If you’re a Ben Folds (Five) fan, you can rest assured that you have outstanding musical taste. If you’ve had the good sense to attend one or more of their shows, you and I will have to talk some time, because we both have experienced something magical.
Now, for some bizarre reason that I don’t understand, Ben doesn’t always headline the show he’s playing. So as you might imagine, over the 10 or so years we’ve been going to these shows, we’ve inadvertently seen a handful of other musical acts. Some have been pretty good (The Fray), others were not so good (I’m looking at you, Tori Amos).
Last month we went to the very first stop on Ben’s Last Summer on Earth Tour in Grand Prairie. I bought these tickets forever ago on the first day, in the first minute of the presale window, and the seats were phenominal. The non-Ben bands at this show were the Barenaked Ladies (the One Week guys?), and Guster (who?). I had absolutely no idea who was supposed to be the main headline. I know who I would choose as the main headline, but experience told me not to get my hopes up.
So Guster ended up being first. They had a decent little following in the crowd. Their music was good, I didn’t recognize any songs, but I enjoyed most of them. Honestly though, the guy kind of lost me after the first song when he said a little bit sarcastically, “Wow, I didn’t know Grand Prairie could rock so hard”. At first I thought “Does this guy not know where he is? Does he think he’s in some podunk little Texas town? Maybe he doesn’t realize that we’re basically in Dallas?”. It felt completely inauthentic and weird. Anyway, I was wrong. Like the layers of a sweet, sweet onion which has started to mold, things started to reveal themselves over the course of the show. We found out that he is in fact FROM Texas, lived in Dallas for a time as a child, and absolutely hated every second of it. Clearly for him, the audience represented everyone from middle school who bullied him and told him he was wasting his time pursuing music. I felt like he should’ve covered Toby Keith’s How Do You Like Me Now?”. My husband thought he was just bitter about his band playing first, essentially being the opener. Maybe so, but either way the man did not enjoy his Lone Star stay. I say, it’s okay, Guster dude. If you’re playing the Verizon Theater in any capacity, you’ve probably gotten the last laugh regarding your childhood bullies. Chillax a little bit.
Next was Ben Folds Five, and it was, of course, perfection. We’ve never been so close to Ben before. Last time we saw him at Bass Hall and we were pretty close, but on the far end of his piano. We enjoyed a great view of the top of his head. This time…
Hello, old friend!
Ok, we had a great view of his back mostly. Highlights include watching his hands on the piano keys and trying to figure out what kind of phone he uses based on the indentation of it in his back pocket. Anyway, that was pretty cool. I don’t think I’ve been that close to a famous person since the Mr. Belding Incident.
The award for biggest surprise of the night goes to (drumroll) The Barenaked Ladies!! Turns out they were the ultimate headliner. They closed the show and had by far the most massive reaction from the crowd. You know how it is when you’re at a concert and the openers finally finish and leave the stage, and then the lighting changes, and maybe the background marquee thing morphs a little, and people start cheering a little…and the atmosphere changes to like okay, let’s get down to some REAL business! That’s what it was like right before BNL came on. The whole place came alive. Barenaked Ladies. Who knew??
Here’s me when they first came out: A little annoyed that Ben is done and there is clearly not going to be an encore. Arms crossed, thinking maybe I’ll stay long enough to hear that One Week song and then suggest we jet outta there to beat the traffic.
Well okay. It took the BNL guy about 4 minutes to completely win me over. He’s got amazing stage presence, and is FUNNY. Plus it turns out they sing way more songs I like, and I had forgotten all of them. Did you know they sing the theme song to the Big Bang Theory? I don’t watch that show but I know a ton of people do. That’s pretty big. Watching them play, I started thinking about how they’re probably pretty rich by now. Like, really rich. I wonder if he laughs a little in his head when he sings If I Had a Million Dollars, since he most likey does have a million dollars. I wonder if he’s gone through all the things in the song and bought them. That’s what I’d do. At least I think I would. I actually don’t know the lyrics really well…I know he says something about an emu. People who are very rich completely facinate me.
Update (1/16/16): I have since watched all aired episodes of The Big Bang Theory, and I am now the world’s biggest fan.
Let’s be friends, guy from BNL.
A little ray of Sunshine...with occasional cloud cover 