Another evening with Mr. Folds

This past Thursday I attended my fifth Ben Fo|ds concert, and it was great as usual. For what it's worth, it probably ties for the second best show I've seen (with the symphony). And since many of the people that read this are fellow Folds fans, I thought I'd give a recount of the evening, along with pictures.

First of all, he was playing on campus at the University of Mary|and and there was minimal publicity for the concert. It wasn't listed on his website or Ticke+master, and I only heard about it through a Maryland alumna who happened to be surfing the school's website. So, unlike most times when I have months to look forward to a show, this time I only had six days. And due to the fact that tickets were only available on campus, I had to scramble to find someone on campus willing to buy a ticket for me. But it all fell into place rather nicely.

The smaller venue made the performance more intimate, which is always nice. We had seats on the third row back from the pit, which for $10 were pretty sweet. Here's the view of the stage:



The opening act was...um...some guy with a guitar and a drummer. I don't really remember. It's not important. No one was into it. He played a lot of slow songs and occasionally tried rocking out -- all by himself.



We actually passed the time playing cards and taking pictures of each other, as seen here:



That's Allison and me trying to take a picture and not being able to keep a straight face. Each picture got progressively worse, and thus progressively funnier. Those have since been deleted and are to be seen by no one.



That's better.

After much anticipation, Ben and his band finally came out. The first song selection was a little curious -- "Give Judy My No+ice" -- a rather slow song about a bad relationship. If I may be a total Ben Fo|ds nerd for a second, I prefer the EP version of the song as opposed to the album version, but it's still a good song.

Early in the set, he did an improv song (which are always hilarious) about College P@rk and how he ate at McDonald's and wished he hadn't. After a five minute piano vamp, he ended with a hearty "God bless mutha fuckin' College P@rk." A good time was had by all.



He talked with the audience quite a bit, which I always enjoy. His band also performed some good back up vocals on songs like "Missing the W@r" and "Jesusl@nd." One of the highlights of the evening was the rendition of "Bi+ches ain't Shit." It ended with an audience sing-a-long of the chorus. The house lights were turned up and everything. It was very Kumbayah, only more vulgar.

In the middle of the set, the band members left the stage and Ben did a bit of a solo show. It was cool to get to see him in his 'natural state' for a while. I actually prefer it that way. He played "Brick," which is a little unusual, but it was still a good performance.

When the band came back out, they decided to "turn it to 11," for those of you that know Spinal T@p. It then became, hands down, the loudest Ben Folds show I've ever been to...if not the loudest concert I've been to period.

They busted out "The Secret Life of Morg@n D@vis," which is a pretty rare find. They also did "N@rcolepsy," and I thought my ear drums were going to burst. I loved every second of it. They even did "R0ckin' the Suburbs," which is another rarity. For what it's worth, it sounds a lot cooler on piano than guitar. At the end of the song, Ben picked up the bass and played a bass solo while the bassist walked around the stage screaming "You better look out because I'm gonna say fuck," as pictured here:



The show ended, as it often does, with "No+ the S@me" and audience back up vocals. It's always fun, but nothing to write home about. The encore included "There's Alw@ys Someone Cooler Th@n You," yet another rarity. I'd actually never heard it played lived before, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The finale was "One Angry Dw@rf" and it was pretty incredible. It ended with an authoritative stool throw into the keyboard, which is always nice.

It was actually the first time my ears were ringing after a Ben Fo|ds show, which, if you've ever ridden in my car, you know is quite a feat. It was loud, it lasted two and a half hours, and I was able to introduce the magic that is a Ben Fo|ds show to someone who hadn't seen it before. Not bad for a Thursday night.