Ben Folds must have been a very good boy this Christmas.
A pretty expensive looking synthesiser, took pride of place on the stage on Ben's "Tour de Farce" show. Before you start to panic though, Ben and his band aren't going all weird and eighties on us. As one of the doyens of geek-rock, he just probably wanted to show off his latest toy.
For those not in the know, Ben Folds (and previous "punk for sissies" outfit Ben Folds Five) have been on the rock scene for many years now. His songs about girls who look like Axl Rose, fat obnoxious Americans and goths trying to find acceptance have won the hearts of nerds and dweebs worldwide, and he has built up somewhat of a cult following. His latest album "supersunnyspeedgraphic", an amalgamalm of three recent EPs has proved that he has become a little bit more grown up over time, but isn't quite ready to don his fluffy slippers just yet.
Two great things about Ben's gigs. Number one: the playlist is never the same. Although a handful of old fan favourites such as "Army" (which everyone is expected to sing along to or else be cast out of the venue in morbid shame) and "Brick" always make the cut, you never know what tunes he is going to bash out on his trusty piano, and the band is always happy to play a few drunken audience requests too. Number two: The banter is always good. A lot of acts that have been around for as long a time as Ben usually moodily bash their way through a couple of songs, and then stomp off back to their tour bus and groupies. Between songs, Ben lovingly showed the audience his synthesiser, complained about the trampolines hung up on the stage, eagerly showed off on his piano and admitted that he always called Mancunians "Manchurians" by mistake. The silly boy.
Anyway, at running the risk of waxing lyrical - great gig, good support act and the beer was relatively tolerable. If you like piano-based music and find the likes of Keane and Coldplay a little bit boring, then Ben and his piano might be just the remedy.
Just don't mess with his synthesizer, whatever you do.
What next?More by Ben Folds? More gigs? More pop, or indie?