concert review: Ben Barnes ends his tour at a highly anticipated Los Angeles show.
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Born in London, England in 1981, Ben Barnes is an actor and singer known for many different roles in series’ like The Chronicles of Narnia, Westworld, The Punisher, and more. Not only has he starred in multiple of those films he has also made music for many of the soundtracks for films he has appeared in. A combination of his mother’s Jewish South African background, his father’s scientific background, and his attendance at a “vaguely Christian” school where he discovered hymns he cites has formative influences for him. At college in sang in choirs and played drums and piano in jazz orchestras and concerts bands, joining the National Youth Music Theater in 1997 where he began his musical theatre career. Before going to university he worked with Simon Fuller on opening a jazz club and releasing an album which, unfortunately, never came to fruition. He released his debut single “11:11” in September 201 and his debut EP Songs For You in October of the same year. His only album was released in January of 2025 and is titled Where The Light Gets In. Singles “Beloved” and “Nevermind” were released in 2024 and “Slow It Down” was released in 2025.
Wednesday March 5th marked the last night of his tour, and the date was actually postponed due to the horrific fires that ravaged Los Angeles in the beginning of January. I was actually scheduled to cover his show in Boston, but due to some unseen circumstances I had to miss it but had the chance to cover his last show in my hometown, which made it even more special.
Ben Barnes has soul in his voice that’s sometimes hard to come by in modern music. When I first heard he was making music, I was a little skeptical since there are so many actors and influencers that “tale a stab” at making music and many of them are not good. Yet, Ben Barnes is not one of those people. His voice is smooth and soulful, ear-catching and mesmerizing. The messages he portrays in his album are beautiful; “feeling powerful when pain tells you you’re vulnerable and lovable when the world tries to tell you that you’re not enough.” Making an album about the different stages of a relationship (beginnings, tension, sorrow, sex, love, endings and nostalgia) is a wonderful way to make music into a story. It’s a story that is relatable to everyone; everyone has relationships, whether they’re romantic, friendly or familial. There’s something for everyone in this album.
He opened the set with above mentioned singles “Beloved” and “Nevermind.” Throughout his set many of the fans had cutout hearts that they held up, expressing their love and admiration. Fan projects like this always warm my heart; clearly fans care about artists if they’re going to their shows and showing up, but there’s an added layer of intention and appreciation in things like this. He did a cover of two songs, “River” by Bishop Briggs and “Hallelujah I Love Her So” by Ray Charles, both incredible renditions and matches for his voice and tone. His band consisted of musicians who opened for him throughout the tour (Zoe Sparks, Sophia James, Aaron Childs, Charles Jones), which is something I’ve never actually seen before but enjoyed quite a bit. It was a new thing for me, something I didn’t even think of before, but now I want to see it more.
In all honesty, Ben Barnes’ music is not the stuff I listen to. I gravitate more towards heavier and electronic music, but I love going to shows that aren’t in my comfort zone and learning new music. Ben’s presence and voice is so strong and developed that he most definitely made an impact on me and I will indeed be add some of his songs to my playlist.
