24 -- Ben Folds -- Wednesday, September 24, 2008 -- DAR Constitution Hall -- DC

There are a lot of adjectives I could use to describe Ben Folds: poignant, perceptive, funny, corny, clever, etc. One adjective I never would have expected to apply is “arrogant.” Sadly, though, Folds’ arrogance took center stage at DAR Constitution Hall. The first SIXTEEN songs were tracks that no one had heard before. Twelve were from his yet-to-be-released Way to Normal album, and four were “fake” versions of the new songs that they “made up on the flight.” If he wasn’t arrogant, he was really unobservant because the audience clearly was not amused. He may have expected them to find the fake versions ‘cutting edge’ and the full album a ‘rare privilege,’ but they clearly didn’t. Their reaction was less ‘rapt silence’ than ‘rising hostility.’

Thank God, for the audience’s sake (and Folds’ safety), there was an encore. “Zak and Sara” was a perfect transition song, an infectious piece of rhythm candy that could take anyone out of the deepest malaise. “Badoodoodoodoodoodoo… Zak and Sara spelled without an ‘h’ were getting bored, on a peavey amp in 1984. Zak without a ‘c’ tried out some new guitars, playin’ Sara with no ‘h’’s favorite song…Ladadaladadaladada, Zak and Sara!”



I’m not a huge fan of the next song, “Landed,” but it was a song the audience would know, so it was a wise choice. The final song was another wise choice, “My Philosophy.” (I’m going to pretend he didn’t end with an abysmal fake version of the already abysmal “Frown Song.”) “My Philosophy” was a known song, it satisfied the need to be both moved and entertained, and it actually improved upon the original.



I should probably remove the ‘actually’ qualifier from that description because, in general, Ben Folds is a talented live performer. The decision to start with sixteen unheard tracks was incredibly dumb, but everyone was into the last three songs, and Ben Folds Live is the best live album I’ve ever heard. On the album and in the encore, he managed to do what Guster, Death Cab, and Jack Johnson couldn’t: he sold acoustic. He made minor alterations in melodies, shared insights into the creation of certain songs, and threw in more than a few witty comments. He understood that these touches enhanced, not detracted from, the songs themselves. In short, he made Soft rock.







Grade: B