Ben Folds put on a hell of a show Friday night at Cary's Booth Amphitheatre, but the front of the house may not have realized it.
The front third of the audience remained seated for the vast majority of Folds' performance, which included several brand new songs off his forthcoming album as well as old material all the way back to "Underground," off Ben Folds Five's 1995 self-titled debut.
Folds refrained from any knocks on suburbia during his two-hour concert, but he did share concern for the "duckies and turtles" surrounding the amphitheatre on Symphony Lake (yes, that's really its name).
"It's a rock show, but it's in the wilderness so they want to keep the decibel level down so we don't fuck with wildlife," Folds told the crowd early in the set. Actually, Ben, it's because the neighbors got pissy during a Poison concert a few years back, but that's a story for another time.
Folds' shows are known for their crowd participation on songs like "Army" and "Not the Same," but audience members weren't shy to cry out at other times too.
While introducing "Free Coffee," a new song, and explaining how he achieved different sounds — using Altoids tins and a distortion pedal — one particular asshole yelled out "Play the song, motherfucker!"
"I go around the world defending the south all the time," replied Folds, who appeared to be taken aback. "It's ok," he followed, "I like guys who say motherfucker."
Folds shared plenty of stories with the crowd — including an incredibly fake one about his father once blinding a woman with a liquor bottle at a .38 Special show at Walnut Creek.
Folds said he spent the earlier part of his day reminiscing in Chapel Hill. He visited his old apartment and stopped for a slice at Pepper's, where his image hangs on the wall. Only he mistook his likeness for Ryan Adams, commenting "that's one ugly motherfucker" before being corrected. "Thanks for that," he said.
The Cary crowd got its own "Rock This Bitch" moment when someone yelled out a particularly inaudible request. Folds responded by making a song up on the spot — on that ended with him flailing about the stage and (temporarily) breaking his piano (watch a part of the improv below).
Unsatisfied, dozens of fans called out for Folds and his band to play "Rock This Bitch" (a song written on the spot during the recording of Ben Folds Live, and he gave in — sort of.
"I have an idea. I'll play this song and then we won't play it again for a long time," he said before launching into the signature opening chords of "Bitches Ain't Shit," a Dr. Dre song he famously covered and released as a single.
And there, on a warm late spring night, were thousands of white people in the 'burbs singing a chorus of "Bitches can't hang with the streets." What else would you expect from a Ben Folds show?
Set List:
new song
Gone
You to Thank
Free Coffee
All U Can Eat
Landed
Hiroshima
Annie Waits
Bastard
Not the Same
Theme from "Dr. Pyser"
Still Fighting It
Army
Bitches Ain't Shit
Narcolepsy
Underground
Zak and Sara
Kate
Rockin' the Suburbs
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Effington
One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solemn Faces
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4 comments:
Just to defend the "front third" of the audience - of which I was a part - many of us tried at several points earlier in the concert to stand and fully rock. We were discouraged from this, however, by the Amphitheater staff. They were only doing their job, of course, but it appeared to be house policy to discourage standers. The audience (and Folds) did eventually band together and stand as a whole (and invite a dancing family onstage).
Standing or sitting, Folds and his band were absolutely stunning.
Great show last Friday night. I do love the venue, but it would be great for staff to use a little more discretion as to when they allow folks to stand or sit. Audience participation on a few of the sing alongs could have been a little bit better. I think we had a large part of the crowd that were there just to hear the Dre cover (meaning the ones that were in diapers when I first heard 'Underground' back in 1995) It was good to hear a varied setlist, overall a great show-band was tight, and Ben was on his game as always.
Awesome review of the show. I was standing next to the guy who screamed out that Folds should play the song. He was so drunk, but he also appeared to be the biggest Ben Folds fan. He sang to every song, but mostly was just be drunk.
There were duds in the crowd -- my kids and I were the family that Ben invited onstage after the security folks were making us sit down! Zak and Sara was just too much to sit for!
Earlier we stood right when Ben started playing, but the crowd behind us (we had a whole row) started yelling at us to sit down -- some folks just don't know what to do when they're not watching their flat screen TV.
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