Ben Folds at the Orpheum, September 26, 2008
By MEGAN V. BELL | January 28, 2010
ALTOIDS, ANYONE? Folds was exasperating, yes, but you can’t say his show wasn’t creative. |
“You are in the elite first wave of people to hear this stuff,” Ben Folds told us Friday night with a smirk, possibly no longer able to be serious on stage after nearly two decades of tongue planted firmly in cheek.
Or it could have been nerves: after a pair of songs from Way to Normal (due for release from Epic four days after the show), Folds explained the format of the rest of the concert. The first hour would consist of new material, some from the album and some “fake” knockoffs of those same songs, all composed within a week and leaked on-line. Odd? Definitely. Annoying? Yes — especially when Folds called these “fake” versions “boneheaded” and warned us that the format hadn’t gone over so well in DC a few nights back. It grew exasperating to hear him explain before each song whether it was real or “fake” and then tell us what it was about.
Bothersome format aside, this was one of his more creative shows. Behind him and his band (bass, drums, synth, and percussion) were projected images ranging from a crazed-looking woman screaming (a cornerstone of the Folds visual catalogue) to a meaty brain spinning in circles. Folds made a prepared piano out of Altoids tins for one new song, then ran it through a distortion pedal, giving it a futuristic, tinny bite. During “The Frown Song,” two dudes in oversized frowning masks (the depressive counterpart to the “Have a Nice Day” smiley?) inched their way out from the wings playing keytars. “You Don’t Know Me” was accompanied by a short film with Adult Swim’s Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim as an oversexed and gender-confused couple.
After a break, the band returned for amped-up versions of “Zak and Sara,” “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” “Underground,” “Landed,” and “Army”; people leapt from their seats and the balcony jiggled a tad too much for comfort. After yet another “fake” Way to Normal track (he can’t help himself!), the band left; the crowd of diehards stood and cheered for 10 minutes but were rewarded only with an encore bow — talk about a faux bonus.
Related:
Photos: Ben Folds at the Orpheum, Call it a comeback, Raising the Bar (Rock), More 
- Photos: Ben Folds at the Orpheum
- Call it a comeback
Alabama offspring Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley have been making raucous rock and roll together in one band or another for the past 23 years, about the same time it takes most offspring to grow up and get real jobs.
- Raising the Bar (Rock)
On the "Rock and Roll Means Well" tour, Drive-By Truckers and the Hold Steady upgraded their respective brands of quintessential American bar rock with a number of arena-rock trimmings.
- Andrew Bird's whistled, wily works
"Steamy, fecund, decaying, kind of mossy, woodsy . . . cloudlike, thick, saturated."
- Ben Folds | Way To Normal
His attitude may remain young at heart, but his irony’s over the hill.
- Photos: Built To Spill at the Orpheum
Built to Spill at the Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA, September 27, 2008
- Record reviewers
The problem with these “play your most revered album in full” shows that everyone from Public Enemy to Liz Phair is doing lately is that the correct answer is not always a no-brainer.
- Putting the pop into the Pops
The screams came from the second balcony at Symphony Hall on Wednesday.
- On the racks: May 16, 2006
Plus new records by Radio 4, Rock Kills Kid, and Ben Folds.
- Taking care of business
Boston is one of the healthiest markets for live roots music in the country. Here are the 10 roots shows we don't want to miss this fall.
- Tegan and Sara | Sainthood
Tegan and Sara have always been background music for staring wistfully out a coffeeshop window, in a strange city, alone, hung over and/or going on no sleep, wondering what the fuck went wrong.
- Less
Topics:
Live Reviews
, Orpheum Theatre, Eric Wareheim, Tim Heidecker, More
, Orpheum Theatre, Eric Wareheim, Tim Heidecker, Ben Folds, Ben Folds, Ben Folds, Less
