Ben Harper

Ben Harper returns with The Innocent Criminals for a concert at the Jardin Public de Cognac on Saturday, July 4, 2026. Slide guitar slung over his shoulder and his signature Weissenborn at hand, the Californian moves between folk, rock, blues, soul and reggae. From his beginnings in the family-run Folk Music Center to the albums that put him on international stages, he has cultivated an acoustic-electric blend where the personal meets committed expression, carried by a clear voice and a direct melodic sense.

With The Innocent Criminals he reclaims a broad, organic band sound. Round bass, flexible drums, keyboards and percussion frame his guitars and open space for instrumental breaths. The set alternates intimate, near-the-strings ballads, restrained rock swells, taut blues and soul or reggae pulses, without overstating anything. You hear songs spanning several eras of his repertoire, rearranged for the stage, with an attention to groove and to silence that holds the songs together. It’s an encounter in which collective listening, the dynamics of the performance and the warmth of wood and strings link the different facets of Ben Harper, in direct contact with the Cognac audience.