Back in 1997 after the release of “Brick” Ben Folds Five was shot into super stardom.
However after the release of their follow up record The Unauthorized Autobiography of Reinhold Messner Ben Folds Five inexplicably called it quits in 2000, but that did not stop the band’s front man Ben Folds from carrying on without band mates Darren Jesse and Robert Sledge. Thus far Ben Folds has released two full length records Rockin’ the Suburbs and Songs for Silverman and a slew of EPs.
Ben Folds has not reached the heights that Ben Folds Five did, but he has been putting out some of his best and most mature tracks to date.
After two tours with Weezer and Rufus Wainwright, Folds has broken off on a headlining tour with Sony recording artists The Fray.
The Fray opened their set and instantly I had to choke down the vomit that came up in my throat from the musical crap they were trying to feed me. Wow! That is a bit harsh you say, but I assure you it is true. To truly comprehend how bad The Fray is you to close your eyes and think of a band that sounds like Coldplay stylistically if they were musically handicapped with frat boy acoustic god Gavin DeGraw singing.
The Fray continued through their eight-song set all consisting of abysmal tunes from their 2005 release How to Save A Life besides for their horrendous cover of Creedence Clear Water Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain.”
In between the mess of piano plinking they called songs their balding faux-hawked front man tried as he would to be funny and gain the approval of the Furman University crowd.
He would constantly talk about how great Furman was in between songs and at one point tried to throw his hotel keycard across the auditorium to the merchandise table on the second level, which failed miserably.*
After clearing the stage of The Fray’s instruments, music started playing and the lights dimmed, and after minutes of waiting Ben Folds and his backing band took to the stage.
Opening with “Bastard” from Songs for Silverman the crowd cheered an sang along as Folds sang one of his clever, humorous and somewhat autobiographical songs about learning more about yourself as you grow old.
Employing the same tactics The Fray used to get cheap pops Folds jokingly said that this auditorium at Furman was the best sounding auditorium he had ever played, and that he says that all the time and just when he thinks he has found the best a better one pops up.
Folds barreled through his set playing hits from his Ben Folds Five days and his solo albums including the abortion song “Brick,” “Army,” “One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces” and the title track from his solo debut “Rockin’ the Suburbs.”
Not one to leave the crowd out of the mix, Folds adopted the crowd and their voices as his own personal orchestra. One side of the crowd would sing the high part and the other half would sing the lower part to fill in the space the band could not.
Still as youthful as he was when Ben Folds Five started Folds, put every bit of energy he had into his set, not sitting once on his seat.
Folds even picked up the bass at one point for his cover of Dr. Dre’s rap classic “B—–s Ain’t S—.” “This is the song that Dr. Dre and I wrote, actually I have never met Dr. Dre but I finally put music to this song he wrote a long time ago,” Folds said.
Folds may have yet to reach the mainstream success that Ben Folds Five did, but his music certainly has gotten better and his cult following is all but wavering. * * * *

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