Ben Folds at the TabernacleJust writing to recap my experience seeing him last night.My girlfriend Liz and I got to the Tabernacle around 4 and decided to go to Ted's Montana Grill up the street and have some dinner. After some awesome chili fries some dinner and a shake we went to secure our place in line at the venue. We stood out front waiting and in the meantime made friends with the nice couple standing behind us. They had driven down from VA to see him. About 40 minutes before the doors opened, red cross guys were walking down the line checking IDs and giving "21" bracelets out. They saw that Liz is in a wheelchair and told us they would take us around backstage for her to get in and that they had a special spot for us right up front. We brought our new friends Josh and Rachel with us. We had to wait outside in back of the venue next to Ben's tourbus until the doors up front opened. We made light conversation during which the hypothetical question came up, "If Ben turned to you in the middle of his set and said "What song should I play next what do you say?" My girlfriend asked this because she was worried that with her limited knowledge of his songs she would have to say "Brick", which would simply be awful and embarassing. I had mentioned "Emaline" would be a great song to which everyone agreed. We were ushered in through backstage once the front doors had opened and Liz and I found ourselves in a fairly large corral at the front left corner of the stage. We were told only one of us could stay with Liz because they expected more people in wheelchairs to show up and need the space. Josh and Rachel were able to find a spot just outside of the corral right next to us though. Zach Williams as the opening act was impressive. I wish people were more respectful to opening acts. The chatter in the crowd was very audible while he was playing his heart out on stage. After Zach finished his set we waited until 9 when "One (is the loneliest number)" started playing. At the end, Ben came on stage and started playing his set. I think the set started out really slow. I think he's contractually obligated to play certain songs at every gig. After he completed these songs he talked about how he felt really free now that they were out of the way. In the middle of a quiet lull I screamed "Kick some ass!" in hopes of prompting him to write a piece on the spot a la Rock This Bitch. Nothing at that point, but a few songs later he started talking about starting out playing small gigs where people would request he play some Steve Miller Band or something, when another guy in the crowd joined me by yelling, "Freebird" at which point Ben said, "Yeah, that's a song too." and began playing his own rendition of the song that then segued into an impromptu song about the five charlottes, rockin' this bitch, learning to kick some ass, and an ass on a stick. If leaning against the stage 15 ft behind him, being in front of the front row, and having something I yelled out worked into a line of a song he made up on the spot weren't enough, later in the set he said something to the effect of, "I heard some nice people outside of the gate say they wanted to hear this song. Let's see if I can remember it." and then proceeded to play Emaline. The rest of the set was icing. The encore was Bitches Ain't Shit and One Angry Dwarf. The whole night was simply amazing. Best concert ever. I really hope to find a recording of the whole thing. If anyone finds one be sure to let me know. Cheers. |
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