Self-deprecating as always, his style and amusing production is at its most charming, however, when he sticks with the humor of his words and explanations rather than improvising jokes, such as when an audience member shouts out to him. After one joke, in particular, crashed and burned, he quipped, “Damn, I’m not funny. I’m not quitting my day job. Try the veal." At another point, he got so animated while speaking, he tripped up and laughingly said that he's “lost the use of the English language.”
However, similar to comedians like Johnny Carson or even Jon Stewart, Folds is far more irresistible when you realize how in sync he and his band mates are. Often smiling and nodding at each other like excitable high school boys playing their first gig (despite being in their 30s and 40s), it was easy to get caught up in their enthusiasm, especially as they played songs they obviously love performing, like the fake “Dr. Yang,” a.k.a. “Love Sick Diagnostician,” and both the fake and real versions of “Free Coffee,” which were augmented by his unique musical improvisation.
Whether he was conducting the audience in three-part harmony or arguing about the importance of mastering scales and modes — since, as he explained, in Hollywood, all composers need are scales, which he demonstrated with improvised ditties he created with the National Geographic channel and a melodrama in mind — Folds proved a showman of the highest order. Beating the keys of an equally beat-up, black Baldwin piano and adding Altoids boxes to create a tinny gunfire-like sound for “Free Coffee,” he only sat on his stool for seconds at a time. Physically leaning into the keys, he put his entire body into the songs to such an effect that, in a blink-and-you-missed-it gesture, we were able to catch him applying a band-aid during conversational riffs between songs.
Agreeably putting up with endless picture-taking by cell-phone and digital camera holders (including yours truly) and sometimes managing to stay still long enough for us to garner enough decent photos to put together a Picasa collage, Folds found nourishment in the enthusiasm of the crowd, getting more and more energized with each engrossing number.
Article comments
1 - Lisa Solod Warren
Your review DEFINITELY made me wish I had been there.........
2 - El Bicho
See, I knew you would do just fine. You did a great job of capturing the show. Although it's unfortunate to learn you are one of those people. Glad you weren't in front of me. Get a photo pass or stop ruining the show for everyone else. One demerit.
3 - Jen
Thanks for the compliments! That's okay, Bicho, I'll take the demerit because man, do I love geeky piano players and my phone is smaller than an iPod. Plus, he totally dug it, smiling and posing for some of us-- he seriously lives to entertain. It was a great, great show! :)
4 - Jordan "Boss" Richardson
Nicely done!
5 - Pico
Sounds like a fun time was had by all, but I'm a little surprised he didn't play "Hiroshima (B-B-B Benny Hit His Head)"?
6 - Jen
Good call, Pico-- I was hoping for that one myself!
7 - Mat Brewster
Nicely done.
8 - Pico
I was remiss in failing to mention myself that this is a nicely done article. Thanks for a good read :-)
9 - Tom Johnson
Damn, that sounds like a great show. Great write-up, Jen, it was almost like being there. So good it actually makes me want to break down and pick up the album, despite not being totally thrilled with about half of what I've heard off of it so far (and really disliking Silverman as a whole.)
10 - tink
Hard to believe this is your first live concert review. Has everything in it that makes it a good read for me...links to info, pix, insight into his tunes and the overall performance.
GREAT stuff!!!
11 - Mark Saleski
yeah, i have to say that this was a great concert review, first time or not.
heck, it almost makes me want to buy a Ben Folds cd, despite disliking (almost) everything he's ever done.
12 - Jen
Wow, thank you so much to all who've read the piece and/or taken time to comment either here, on my site, or via e-mail. It means a lot. Having studied, lived, breathed, and written about movies for fifteen years, it's been a wild adventure moving into music this year but I'm loving it.
Also, for those of you guys on the fence about Folds-- he's one of those musicians best appreciated live but luckily, in addition to the YouTube bootleg concert footage you can see here, there's also a cool Live album, DVDs, and for this tour, he's recording a number of singles live from various cities you can find right here via iTunes.
I actually ended up buying the new album right off iTunes since it came with some hilarious music videos in the Deluxe version (little did I know some of them were also on his MySpace page)!
Again, I really appreciate all the feedback and am looking forward to tackling another concert soon should another cool one hit the Phoenix/Tempe/Scottsdale area. :)