CONCERT REVIEW - BEN FOLDS & THE LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRAFor those who follow Ben Folds ardently, the idea of seeing the singer/songwriter/pianist displaying his work with a full orchestra only seems like a logical - and necessary - next step.
Folds work has always been bigger than his means of issuing it - and it could at least be speculated that this rub - creativity and aspiration that is too big for the room - is what led to the successful Ben Folds Five trio parting ways after only three albums. One only needs to listen to the highly under-appreciated final record from the group, "The Unauthorized Autobiography of Reinhold Messner," to see that the song ideas in this outfit had far progressed from the simple piano-bass-drums bar rock that had first made them a cult hit.
In fact, Folds has always loved strings. In 1997, at the trio's height, they toured with a string quartet and re-worked pieces of their then-catalogue to loftier visions. In a radio interview during this time, a commentator asked Folds, "When do we get an orchestra?"
The answer, of course, is (and has been): NOW.
Folds is currently touring a new CD, playing some dates with orchestras and others with his regular band. October 4th he took over a sold-out Whitney Hall in Louisville - three levels worth of hipster indie kids who had never been to such a venue before and proceeded to treat the opera and orchestra hall as a nightclub for the entirety of the evening.
This is not to say the irreverence wasn't fitting... If any one term captures Mr. Folds, it is that one. He didn't edit himself for the venue or setting, uttering every use of the "f-word" (and there are a lot) in his song "All U Can Eat," and even brushing off the orchestra near the end of the set to play his profane stab at the recording industry "One Down."
But he made sure to make full use of his illustrious circumstances. Classic Ben Folds Five songs like "Smoke," "Steven's Last Night in Town" and the set closer "Narcolepsy" became fully realized, while more obscure tracks like the aforementioned "All U Can Eat" took on the new instrumentation as an appropriate accent.
The set opened with "Zac and Sara," a choice that minutely stifled the momentum of the evening due to a lackluster arrangement and technical problems surrounding Folds' piano. But from there, Folds proficiently surfed through his catalogue, both solo and with the Five, putting on display the expected ("Brick," "Landed," "The Ascent of Stan") and the unexpected ("Gracie") and leaving out some that one could argue beg for the orchestral treatment ("Army," "Philosophy").
Quite possibly the highlight of the evening came when Folds abandoned the piano (pictured) for "Not the Same," instead becoming the choir director over the audience for the vocal flourishes that accent the song.
After a close that included Folds smashing his piano with his forearm and trading vocal riffs with a trained opera singer ("Narcolepsy"), he returned to the stage to do a subdued "Luckiest" before callling it a night.
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