Croc-in' The Suburbs
Ben Folds in one of my all-time favorite artists. The way he can make a piano rock as hard as any guitar, but also his mastery of conveying so many emotions in his songs from comedy to tragedy.
I don't go to a lot of concerts, but I've seen Ben something like 6 times. When I got a notice that he was playing in Modesto, I wasn't necessarily going to go since it was 90 minutes away, until I noticed that they were selling VIP packages..... where you could meet Ben.
I've always wanted to meet him, but chances to do that for any established artist are few and far between. The tickets were steep ($280) but it seemed like my best chance to ever talk to the man, so I went for it.
Last night was the concert, and since I knew that I'd get a photo op, I'd decided I would try to get a photo in suit with Ben, or at least partial since trying to get into full suit with a limited amount of time seemed perhaps not the best idea. I'd spent most of a week trying to rehearse what I'd say to one of my musical idols, and hadn't really figured it out yet.
About 20 people had apparently purchased the VIP package, and we were let into the roughly 1000 seat theater to sit in the first two rows where Ben and a music teacher moderator were sitting on stage. I sat in the first row, right in front of Ben. He looked a lot like Hugh Laurie in House with his beard.
The Q & A was interesting, and I did get a chance to ask Ben a question about the fact that he collaborates a lot with other musicians, and was that because it was easier to write songs with others, or more because it was more fun and enjoyable to work with people he admired. He said that he viewed most of his work as a collaboration because even when he was doing "solo" work he still had to work with his studio musicians or producers, etc.
The last question of the day came from a woman who stood up and said that she had come a very long way for the event (London, Shanghai, can't remember but it was far) because the event was titled "Ben Folds Master Class" and she thought that meant you'd get to play your work for Ben and get a critique (which is what a master class is, but this was clearly explained to be more of a Q & A session).
Even though time was limited, Ben was very gracious in allowing this woman to play her song on the piano which was already set up on the stage. It was actually really good, and everyone applauded robustly when she finished, and Ben even gave a fairly comprehensive if somewhat confusing assessment.
Apparently, the woman is Kate Torralba, and the song was Pictures, and she's been performing it elsewhere for a while, cause I found this YouTube video of her performing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf1Hmjpq7mY - definitely worth checking out!
After the impromptu performance, things were running a bit behind and the meet & greet photo op portion started. I decided to go to the end of the line, since it might take me slightly longer than others to get ready, plus I was hoping to draw as little attention as possible. The woman next to me was very curious about what I had it the bag, and when I told her it was a gator, she had eighty million questions about it, so I constructed a story that was sort of true while steering away from furry. Fortunately I enlisted her to help take a photo.
Finally it was my turn, and since curious woman seemed a little nervous about how long I was going to take to get my costume on (all 10 whole seconds of that) I abandoned my plan of introducing myself and saying a few words before suiting up and just put my paws on before walking up to Ben and shaking his hand. Ben said "oh, I just thought you had a phobia about shaking hands."
I said something about "can I get a photo in costume...in honor of Halloween" or something I can't even remember while putting the head on quickly. There was a person with a real camera taking pics so they could be posted after the event, which was considerate of them but also probably intended as a time-saving measure.
Ben said something about once losing a race to someone in a costume, but I was too focused on making sure everything was right to catch exactly what it was. It was all happening so fast, and there would be no time for any the conversations I'd rehearsed in my head. I heard someone I couldn't see say "are you sure that's just a [Halloween] costume" but I didn't hear the F word.
I quickly grabbed the black and white photo of Ben they'd given us to have signed and asked Ben to sign it to Croc. He started to write K and I said "you know, like a crocodile". Let's just say it was not the neatest of autographs.
And just like that it was done. I grabbed my phone from the woman I'd given it to take a photo just in case something happened to the main photo and made my way offstage before even taking my head off, which caused a few people alarm that maybe I couldn't see where I was going. Amateurs. ;)
Then it was immediately onto soundcheck, where Ben decided he would take requests and then play about a minute of each. I had wanted to hear Ben play the soundtrack song "Air" forever, but he never did, so I yelled it out and he gamely attempted it. Amusingly he had to fumble through it at first and then midway through the first verse forgot all the lyrics, so he started making them up "..can't re-mem-ber all the...ly-rics.." It wouldn't be the first time he fumbled with one of his songs, but I found that strangely endearing instead of frustrating. Because of the relatively intimate setting it felt sort of like hanging out with a good friend who is messing around on the piano.
