ben folds is fucking bitching

[chairmenmeow47]

i can't believe there isn't a ben folds thread already. this will not do. my future husband deserves his very own thread and here it is

here is his current tour, i'll be at the marquee show monday!

07.15.11
Las Vegas, NV The Boulevard Pool at Cosmopolitan
07.16.11
Tucson, AZ The Rialto Theatre
07.18.11
Tempe, AZ Marquee
07.20.11
Anaheim, CA House Of Blues
07.21.11
Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
07.22.11
San Francisco, CA Warfield Theatre
08.20.11
Birmingham, AL Jemison Concert Hall
09.17.11
Minneapolis, MN Orchestra Hall
11.03.11
Oklahoma City, OK Civic Center Music Hall

when i'm not at work, i'll add more to this thread, but for now, let's all swoon over mr. folds

[nathanfairchild]

I love this video he made:

[NachoCat]

^That is fuckin awesome.... that may have convinced me to go to the show.

[rskapcat]

He gets the heartbreaking stuff SO RIGHT.



Fun fact: John McCrea of Cake did the backing vocals on the album version of this. Weird Al did the backing vocals on "Time."

[chairmenmeow47]

i totally woke up with that song in my head this morning carrying cathy & magic are good for that too.

[LickTheLizzard]

i think i'm going to have to go to this on monday.

[Ardentbiscuit]

One of the most entertaining performers I've seen live.

[vdubshani]

Going to see him in 7 hours at the cosmopolitan pool!!! Can't wait!!

[chairmenmeow47]

scott & lizard, amy and i will be up-front. i will most likely be in a "marry me ben folds" shirt. i don't normally push my way up front, but i simply must be close to him!!!

[joppy-slow]

I agree. Ben is so underrated and (with his band) or by himself, his live shows are always a hella good time. He always pulls out the best cover songs too.
Looking at those tour dates makes me sad he is not coming to SLC.

[LickTheLizzard]

ok i made it official and bought my tickets for tomorrow night. more expensive than i would have liked, but i think it will be worth it.

[casey]

Ben Fold is ALWAYS worth the price you pay! He's such a good performer! I love the Chat Roulette videos too, such a good, funny idea! Have fun at the show, Ivy!

[LickTheLizzard]

what a great show last night. there were some really amazing moments.

[zircona1]

I saw Ben Folds Five years ago, it was a good show. I still enjoy their albums, but I haven't followed Folds as a solo artist. Not really a fan of his brand of humor - nothing that he's done that is supposed to be funny has ever made me laugh.

[chairmenmeow47]

i waited at macayo’s across the bridge from the marquee for the show to start while amy drove to meet me. she called to say there was another dust storm. she drove us over to the show because of the weather and something was wrong with her foot. i don’t normally get up front for a show, but this was ben folds so we got there just after 7. i couldn’t stop singing hiroshima “they’re watching me, watching me, fall” and i heard some other girl in the bathroom singing it too. song of the day i guess.

bought a shirt, tore down a poster & drank some beer until the show started. people probably thought i was crazy for wearing the marry me ben folds shirt, but i don’t care. i was never into teen beat. ben on the other hand deserves the attention for his immense talent.





a tiny little asian guy in a tie named kenton chen opened for ben. kenton was on that show sing off where ben folds was a job. kenton just walked on stage and started acapella singing “angel” by sarah mclachlan. it was freaking adorable. then he did toxic by britney spears. he had one of those machines that you sing a few notes into and it repeats the notes over and over again. his voice was splendid. he had a great smile too. he sang a few of his own songs which were pretty good. one was a song based on that “go gently into the night” poem by dylan Thompson, which he had written for a friend with a terminal illness. then he sang a song called “take me home” or something about one night stands.





after his set, it was time to wait for ben. when he finally walked out on stage i thought i might actually rush the stage to hug him. we were pretty close, but not like right against the rail or anything. i also made sure we were on the side by the piano i’m posting some pics of ben throughout this review, but no idea what part of the show these are at:



he opened with that new song about bristol palin’s man which was entertaining. the crowd seemed to be loving him. he did a few lonely avenue songs throughout the set, though i admit i do not have the album yet. the first song i really loved was gone. i even took some video:

http://www.facebook.com/v/255917861089869

it’s hard not to sing along at a ben folds show. it’s so fun. and he’s so unpretentious that you don’t feel like you’re stepping on his toes. not to mention all the harmonies. even though he played tucson the night before, he had to fly to nashville to work on a song and then come back for the show, so he was kinda loopy & tired. ben seemed confused by the dust storm and did a song called rock this bitch about it:



he then went on some tangent about how he never really comes to the southwest, much like bruce springsteen. he started mimicking springsteen, but stopped because he felt embarrassed cause he apparently has a lot of respect for the guy. he also covered a kesha song called sleazy or something. he said they all wanted to do the number one song on itunes, which when they checked it was that song, but only for a few hours, it was cute.



sentimental guy was good; i liked it a lot more live than on album. you to thank was great. the piano on that song is pretty fucking brilliant if you ask me and i can’t tell you how happy i was to be close enough to see him working his magic on the keys. my god can that small little man PLAY!





at some point, amy pointed out there was room a little closer and center, so i moved up there. these two young teenage girls next to me seemed annoyed by my presence and were laughing at me and my shirt and my dancing and singing, but i don’t care. everyone around by them were singing and dancing around, so why they were even there i don’t know.

still fighting it, effington, and you don’t know me were all good; even with out regina. the crowd filled in nicely. annie waits was FANTASTIC! that piano intro is so strong. i noticed a lot of the people around me were much younger and seemed to know more of the way to normal albums and less of the older stuff; so i was kinda singing solo there. philosophy was good; more people singing along to that. i really love the vocals on the bitch went nuts for some reason.

