aeblog

"I hope you enjoyed the show; even though I am old"

This is how Ben Folds ended his show at Avalon last night. He should have added "I hope you liked the show; even though I am a total dork". Yes, it turns out Ben is indeed an unabashed, old dork, but you gotta love him anyway for the way he plays the piano and the fun he has with his audience.
Ben played a number of songs from his new release, Songs for Silverman, as well as a slew of the old favorites we continue to love. The thing about Ben Folds is that he does only one thing but he does that thing very, very well. When I listened to Songs for Silverman for the first time, I felt like I had heard it before because it was classic Ben Folds percussive piano and lyric story-telling with a few signature harmonic shifts and catchy vocal melodies thrown in. He isn't breaking any new ground, but if you are already a fan, you won't be disappointed.
I had never seen him play live before, though I had heard live recordings. It turns out he is a very funny and engaging guy, in a - you guessed it - dorky way. Everything from loving the disco ball to improvising around a feedback issue (at 72KHz), to jumping up on top of his Baldwin baby grand (not an easy instrument to tour with) to conduct the audience through some ridiculous musical whims. I laughed a lot both with him and at him, and that felt good.
And speaking of laughing, I nearly fell down when the opening act, Corn Mo, launched into an admittedly 'totally retarded' sing-along-with-your-album death metal version of hava negila (which involved a MONSTER and a crap load of screaming). I don't think he was Jewish.

Mainly I liked the show because it made me feel like perhaps I am not too old or too much of a dork to ever be a rock star. What do you think?