They ushered us out of the theater to finish up soundcheck, so I had about 30 minutes to kill and couldn't use my phone because it was running low on battery and I still needed it to give me directions home.
The opening act was a nice, handsome guy from Modesto named Aaron Durr. He played his set on an electric keyboard instead of the piano, and his music was funky, soulful pop. I liked all of his songs, "16 Seconds", "Smart Girl" and "Get Up Get Out". It was pretty short set and then Ben came out.
"I made it out to Modesto about once every 12 years," he said. "Just like some of you." This got a big laugh, since Modesto is not exactly conveniently located next to other major cities. He played 2 sets of about 10 songs a piece and frequently gave little stories before songs.
Capable of Anything
Annie Waits
The Last Polka
Selfless, Cold & Composed
Bastard
Not A Fan
Ben told a story about earlier in his career, when a fan had somehow gotten past security right before one of his shows to inquire about the meaning "Brick". The guy was covered in tattoos and muscular, and said he was not a fan, but his girlfriend was. A short awkward conversation ensued and suddenly he did something and Ben's manager/security grabbed the guy, who apparently had a knife. Since Ben wasn't stabbed, they played the show. Everyone assumed he would play Brick here, but instead he played a song from his most recent album called "Not A Fan".
The Bitch Went Nuts (Fake)
Since we live in an age where every anticipated album is leaked prior to the actual release date, Ben, on a plane after a few drinks, decided they'd make a fake album to intentionally leak, with whatever bad lyrics he could think up. He booked a studio in Ireland when he landed and spent about 2 hours per song making "fake" versions of several real songs that already existed. One of them was "The Bitch Went Nuts". It should be said that the fake version is a pretty funny joke about a professional conservative lawyer who decides to bring a Starbucks barista to his law firm's holiday party where she is offered coke and goes on a rant, but the real version is musically far superior. It still made for a really fun story though, I've never heard an audience laugh so much during a pop song.
Zak & Sara
Landed
You Don't Know Me
Uncle Walter
The first set ended and Ben explained that for the second set, they would have pieces of paper outside for fans to write song requests on, which they would then fold into paper airplanes and throw toward the stage. Ben would randomly choose planes from the stage to determine his 2nd half set list.
Mess
Still Fighting It
The Luckiest
Army
November Rain
Ben apparently did not know the song by Guns-n-Roses, but that never stops him from playing a song. He made up his own version, consisting mainly of repeating the title in various ways, although he got a laugh when he threw in a joke about how it never rains in November or any other month in California. After the brief song ended, he decided he wasn't quite done with it yet and taught the audience a 3 part harmony which he then played a bit more over. It should be noted that these made up songs are one of the most popular parts of Ben's concerts.
Gracie
Not The Same
Draw A Crowd
Ben had to go back to his huge notebook of songs to remember this track from his last album with Ben Folds Five (which was probably the best one from it). I actually didn't remember it at first but I'm not sure if that was because he wasn't quite playing it right. He joked that his attempt was not good enough to count toward the set list.
Effington
One Angry Dwarf & 200 Solemn Faces
What Is Your Room Number
For the last song in the second set, Ben said "This isn't a song, but..." and immediately made up a song with lyrics about how it was the last song and he enjoyed playing to Modesto and the chorus was "the note said.... What.......is.......your......rooooom number.." which got a huge laugh.
Ben thanked the audience, bowed and left. The audience applauded wildly until he came back for a one song encore, the fan favorite "Kate". Toward the second half I heard many of the people near me singing along, but the speaker was directly in front of us so you could safely sing as loud as you wanted and people would barely be able to hear it. It felt more fun to be able to sing, especially during the parts where the backup vocals couldn't be sung by Ben so the audience did it.
