September 25, 2008
Ben Folds @ DAR Constitution Hall
Written and photographed by Martin Locraft
Having never seen Ben Folds before, I didn't quite know what to expect heading into last night's show at Constitution Hall. I was told that "he always brings it live" and that I should "be ready to laugh," but neither of those things were necessarily going to turn a good show into a great one. Many acts "bring it live" on a regular basis, and sometimes inserting laughter into a musical performance is akin to introducing politics – most people are there to hear the music, not what you think. As Matt Nathanson (a funny musician in his own right) eloquently said, "the rock and rollers don't need to be smart… they just gotta put a big cucumber in their pants and just kinda dance around."
All vegetables aside, Ben Folds put on a brilliant show at the stately downtown venue, introducing fans to a plethora of songs from his upcoming release, "Way To Normal", and to an encore full of mostly classic material. I don't know his catalog beyond the few radio hits he's had over the years, but the new music that I heard – actually, that everyone heard, as last night's crowd was "the first to hear all [their] new shit" – was very impressive. Ben Folds and his bandmates provided a great mix of classically-driven piano tracks, "melodramatic pop songs" and, to maintain the status quo, songs titled "Bitch Went Nuts" and "The Frown Song."
A continuation of "Bitch Went Nuts," which Folds creatively called "Part II," got by far the biggest laughs of the night. The lyrics – about a girl that the singer took to a holiday party and who turned out to spew so much politico that he felt that when he closed his eyes, it was like "f—king Jimmy Carter" – were cheesy, but in a way that only the handsomely-geeky man in the dark-rimmed glasses could get away with.
| 
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
[ report this ]
Man, I could not disagree more. He was rude, sullen, disrespectful to the fans and self indulgent. Four songs the WHOLE night from his previous works? Rude.
[ report this ]
I've never been to a Ben concert before, but I went with friends who have been to see three or four of his shows it. We all thought it was a waste.
There was not a mix of new and old. It as all new, then a few old. Most of the songs were "fake" songs as he said. When he came back for the encore he said that the first part took a lot of "discipline".
Even just watching him, it was obvious Ben thought the first part was boring. He sat most of the time and didn't really get into it (though what does it matter, the piano was drowned out by all the other random instruments). He was standing and having a good time during the encore; the crowd did too.. while it lasted.
Seriously, it felt like a waste. As first time Ben concert goer I was disappointed (having listened to his live albums) as were my friends who have been to many of his shows.
I feel cheated.
[ report this ]
I've read DCist concert reviews before and been amazed by how much they have captured the feel of the night - the Ryan Adams review at DAR comes to mind.
I totally disagree with this review. The Ben Folds concert last night was a disappointment - all new stuff and no old favorites (till the quick encore) made for a very dry show.
[ report this ]
DAR blows. I won't go to shows there anymore after seeing it ruin so many concerts by some of my favorite musicians.
[ report this ]
I agree that while the music was technically good, as a long time Ben Folds fan (I've seen him live 5 times now), the concert last night was really disappointing.
I'm sure some of the new songs will be favs for me in the few months, but playing exclusively new songs defied why I like going to his shows. Typically they are fun sing-alongs, last night was just an ok sit-along. Boo.
[ report this ]
I admitted right off the bat that I'd never seen Ben Folds before, so forgive me for not knowing how kick-ass his concerts typically are. I did honestly think, however, that the show was great (maybe because I have nothing to compare it to).
The crowd was rather lame, but I can't tell if that was due to the "boring" set or the other way around. I thought the energy emanating from the stage was solid, and it was unfortunate that it wasn't reciprocated by the crowd.
Just my two cents. As someone who isn't outrageously familiar with his material, I thought the show was very good (and I really enjoyed a lot of the new material). If I was a die-hard fan, maybe I'd have a different opinion.
(Oh, and there are definitely worse venues than DAR. I saw Morrissey there 4 or 5 years ago and it was one of the best shows I've been to, sound quality and everything else considered.)
[ report this ]
So you guys are the lame-ass "fans" who go to show by an artist you barely know and then complain when they debut material that the real fans are ecstatic about hearing. I always wondered who the people were who sit and talk all night until the "hit" is played and then get up and act like OH MY GAWD THIS IS THE GREATEST THING EVER AND I NEED TO HOLD UP MY CELL PHONE SO MY BFF CAN HEAR HIM PLAYING (what's the name of this song? oh yeah) BRICK OH MY GAWD.
Seriously, though...how lame would it be to have seen Pink Floyd debut Dark Side Of The Moon live in concert a year before the album was released? How dare an artist debut new work before you've had the opportunity for Clear Channel to tell you that it's the new hit single.
