Lonely Avenue Tour Poster that I now own
Last night as a Christmas/Anniversary present I went to see the mighty Ben Folds at Hammersmith Apollo. I am generally terrible at reviewing things, without sounding repetitive and boring, or just saying yeah it was amazing but not really backing up how or why. I decided to drive the batmobile, because its cheaper, I have a satnav and there isn't much I hate more than the tube/train ride home after a gig. All I want to do is sit down and go home. I drove into Hammersmith with relative ease, found a carpark that only charge £1.50 an hour and a two minute walk to the Apollo. The first thing I noticed was that no one had got dressed up for the gig, I felt really out of place in my Henry Holland tights and over sized plait shirt, in a line with late 30 something men with geek glasses and sensible shoes. The second thing I noticed was that all the men looked just like Ben Folds. I chose to ignore this scary children of the corn-esque feeling and bought my over priced lemonade and gin for my boyfriend.
Ben Folds was performing his songs from his new album Lonely Avenue, a collaboration between him and Nick Hornby where according to Ben himself, were created over email, with Nick Hornby emailing lyrics, and Ben putting music with them then emailing the finished article. I have only ever read Fever Pitch which was on my Dads bookshelf, (confusing as he is a MASSIVE West Ham fan) and High Fidelity, and that if I am going to confess was only because the film is one of my favourites.
Ben Folds rocking out at his piano
I hadn't really listened to the album at all. Ever since Songs for Silverman, which I really didn't enjoy, landed was all over the radio and I hated it, it had no standout track and was just not the Ben Folds I loved, I kind of lost interest in Ben Folds after it. Even his 2008 'Way to Normal' wasn't much improvement. It was clearly an angry album I think about his divorce, and the rest of the songs were a bit silly, aside from a song with Regina Spektor, who I really don't get. Saying that, the song brainwashcht is one of my most played songs on my itunes, and 'cologne' made me cry an awful lot, and was able to sum up how I felt about the break up I had at the time. His music has definatley matured since Ben Folds Five and Rocking the Suburbs, and not in a direction I enjoyed, but I have given Lonely Avenue some time to listen to now, and I really love it.
The gig opened with Kate Miller-Heidke, whom I had never heard of before, I managed to sit down hearing her say "this song is about how I was born in the wrong decade" a pet hate of mine. It sort of made me hate her after that but she is a trained opera singer, and I warmed to her, as she reminded me a bit of Kate Bush signing style and Ben Folds with her funny song about ex's adding her on facebook "at times it really felt as though the pain was here to stay// and now you want to be my friend on facebook are you fucking kidding me?"
Mainly songs from his Lonely Avenue and the last two albums, it was still a privilege to see Ben Folds last night. I like ~artists~ who interact with their fans. Ben Folds has always done that, there were a handful of photographers at the front of the stage, and he invited them to come up on the stage and take photos from different angles, and he said it is always really fucking boring looking at pictures of him playing the piano. He threw his little piano stool at the piano, the drummer dragged himself over his drum kit, then Ben jumped on to and off his piano. Later he went on to cover Kei$ha's (am I doing that $ right?) song 'sleazy' on the piano, which in my opinion is some feat and was absolutely hilarious, but he didn't do Bitches aint Shit which was a bit of a let down. He also did a Ben Folds Five song called 'Mess' as someone he met on the street had requested it, having not played it for a very long time he forgot the lyrics half way through, but the audience managed to remind him, whilst making himself even more lovable.
Ben Folds making his concert look more interesting for the photographers
The absolutely spine tingling moment was when he got the audience to sing this almost angelic parts of 'gone' which wouldn't make much sense unless you knew the song, and the ba ba baaaahs of Army, which I got really enthusiastic about and got a bit out of place with my bahhhss and the FUCKS from Rocking the Suburbs. Saving his best songs for last and encore, he finished with 'Kate' and encored to 'Underground' 'Not the Same' 'Rockin the Suburbs' and finally 'Army.'
Despite Ben and his fan base both maturing, I still loved every single second of it. Most of my favourite bands I will never get to see, as Mike Patton is crooning weird Italian pop songs and not even thinking of doing Mr Bungle again, Perry Farrell won't be doing Porno for Pyros, and Kurt Cobain is dead. The rest are too old and it just wouldn't be the same. So I relish this rare opportunity to see my favourite alive artist still in his element.
For those of you who are massive geeks like myself, here is the set list.
- Levi Johnston's Blues
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- Belinda
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- You to Thank
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- You Don't Know Me (w/ Kate Miller-Heidke)
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- Rockin the Suburbs
- Army
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