|
|
| Sunday, May 15, 2005 11:25 PM |
| Thoughts on a Concert |
 by Fëanor |
After getting off work early on Friday, I had nothing to do until my concert at 8:30 that night, and it just so happened that Super Tarzan had nothing to do either, so we roamed the city for some hours, poking our way through a used book store and a used CD store, and then strolling for a while in random circles over random streets, talking. It was a good time, and I picked up four CDs I've wanted for a while for pretty cheap.
Then it was up to the Electric Factory to see Ben Folds. First of all, fan-fucking-tastic. Mr. Folds is an unbelievable pianist (stop snickering!) and a consummate entertainer. I've seen him a couple of times and really enjoyed it, but when I saw him Friday night I had more fun than ever before. He played a good mix of songs--some from his old days with Ben Folds Five, some from his previous solo EPs and albums, and some from his most recent album (which I have yet to purchase, though I now plan to do so as soon as possible), including his re-arrangement of a Dr. Dre song. These new songs didn't totally grab me, but new songs rarely do on the first listen. I'm sure I'll settle into them soon enough after I pick up the album.
When I'd seen him last, Mr. Folds played the whole show solo--just him and his piano. He did that for the middle third of this show, as well, but for the other two thirds he played with a band--a talented bassist and drummer. He's perfectly good just by himself, but it was also fun to hear him backed up by some other fine musicians. A few other instruments can really help to fill out the sound on some of his songs.
Of course, another instrument that accompanied Folds on some of his songs was the audience itself--an instrument which, along with the piano, Folds is quite adept at playing. For one song (the fantastic "Army," off of BF5's brilliant The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner), he calls upon one half of the audience to be his horn section. I'd been part of this at his last show, and it's always a great time. It really brings you into the song and makes you feel like another member of the band, and when the song is done, you feel like you and the guys on stage have accomplished something together. It's quite a thrill. It works best when the crowd is really into the music, and this one totally was. It was a sold-out house full of die-hard fans who were singing along to every song--this atmosphere is probably what helped make it such a great show. At the end of another song in which Folds had us act as a chorus, he conducted and manipulated us with skill, making different sections of the audience go up and down the scale, and stop and start, faster and slower and in different combinations.
One thing I can't say I enjoyed about the show was the opening act (which was admittedly, no surprise; why are they always so bad?)--a dude calling himself Corn Mo. He implied that he at least sometimes is backed up by a band, but for this show it was just him, an accordion, and a keyboard. He wasn't a particularly inspired player of either instrument, and accompanied his lackluster playing by screaming pathetic, childish (or perhaps juvenile is more accurate) lyrics about peeing on people and not knowing how to score with girls and time travel. He was either mildly retarded or drunk (Ben Folds changed one repetition of the chorus of "Army"--"been thinking a lot today"--to "Corn Mo's been drinking a lot today"), or perhaps both. Of course, there's also the possibility that this was all just his stage persona, but to act like that on purpose is somehow even more pathetic than to do it because you can't help it. Some people cheered Corn Mo, but I had the distinct impression that they were cheering ironically, which is a rather strange, cruel, and postmodern thing to do, and is something I can't remember having experience before. A few employees walked around the place after Corn Mo was done his set, trying to sell his CDs--I didn't see them get any takers. I considered asking them later if they had any sales, but I didn't get around to it.
I have to admit, Corn Mo did have one good song, though--his final song, a heavy metal version of "Hava Nagila," in which the title words have been reimagined to signify a monster that is "coming to get you." Since he didn't have a band, he sang it with a CD recording of the song backing him up. It was pretty hilarious--the only funny and entertaining thing that he did.
I was going to write about the Built to Spill concert in this post as well, but I see that it's gotten pretty long already, so I'll save that for tomorrow. Good night, folks. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
