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Ben Folds at The Orpheum 9/26/08

Sep 29

RebeccaMusic Concert 2 Comments

Here’s the thing.

Ben Folds has been my go-to guy for a rollickin’ good concert for quite a few years now.  No flashy spectacle.  Lots of audience participation.  Eager to take requests.  And let’s not forget that most every concert involves a song called “Rock This Bitch” that is made up on the spot about that particular show.  In my book? This is a formula for a good time.  I have only two acts that I insist people should go see live whenever they get the chance, and Mr. Folds is one of them (the other being Ingrid Michaelson.  Run, don’t walk, folks.  I’m serious).

So when I discovered that Ben was playing the Orpheum in support of his soon to be released album Way to Normal, I bought tickets moments after they went on sale (and yet still ended up in the middle of the balcony.  Some day someone needs to explain Ticketmaster to me because I just don’t get it) and proceeded to eagerly count down the days until September 26th.

Flaws of the Orpheum aside (as I ice knees bruised from being smushed against the backs of the row of seats in front of me), I do love a small venue.  I like to watch the artist, not a video of them projected on a huge screen so I can see it from my crap seats (Tweeter Center, or whatever the hell you’re called now, I’m looking at YOU).  I took my seat, sat through Missy Higgins’s opening set, and found her to be standard girl-with-a-guitar fare, and then awaited the arrival of Mr. Ben and his band.

Opening with “Way to Normal” which anyone who has visited Folds’s site in the past few month would recognize as a short clip loops incessantly, Ben performed against a backdrop of projected skulls and brains floating in a manner similar to that stars screen saver of which Windows is so fond.  Trippy.  Not the usual Ben Folds schtick, but I’m all for artist’s exploring new ideas and shit, so right on, though I could have done without the three spot lights set at the back of the stage that proceeded to swim blindingly over the audience for most of the show with various strobe effects.

This launched into another new track, “Brainwascht”, and then another new song.  Then another.  Folds then proceeded to explain how, as a joke, he had leaked a spoof version of his own album with fake songs made to match the titles already released to the public.  When I had first read about this online sometime last month, I thought it hilarious.  With all the controversy over leaked albums, pirating, and copyright, I found a fake leak full of Ben’s often outrageous brand of humor a fantastic response.  When Folds explained that the first hour of the show would consist only of these new songs, both real and fake, only bringing out the old favorites for the encore, the joke lost some of its appeal.

This was a disappointment, to say the least.

It seems as if Ben and his band had concocted this stage show in the wee hours of the morning after more than a few bottles of whatever and found it hilarious.  But as Folds launched into elaborate explanations of the story behind each fake song and its real counterpart only to trail off with shoulder-shrugging insecurity, it seemed more and more like three shows into this tour, the joke is already proving a flop.

And if the constant traffic from the theater to the beer stands for the first hour of the show is any indication, that fear was well-founded.

That’s not to say some of these new songs weren’t good, but as they were all largely unfamiliar to an audience that won’t have this album for another week, it was hard to really get into the groove of things, and until now Ben had proved himself a master at getting an audience going.  “You Don’t Know Me”, which features Regina Spektor on the album version, has been floating around online for a couple of weeks now and received a decent response from the crowd, as did “Frown Song” though this was largely in part to two band members taking the stage with large yellow sad face masks and playing keytars.  Who can say no to a keytar? Not I.

It was only during the promised encore that the crowd reached an expected level of enthusiasm as they sang along to favorites from both Folds’s solo albums and the days of Ben Folds Five, rather impressively pulling off the two part horn section sing-a-long usually conducted by Folds without any assistance during “Army”.  However, after only a few songs, Folds concluded the evening with yet another fake song and the reappearance of those sad face masks, leaving the audience demanding more.  Which I guess is a good thing, but judging from the faces of those around me, it was less, “That was so great! I want more!” and instead a sense of, “That was it?”

What with an economy in the crapper and the price of concert tickets (and those FEES! Really, someone PLEASE explain Ticketmaster to me.  I’m not kidding), I’m going to have to think long and hard the next time I want to see Mr. Ben live if this is what I can now expect.  Pretty sad coming from someone who once stood in the rain for six hours to see him play at the Esplanade only three years ago.  Here’s hoping he can win me back.

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