[ report this ]
I have seen Ben Folds 7 times. I know everything he has ever released. He rarely plays Brick. I didn't think I would hear that...or Underground.
I love hearing new stuff. But to not play practically anything the crowd knows and likes is simply rude. People work hard for their money. Don't rob them.
[ report this ]
I saw Ben Folds Five open up for Beck about 10 years ago, and they were just okay. Nothing special, really. Lots of piano theatrics, and little else.
[ report this ]
I, like others here, have seen Ben Folds live a handful of times. I am not a die hard fan, but I have all of his full-length solo albums, one or two Ben Folds Five albums, two EPs by Ben Folds and The Bens (Ben Folds, Ben Kweller and Ben Lee).
I was very disappointed last night. I have seen Ben Folds play songs that no one knows yet, but he engaged the audience. He taught them part of the song so that they could sing with him. He had narrative and worked with the crowd. Last night, he did none of that. He doesn't have to play Brick to play to the fans. He could play Zak and Sara (as he did), or any number of non radio hits from his previous albums. As it is, he picked a fairly lackluster set of four songs from his previous releases.
I'm not even sure about the new album after seeing the show. There were one or two songs that I enjoyed somewhat, but there was a lot of noise for a Ben Folds album. What I like about his previous work is the simplicity of it -- you largely hear Ben singing and playing piano with a little bit of accompaniment. Last night was a lot of noise, a lot of anger and not much that you can enjoy listening to.
On top of that, I was very disturbed by the intense swirling spot light that spent most of the night shining in my eye.
[ report this ]
@doug: You are absolutely right about the "noise" in his new music
[ report this ]
MJL: DAR is the worst. That lack of energy being reciprocated back to the stage you speak of, yeah, that's DAR. It's like that at every show. It's a crap venue, and sucks the energy out of every performance.
[ report this ]
I'm a moderate fan, and have seen several Ben Folds shows, but last night was really disappointing. The venue acoustics really worked against vocals, and then they tragically over-miked the drums. I can see Ben screaming into the mike, but I can only hear drums.
So, I can put up with bad sound if I know the material and can mentally fill in the blanks. Oh, but the material hasn't been released yet, so I'm left catching snippets of piano and lyrics between bombastic drum beats. Then half the songs are the fakes; all simplistic (created and recorded in an 8 hour period), and most "trite, contrived and appallingly boring".
Then Ben just phoned in his performance.
[ report this ]
I've seen him many, many times, so I wasn't all that upset. It was good to hear new stuff. However, this was my girlfriend's first show and she was extremely disappointed. Now that I think about it, she really missed out - his performance at Warner Theater a few years ago blew me away. So much audience participation. I guess some people really got robbed.
[ report this ]
I'm down with an artist trying out the new stuff...and I enjoyed those new songs that I could remotely understand, unfortunately the DAR Hall sound sucked! Whatshername that opened even commented on the intense reverb in the room...put five guys on stage, turn it up to 11 and crank the fuzz and that room sounds like crap...
I kind of felt like we were the preview audience while they worked out the kinks, but our tix were full price...
Another venue and mixing up the set list a bit, that would have been a kick ass show...as it was...meh...
[ report this ]
@tubgin: Missy Higgins was the opener.
[ report this ]
registeringsucks: I took my significant other as well who had never seen Ben Folds before and was pretty embarrassed about the way I hyped the show and then how bored he was.
tubgin: I agree. I really enjoyed getting to be the first to preview the songs and some I quite enjoyed but I also really wish he would have thrown in a couple of older songs to perk us back up. Even an extra 3 or 4 would have sufficed.
I agree with everyone else that DAR is an energy sucker. I've been to a couple shows there and each one was kinda blah. Might also be that I just really dislike seated shows.
[ report this ]
Hardcore fan here-- I was pretty thrilled with this show. The venue blew, but I was way more excited to hear Ben perform songs I'd never seen live before rather than the same stuff he's been doing for the past 6 years (audience horn section on "Army," three part audience harmony on "Not the Same").
But the vast majority of people probably only know Ben from "Brick" and his handful of near-hits. So I can understand the disappointment... But I enjoyed every minute of it. "Free Coffee" sounded absolutely brilliant, a lot of the other new songs were pretty great live, too ("Effington" and "Cologne" being my favorites). Totally gutsy move, on his part, to perform the entire new album and the entire fake album. As a fan, I loved that.
For those who care I did an interview with Ben prior to the concert. I posted the un-edited transcript on my personal Web site here: http://www.josheiserike.com/?p=185
He basically told me that he wanted to do something different this time. If the tour had been billed as such, people might not have been so sour to it.
But-- I agree. Seated shows blow.