The performance came a few months into Folds’s lengthy “Paper Airplane Request” tour, which operates exactly how it sounds: after a planned setlist of eleven songs mixing his staples with some cuts off 2015’s “So There” album, fans are encouraged to write down song titles, fold them into paper airplanes and then launch them toward the stage in the hopes that Folds will play the requested songs. As he began pounding away at the drum, Folds chased the stagehand stage left then took a seat at a stool as his crew built a drum kit around him, enabling a fairly impressive drum solo. Highlights were plentiful, though standouts from my perspective - that of a Folds live show veteran - were “Still Fighting It,” given a gorgeous vocal harmony from opener Tall Heights’ two frontmen, and “Capable of Anything,” an elaborately-orchestrated studio track rendered piano barn-burner in the set.Īnother new surprise in the show came at the end of the planned set, with Folds tacking on a several-minute drum solo onto 1997’s “Steven’s Last Night in Town.” At the song’s conclusion, a stagehand brought a single drum over to Folds’s piano. Fans of Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and Sylvan Esso may enjoy their work, which - though performed well - was quite boring to this reviewer.įeaturing Folds performing solo with his Yamaha grand piano under house stage lighting, Thursday’s show drew pretty evenly from both his solo catalog and that of Ben Folds Five. The band’s aesthetic - marked by the instrumentation of drums, acoustic guitar, cello, synthesizer and harmonized vocals - made for some extremely pretty music. Prior to Folds taking the stage, Boston-based folk-pop trio Tall Heights performed a 35-minute set of acoustic-based music. Since the band’s final tour in 2000 - except for a 2012-2013 reunion tour - Folds has maintained a fruitful solo career, releasing five full-length albums and touring almost constantly. Singer, songwriter and pianist Ben Folds played a wildly entertaining set at Express Live Thursday night, blending a boisterous musical performance of his highly melodic songs with his trademark brand of storytelling, improvisation and witty banter for more than two hours.įolds’s brand of piano-based power-pop found commercial success in the late 90s via radio hits “Brick” and “Army” by namesake trio Ben Folds Five, which was named for alliterative, rather than numerically accurate, purposes. Fans threw paper airplanes inscribed with song requests on stage for Folds to play as a part of his Paper Airplane Request Tour. Singer-songwriter Ben Folds performs on the piano while singing at Express Live on Oct.
0 kommentar(er)
