Ben Folds: not ‘Five,’ not rockin,’ just solo

by Eric Hasman
News Editor from The Stylus

Any real Ben Folds fan knows, the only way to listen to his music is live. Folds’ talent is better harnessed when he has the freedom to experiment and add a different spin to a favorite Ben Folds Five song. So finally, after years and years of fans waiting for a live album and simply a solo concert with Folds and his piano, they are granted their wish.
Last summer’s tour was centered on Folds playing all his classic songs in a solo format as they were recorded for a live album. This was music to fans’ ears because not only did they get to see Folds play solo, but a live album was in the making.
Of all the times Folds has played in Rochester, both with the “Five” and his Rockin’ the Suburbs band, the June High Falls show and last week’s Geneseo show ranked right up with his best performances. Not only was he back playing classic “Five” songs, but he added a new dimension to them.

Many of his songs, including “Army” for example, had the audience singing the saxophone and trumpet parts as he played the piano parts. With Folds’ ability to connect with the audience and humor them between and during songs, by having them sing key vocal and instrumental parts, he created a much closer bond with the audience. As with all of his concerts, the majority of the attendees were devoted Folds’ fans. So when he had the audience sing the harmony part in “Not the Same,” the 1,000 plus crowd suddenly felt like one.
Last Thursday’s show in Geneseo marked Folds’ third visit to the Rochester area in a year. It could be thought that Folds is wearing his Rochester fans thin with the frequent visits, but as seen at last week’s show, that is simply not true. A jam-packed, near-sellout crowd of well over 1,000 fans took Folds by surprise with how much they love his music.

During almost every song, Folds would look at the audience and smile at the fact that the crowd was singing his songs louder than he could sing them into the mic. Then after every song, the crowd would yell requests and Folds played many of them, hoping to please the audience as much as they were pleasing him. He threw in a few cover songs such as “Careless Whispers” by George Michael, “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” by Burt Bachrach and “Race for the Prize” by The Flaming Lips. That made the show even more special.
But as a final love memento to a crowd that would have stayed all night to listen to him play, Folds performed “Underground,” a song he only plays a few times a year for select audiences. The crowd responded equally by singing all the backup lines as if they were long-time members in Ben Folds’ band.

Fold’s fall solo tour is an encore to his successful summer tour and to highlight the recent release of his live album Ben Folds Live. The 17-track release contains noteworthy renditions of “Jane,” “One Down,” “Brick,” “Narcolepsy” and “Emaline.” The album does an honest job capturing Folds’ “live additions” to each song, but obviously can’t compete with one of his concerts. For new fans, the live album spans his five releases and is a perfect way of catching up. For long-time fans, we’re already waiting for volume two and counting down the days to his next visit.

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