Ben Folds : Unplugged
To round up a mighty fine year of gigging with my best mate Rich, the NIA last night played host to indie pianist Ben Folds, who goes from strength to strength with his solo material. It was Rich who had introduced me to Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five, Sarah had reinforced that introduction, the music forms a soundtrack to a memorable part of my own life. Starting a UK mini tour in Birmingham no longer than your little finger, it wasn’t so much the suburbs he was rocking, it was a more soothing, charming and relaxed night.
Unfortunatly Ben’s drummer had food posioning, but the whole night was more intimate for it, we were treated to Ben Folds unplugged, just him the piano with broken keys and us. Waltzing onto the stage looking like a dork as he put it he launched into “Best Immitation Of Myself” and with that a very entertaining 1 hour 50 minutes was underway.
The piano was fixed a few tracks in while Ben ran around the stage and played the instruments that were bereft of use. Ben did play some tracks of the Ben Folds Five era and got the crowd involved in tracks such as “Army” and “Underground”, these tracks are full on with instruments and various voices so it was really nice for the crowd to take those roles. The stage was massive and the arena was half full but still Ben managed to fill the space with endless plinks, plonks and entertaining lyrics, which were at times very emotional.
Some of the highlights for me included “All You Can Eat” an entertaining song about America that had only recently caught my attention, smiles were all around as Ben told us about how no one cares just as long as there is enough for them. There was a cover of a rap song, which was funny but seemed out of place without the drums. A few tracks that were always going to be emotional just stood out as being amazing, these being “Still Fighting It” and “Brick”. The lyrics of Brick had never really hit me untill Ben was there telling of the pain and “Still Fighting It” brought vivd images into my mind. We got to hear “Kate” and “Philosophy” alongside “Jesusland” and “Landed”.
The encore ended with “Not The Same” again unplugged, beforehand Ben had trained the crowd to do the backing vocals, wow, we were giving G4 a run for their voices here, it was amazing. With the crowd in harmony, Ben as conducter atop of the piano guiding the voices it was truely a wonderful end to a special night.
Setlist:
Best imatation, Zak and Sara, All you can eat, one down, cooler than you, Still fighting it, You to thank, (piano gets fixed), Philosophy, Kate, Landed, Gracie, Bitches ain’t shit, Brick, Jesusland, Last polka, Carrying Cathy, Ascent of Stan, Army, Rockin the suburbs, OAD
Encore:
Underground
Not the same