And then the concert was over, and I left quickly as I still had to make the 90 minute drive home. It was an awesome experience, and I'd probably do it again if he came back in the future. I highly recommend if you ever have the chance to meet one of your musical idols that you do so, even if the price feels a little prohibitive. It's so worth it. :)
I don't go to a lot of concerts, but I've seen Ben something like 6 times. When I got a notice that he was playing in Modesto, I wasn't necessarily going to go since it was 90 minutes away, until I noticed that they were selling VIP packages..... where you could meet Ben.
I've always wanted to meet him, but chances to do that for any established artist are few and far between. The tickets were steep ($280) but it seemed like my best chance to ever talk to the man, so I went for it.
Last night was the concert, and since I knew that I'd get a photo op, I'd decided I would try to get a photo in suit with Ben, or at least partial since trying to get into full suit with a limited amount of time seemed perhaps not the best idea. I'd spent most of a week trying to rehearse what I'd say to one of my musical idols, and hadn't really figured it out yet.
About 20 people had apparently purchased the VIP package, and we were let into the roughly 1000 seat theater to sit in the first two rows where Ben and a music teacher moderator were sitting on stage. I sat in the first row, right in front of Ben. He looked a lot like Hugh Laurie in House with his beard.
The Q & A was interesting, and I did get a chance to ask Ben a question about the fact that he collaborates a lot with other musicians, and was that because it was easier to write songs with others, or more because it was more fun and enjoyable to work with people he admired. He said that he viewed most of his work as a collaboration because even when he was doing "solo" work he still had to work with his studio musicians or producers, etc.
The last question of the day came from a woman who stood up and said that she had come a very long way for the event (London, Shanghai, can't remember but it was far) because the event was titled "Ben Folds Master Class" and she thought that meant you'd get to play your work for Ben and get a critique (which is what a master class is, but this was clearly explained to be more of a Q & A session).
Even though time was limited, Ben was very gracious in allowing this woman to play her song on the piano which was already set up on the stage. It was actually really good, and everyone applauded robustly when she finished, and Ben even gave a fairly comprehensive if somewhat confusing assessment.
Apparently, the woman is Kate Torralba, and the song was Pictures, and she's been performing it elsewhere for a while, cause I found this YouTube video of her performing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf1Hmjpq7mY - definitely worth checking out!
After the impromptu performance, things were running a bit behind and the meet & greet photo op portion started. I decided to go to the end of the line, since it might take me slightly longer than others to get ready, plus I was hoping to draw as little attention as possible. The woman next to me was very curious about what I had it the bag, and when I told her it was a gator, she had eighty million questions about it, so I constructed a story that was sort of true while steering away from furry. Fortunately I enlisted her to help take a photo.
Finally it was my turn, and since curious woman seemed a little nervous about how long I was going to take to get my costume on (all 10 whole seconds of that) I abandoned my plan of introducing myself and saying a few words before suiting up and just put my paws on before walking up to Ben and shaking his hand. Ben said "oh, I just thought you had a phobia about shaking hands."
I said something about "can I get a photo in costume...in honor of Halloween" or something I can't even remember while putting the head on quickly. There was a person with a real camera taking pics so they could be posted after the event, which was considerate of them but also probably intended as a time-saving measure.
Ben said something about once losing a race to someone in a costume, but I was too focused on making sure everything was right to catch exactly what it was. It was all happening so fast, and there would be no time for any the conversations I'd rehearsed in my head. I heard someone I couldn't see say "are you sure that's just a [Halloween] costume" but I didn't hear the F word.
I quickly grabbed the black and white photo of Ben they'd given us to have signed and asked Ben to sign it to Croc. He started to write K and I said "you know, like a crocodile". Let's just say it was not the neatest of autographs.
And just like that it was done. I grabbed my phone from the woman I'd given it to take a photo just in case something happened to the main photo and made my way offstage before even taking my head off, which caused a few people alarm that maybe I couldn't see where I was going. Amateurs. ;)
Then it was immediately onto soundcheck, where Ben decided he would take requests and then play about a minute of each. I had wanted to hear Ben play the soundtrack song "Air" forever, but he never did, so I yelled it out and he gamely attempted it. Amusingly he had to fumble through it at first and then midway through the first verse forgot all the lyrics, so he started making them up "..can't re-mem-ber all the...ly-rics.." It wouldn't be the first time he fumbled with one of his songs, but I found that strangely endearing instead of frustrating. Because of the relatively intimate setting it felt sort of like hanging out with a good friend who is messing around on the piano.
