see him live. This tour for My Old, Familiar Friend, his new album, included a stop at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. More photos and review after the jump.

I’ve actually seen Brendan Benson perform on several previous occasions . . . as a member of the Raconteurs. This is a different experience, however, as Benson’s solo work reflects a time before headlining festivals with Jack White and one-half of the Greenhornes. He was, as we’ve said, criminally underrated and toting a vast inventory of consistently excellent songs, trying to make a go of it in the face of an unappreciative industry. Therefore, I was curious to see what would come from his first solo tour post-success with the Racs.

And the performance was both a surprise and a direct tribute to the new album that Benson was promoting – an old, familiar experience with which I was delighted to reunite. The surprise came from the fact that any ghost of the Raconteurs did not linger in GAMH’s classic walls. Both his quiet concentration and slightly shy demeanor created a humble presence, and it was easy to forget that Benson has been performing and putting out albums since 1996. That is, until you noticed the pleasant variety of ages and personas in the GAMH crowd, reflecting Benson’s slow-burning success and accessible musical prowess

The set went by entirely too quickly as Benson pulled from every record, playing the best and sometimes obscure from One Mississippi, Lapalco, The Alternative to Love, and My Old, Familiar Friend. His band played flawlessly and energetically, and aside from having to abandon “What I’m Looking For” after some struggle (”That’s right folks, I’ve been a professional musician for 20 years!”), the entire set was pitch-perfect from start to finish. From me to the barely-legal girls in front of me to the forty-something guy behind me who danced elaborately along with every song – the whole evening was a lesson in both nostalgia and a fresh take on why we loved Brendan Benson in the first place. He is, as they say, the real deal.

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