Concert review: Folds rocks sold-out crowd

by
joe@dmjuice.com


03/10/2006

Rock pianist Ben Folds performed to a sold-out crowd of nearly 2,000 Thursday night at the Val Air Ballroom. The musician played a nearly two-hour set that included material from Folds solo career as well as the Ben Folds Five.

Folds opened the show with "Bastard," and launched into a set that included "Trusted," and "All U Can Eat," which Folds claimed to have written the night before at a Village Inn. Later Folds claimed to have written "Bitches Ain't Shit" with Dr. Dre.

In an odd transition from the funny "Bitches Ain't Shit," Folds dismissed
his band and went into his most emotional song, "Brick," which had the entire audience singing along. Folds continued solo for "Fred Jones Pt 2" and "Army." On "Army," Folds instructed the audience on how to sing the trumpet and saxophone parts.

Folds dedicated "Rockin' the Suburbs" to "all the pissed off white boys in the audience," then informed them that "it will probably piss you off even more that I'm rewriting the song for Avril Lavigne."

There were some sound issues -- a couple of times there was excessive feedback from Fold's microphone. Some of his gentler piano playing was lost in the crowd noise.

Chicago singer/songwriter Chris Mills opened the show. The crowd was largely indifferent, but Mills did seem to give it his all.

After ending the regular set with "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces," Folds and his band returned for an encore that included "Philosophy" and the instrumental "(Theme From) Dr. Physer" which included bits of Dick Dale's surf classic "Misirlou."

To close out the show, Folds conducted the audience in a three-part harmony as part of the song "Not the Same." When the song ended, he continued to work the crowd, playing their voices like an instrument. He left the suburbs thoroughly rocked.