They ushered us out of the theater to finish up soundcheck, so I had about 30 minutes to kill and couldn't use my phone because it was running low on battery and I still needed it to give me directions home.
The opening act was a nice, handsome guy from Modesto named Aaron Durr. He played his set on an electric keyboard instead of the piano, and his music was funky, soulful pop. I liked all of his songs, "16 Seconds", "Smart Girl" and "Get Up Get Out". It was pretty short set and then Ben came out.
"I made it out to Modesto about once every 12 years," he said. "Just like some of you." This got a big laugh, since Modesto is not exactly conveniently located next to other major cities. He played 2 sets of about 10 songs a piece and frequently gave little stories before songs.
Capable of Anything
Annie Waits
The Last Polka
Selfless, Cold & Composed
Bastard
Not A Fan
Ben told a story about earlier in his career, when a fan had somehow gotten past security right before one of his shows to inquire about the meaning "Brick". The guy was covered in tattoos and muscular, and said he was not a fan, but his girlfriend was. A short awkward conversation ensued and suddenly he did something and Ben's manager/security grabbed the guy, who apparently had a knife. Since Ben wasn't stabbed, they played the show. Everyone assumed he would play Brick here, but instead he played a song from his most recent album called "Not A Fan".
The Bitch Went Nuts (Fake)
Since we live in an age where every anticipated album is leaked prior to the actual release date, Ben, on a plane after a few drinks, decided they'd make a fake album to intentionally leak, with whatever bad lyrics he could think up. He booked a studio in Ireland when he landed and spent about 2 hours per song making "fake" versions of several real songs that already existed. One of them was "The Bitch Went Nuts". It should be said that the fake version is a pretty funny joke about a professional conservative lawyer who decides to bring a Starbucks barista to his law firm's holiday party where she is offered coke and goes on a rant, but the real version is musically far superior. It still made for a really fun story though, I've never heard an audience laugh so much during a pop song.
Zak & Sara
Landed
You Don't Know Me
Uncle Walter
The first set ended and Ben explained that for the second set, they would have pieces of paper outside for fans to write song requests on, which they would then fold into paper airplanes and throw toward the stage. Ben would randomly choose planes from the stage to determine his 2nd half set list.
Mess
Still Fighting It
The Luckiest
Army
November Rain
Ben apparently did not know the song by Guns-n-Roses, but that never stops him from playing a song. He made up his own version, consisting mainly of repeating the title in various ways, although he got a laugh when he threw in a joke about how it never rains in November or any other month in California. After the brief song ended, he decided he wasn't quite done with it yet and taught the audience a 3 part harmony which he then played a bit more over. It should be noted that these made up songs are one of the most popular parts of Ben's concerts.
Gracie
Not The Same
Draw A Crowd
Ben had to go back to his huge notebook of songs to remember this track from his last album with Ben Folds Five (which was probably the best one from it). I actually didn't remember it at first but I'm not sure if that was because he wasn't quite playing it right. He joked that his attempt was not good enough to count toward the set list.
Effington
One Angry Dwarf & 200 Solemn Faces
What Is Your Room Number
For the last song in the second set, Ben said "This isn't a song, but..." and immediately made up a song with lyrics about how it was the last song and he enjoyed playing to Modesto and the chorus was "the note said.... What.......is.......your......rooooom number.." which got a huge laugh.
Ben thanked the audience, bowed and left. The audience applauded wildly until he came back for a one song encore, the fan favorite "Kate". Toward the second half I heard many of the people near me singing along, but the speaker was directly in front of us so you could safely sing as loud as you wanted and people would barely be able to hear it. It felt more fun to be able to sing, especially during the parts where the backup vocals couldn't be sung by Ben so the audience did it.
And then the concert was over, and I left quickly as I still had to make the 90 minute drive home. It was an awesome experience, and I'd probably do it again if he came back in the future. I highly recommend if you ever have the chance to meet one of your musical idols that you do so, even if the price feels a little prohibitive. It's so worth it. :)