Dan and I went to a Ben Folds concert over a month ago. It was fun. I am just finishing my write-up of it. Here is what happened:
Opener band = Hotel Lights
The lead for this band is from Ben’s original group Ben Folds Five. They sounded decent, but kind of slow. I was bored. I told Dan they reminded me of sloshy.
Opener number two = Guster
They were very good. I only recognized one song, and it was only the chorus I knew, but I really liked their sound. It was hot. They did a small piece of Don’t Fear The Reaper and at one point used a sound effect the lead singer called “the T Pain sound”. I’m not gonna try to explain that- go look it up! It does sound pretty cool.
The Real Show = Ben Folds
In addition to Lindsay and Jared he had two other backup players this time. It was a great set and as Dan said he was very “on” for this show. I will now give you the set list as I remember it with brief details on how each song was.
Jesusland
The usual- like the CD.
Effington
Live version is a little less pounding than the CD is.
Brainwashed (real)
The word ‘real’ denotes that this was released on the real album Ben spent months on, rather than the ‘fake’ album Ben released as a gag which was done in one day.
Good song, now we’re getting a little more hardcore.
Annie Waits
Classic Ben Folds. He does this one at concerts often.
Sentimental Guy
First time I remember hearing this live. S’okay.
Free Coffee (real)
Ok, this song was cool because Ben showed us how he made the sound on the CD. You take metal altoid tins and place them on the piano strings. You hold your hand on the strings and add a sound changer (it adds a slightly more electronic feeling). Then you play. I have to tell you this sound effect really sucks on the CD, but it sounds awesome live.
Landed
I love this song. No complaints.
Bitch Went Nuts (fake)
This song is so much better than the real one. Again very hardcore and poundy. I was hoping for some creative re-lyricking, but Ben doesn’t get to that until later in the concert.
Zak and Sara
I was the only one in our section (maybe in every section?) who clapped at the appropriate times to the CD version of the song. I am a bigger Ben Folds snob than all y’alls!
You Don’t Know Me
Hey cool, Lindsay sounds just like Regina Spektor. As produced as this song is on CD, it sounds really great live.
Alice Childress
Good song, nothing unusual
Dr Yang (fake)
The next three songs I am dancing too hard to pay attention to the song itself.
Dr Yang (real)
Dancing
Hiroshima
Still dancing!
Fred Jones Part 2
This song is slow. Alot of the audience sat down. I believe it was after this one that Ben shared a little tidbit with us. He said we were a cool audience. Usually, he said, he is not able to get through a quiet song without having someone shout “show us your dick!” And apparently it’s usually a dude shouting. Nice.
Lullaby
I don’t remember ever hearing this one live before. It was really great and special for Dan and me since the song is one we listened two as a couple when we were dating.
Brick
This time I liked this song although normally it dosn’t do much for me.
Not the Same
Ben didn’t really tell us he was going to give us notes, or the name of the song. He just went, “Ok the lowest voices sing this- now try it. The middle voices sing this- ok go ahead. The highest voices sing this- alright. All, three, parts, together now.” And of course we all went crazy with excitement because we love crowd participation songs. It was really fun.
Rockin the Suburbs
I didn’t recognize this one at first. Dan says he plays it different every time we hear it live. I sounds nothing like the CD. And Ben often leaves out words allowing the audience to fill them in.
Army
Another audience participation song. Ben did not ask us to sing, but at the appropriate spot he said, “Ok Syracuse, let’s see what the #@&* you got!” Then he jumped away from the piano and the band cut playing so we could sing. He does this song almost every concert so most people knew what to do.
Bastard
No participation in this one. We’re winding down.
Gracie
Ben intro’ed this one by saying that the guys from Guster just had new baby daughters at the same time and how very “rock’n’roll” that was.
Narcolepsy
You know I used to absolutely hate this song (I think I’m allowed one!) but it’s not so bad anymore. Except of course for the fact that he plays it so damn loud.
Fair
First song of the encore. Of the songs he could have chosen I’m glad he went with an older one.
One Angry Dwarf
This song is really cool. Ben played it at about a hundred miles an hour though. It sounded a little jammed in, but it was nice of him to play it for us. At the very end he used these words instead of the lyrics:
Thank you very much Syracuse! Thank you very much Syracuse! Thank you very much Syracuse!
Well,
Thank you very much Ben Folds! And good show!