zak and sara was phenomenal. everyone went wild. FINALLY another girl joined me up front and we both found ourselves leaning in together to sing the “she told the friendly salesman that, you’ll all die in your cars, and why’s it gotta be dark, and you’re all working in a submariiiiine” part! i was happy when she came up front and livened things up. the chick also had a pretty good harmony on some of the songs. at one point i had put my hands in the air and i THOUGHT ben ACTUALLY waved at me, but it was during the "and make it possible for all white boys to dance" part and the guy behind me was white and dancing, so it was probably a wave to him ben picked up his small keyboard even and played it sideways. cause ya know, ben is so awesome he has a piano AND a synth



landed & bastard were some of my favourites of the night. the piano part to landed has a way of calming my heart. everyone sang along to that. it was beautiful. i love the piano parts of bastard too and the lyrics are so spot on; fucking fantastic. i wish more people would have been singing along to that.

he really did not do much off whatever & ever amen. just brick & kate. my god was kate FUN! probably the best one all night. at boarding school, there was a girl named kate who was a super friendly pothead that always smiled and even though we were never close, i always think of her when I hear the song. he did army which was good. i haven’t listened to reinhold messner in AGES. i do wish we had gotten one of my favourite songs of all time, narcolepsy i actually had a dream last night that i asked ben why he didn't play it and he said his fingers were tired. so maybe that's why lol.

after army was the encore. people were screaming. ben came out and did the luckiest. i sang aloud extra loudly for carrie it’s honestly not really my favourite song. i was a little annoyed at how much the crowd talked during fred jones pt.2, brick & the luckiest. and also how much they were yelling out requests. but it wasn’t TOO bad.

he started talking about the dust again and went into dust in the wind which was hilarious, but he didn’t know the words so he switched to carry on my wayward son. both cracked me up i also took video of this, but my singing might get in the way of your enjoyment lol

http://www.facebook.com/v/256198501061805

they closed with not the same which was great. ben conducted everyone into harmony. it was a fun way to close the show. even without narcolepsy, cigarette, or dr. yang it was the best concert i had ever been to. their catalogue is so great. even the few songs i had never heard and the stuff i don’t always obsess over on album was fabulous. amy left at some point during the show, and i walked across the bridge with glee to my car. my 12 year dream had been fulfilled and it was everything i could have hoped for. thank you ben folds <3



p.s. also good to see tim (fasttrack) and glad lizard had a good time!

p.P.s. THE shirt...



back of the shirt:

[LickTheLizzard]

excellent write-up. i definitely saw you up in front of Ben. i have to admit i'm not extremely familiar with his catalog, but it was such a great show. i think fred jones pt. 2 into brick was my favorite part.

[chairmenmeow47]

ben folds five has added west coast tour dates! from their email...

Ben Folds Five hits the west coast with a string of dates in late January through early February. Pre-sale tickets will be available Tuesday, November 13th at 10 a.m. local venue time at http://tix.concertmaps.com/benfoldsfive/.

The general on-sale for all dates (except Denver) will start this Friday, November 16th at 10 a.m. local venue time. The general on-sale for Denver will begin on Saturday, November 17th.

Wed Jan 23, 2013 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
Sat Jan 26, 2013 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern Theatre
Sun Jan 27, 2013 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
Tue Jan 29, 2013 - Anaheim, CA - House of Blues
Thu Jan 31, 2013 - San Francisco, CA - The Warfield Theatre
Mon Feb 4, 2013 - Seattle, WA - Showbox at the Market

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Tried for the Wiltern presale today. Regular tickets were gone instantly right at 10am. The "Early entry and exclusive t-shirt" packages were available for 8 minutes, which leads me to blieve they allocated most of the tickets for those. They want $120 for this, whereas the regular GA tickets are $45. I am not paying fucking $75 on top of an already expensive ticket for a t-shirt and the ability to enter into the venue early. WTF. I'll do my best on friday, I really want to see this!

[chairmenmeow47]

wow, $120? thanks for telling me cause i couldn't find prices on that. $45 is much more my speed. i feel ok not being front and center since i saw them earlier this year. i will also be trying my luck on friday. it kinda sucks there's only one tour date that i can swing because i can't take vacation time off work.

[chairmenmeow47]

um, somehow i was able to by GA tickets this morning. give it a shot, drinkey!

[chairmenmeow47]

hahaha, my first boyfriend ever got me into ben folds five. he wants to go to the wiltern show with me. life has come full circle!!!

i have a few friends who will let me stay with them, but i reserved a room at the ramada nearby just in case. it may be easier than trying to coordinate people giving me rides.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

My girlfriend pulled two pit tickets!

[chairmenmeow47]

luckyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

[chairmenmeow47]

my flight is booked, w00t! i'll be in town the evening of friday the 25th and am leaving the afternoon of sunday the 27th. i'll prolly get in line early on saturday to try to get a good spot. anyone else who is going should hit me up! i will be seeing friends, but would also be down to possibly meet for drinks or something.

[algunz]

Is it sold out?

[chairmenmeow47]

i just pulled two mezzanine tickets on live nation:

http://www.ticketmaster.com/partner_...S:869242:73790

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Definitely down for meet-ups! We won't be standing in line since we were able to score pit tickets though.

[chairmenmeow47]

WELL PIN A ROSE ON YOUR NOSE!

i'll hit you up on facebook

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

hahaha

heather lives 3 blocks from the Wiltern, so we'll be in the area all day!

[chairmenmeow47]

pre-show meet-up event created on facebook. inquire with ivysaur