UBCFA presents Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

Presented by the University at Buffalo Center for the Arts on Saturday, Oct. 7
√ Presale tickets on sale Thursday, general tickets on sale Friday

Press Release

The University at Buffalo Center for the Arts will present Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals on Saturday, Oct. 7 (7:30 p.m.), in the Mainstage Theatre, located at the Center for the Arts, North Campus.

Singer-songwriter, musician and producer Harper has announced his new studio album, “WIDE OPEN LIGHT,” the follow to his Grammy-nominated record “Bloodline Maintenance,” to be released June 2 via Chrysalis Records. Today, he shares the new single “Yard Sale” featuring long-time collaborator Jack Johnson, and revealed tour dates for summer 2023.

“WIDE OPEN LIGHT” is described by Harper as a family of songs he's written where each track is a close relative to the next. It's deliberately minimalist, and the songs themselves do as much of the heavy lifting as the production.

“There was once a time when albums didn’t need an adjacent story or fable. When the songs were enough,” Harper said. “I’m excited to return to this.”

Of the new single “Yard Sale,” he explained it “follows a man through the final blurred stages of a breakup. With each passing verse, the couple grows further beyond reach or repair. By the song's end, he’s more confused than when the song began.”

Following the release of “WIDE OPEN LIGHT,” Harper will tour on select dates with The Chicks, before heading out on his own extensive U.S. tour this fall. Harper’s tour will include performances at the Oceans Calling Music Festival and Sound on Sound Music & Arts Festival.

This month, Harper appears in the new AppleTV+ series "Extrapolations,” a fictional drama based in the near future when the effects of climate change have become embedded in our daily lives. The limited series features an all-star cast that also includes Daveed Diggs, David Schwimmer, Edward Norton, Forest Whitaker, Gemma Chan, Heather Graham, Meryl Streep, Tobey Maguire and Yara Shahidi.

As a three-times-Grammy-winner, Harper has amassed international critical applause and a worldwide fan following for his own genre-traversing body of work, while also producing acclaimed albums by Mavis Staples, Rickie Lee Jones, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Natalie Maines and Ziggy Marley. An inveterate collaborator, Harper has also recorded with a diverse span of artists ranging from John Lee Hooker, Charlie Musselwhite, to Ringo Starr, Keith Richards and, most recently, Harry Styles, to contribute his signature guitar work to the superstar’s chart-topping album, “Harry’s House.” Harper joined Styles for an astounding 12 nights of performances at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles this past fall.

Harper has recently been featured on “CBS Mornings,” ABC News, Forbes, SPIN and Variety.

For more information on Harper, visit www.benharper.com.

The Jack Moves will provide support.

Tickets for Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals (https://www.ubcfa.org/events-exhibitions/music/ben-harper) are $49 to $103. A limited amount of University at Buffalo student tickets are $35. Buyers must show current, valid identification and purchase at the Center for the Arts box office.

Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Friday, April 7. Venue presale tickets go on sale online 24 hours earlier. Tickets can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com, ubcfa.org or at the Center for the Arts. For more ticket information, call 716-645-2787 or email [email protected].