Thoughts on Ben Folds and Bonnaroo
The last time I saw Ben Folds perform live, I was a student at Notre Dame writing music reviews for the Observer in 1997. When I interviewed Ben, he was funny, dry and very down to earth. Eleven years later, on a Saturday afternoon at Bonnaroo, Folds seems to be pretty close to that same guy as he, at one point, stood high atop the piano to take pictures of the crowd with his vintage camera. He performed with his new three piece band, playing a set of some outstanding original music punctuated with a hilariously melodramatic tongue-in-cheek version of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't to Me." While Folds is certainly most renowned for his versatile chops on the acoustic piano, he also threw in some electronic sounds to mix it up during this set, using a wah-infused electronic clavinet tone to create a funky, syncopated riff that felt like more of a dance party than what you might usually expect at a Ben Folds show. One technique that I particularly enjoyed was something called the prepared piano. To "prepare" a piano, you can basically use any sort of found object and place it atop, between or below the strings to add percussion, dampening or whatever sort of weird effect that can be generated from placing strange things on piano strings. Folds did this for one piece with sonically impressive, if not entertaining results. Other highlights of the set included "Landed," "," "Army," and a new tune called "Free Coffee." It was also very interesting to hear some songs I have taught my private keyboard students played with a full band for the first time. Very funny when you see something live and its new, yet you know all of the words!
Joel
Rawking out to Ben
Ben standing on his piano to take a picture of the crowd