Another week, another campus concert, and this time there were no adult contemporary power ballads to be heard and no moms in sight.
There was, however, an absurd amount of drunken frat guys parading around in their pastel polos and intoxicated sorority girls stumbling around aimlessly. This is probably because the concert took place in a large park area called Fiji Island situated between all of the frat houses on the University of Tennessee campus.
After milling through the endless sea of drunks and underage kids who seemed more than slightly intoxicated – then again, they could have just been giddy about seeing Ben Folds (but that does not explain the dilated pupils) – I found myself at the front of the stage while the opening act Chris Mills began his set.
Mills’ set consisted mostly of ’70s-ish rock songs in the vein of early Rolling Stones recordings delivered brazenly while he did his best impression of Keith Richards with epilepsy.
After Mills vacated the stage, the techs began setting up for Ben Folds. One of the techs who looked as if he had followed Phish for most of his life would spout random hippie philosophy every time he passed a microphone. “Everything thing looks OK from where I sit, the United States of who gives a s—,” Hippie Tech said to a confused crowd in Tennessee.
After what seemed like forever (45 minutes) and countless quips from Hippie Tech, Ben Folds emerged from his bus to the delight of many in the packed field.
Folds and his band quickly threw themselves into a raucous jazz jam followed by “Bastard” and “Jesusland” from 2005’s Songs for Silverman. In a quick change of pace Folds followed with “All You Can Eat” Can Eat” a song about how everybody “can give no f—,” how people could care less about others as long as there is enough for them.
A few tracks from Rockin’ the Suburbs and Saving Silverman later, Folds began to play his cover of Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit.” It was a sight to behold as thousands of suburban white kids swayed and did the “rap arm bop” thing people tend to do.
At this point a guy with a frathawk and a questionable bottle of Coca-Cola in hand began to scream, “Play Rocky Top!” to which Folds simply replied, “Somebody’s been drinking a lot.”
I was surprised at how many people in the crowd were singing along with Folds considering the fact that he has not had a radio hit since 2001’s Rockin’ the Suburbs .However, I had no idea what I was in store for when Folds began to play “Brick,” the hit that launched his former band Ben Folds Five into one hit wonder status. Frat guys wept and girls swayed along as Folds sang, “Sheeess a brick and I’m drowning slowly.” I can’t help but wonder if these teary-eyed Greeks knew the song was about abortion and not a love song.
“It is great to be playing here in frat park,” Folds jokingly said between songs.
Folds then ended the show with a montage of fan favorites from his days in Ben Folds Five as well as his recent solo work such as “Army,” “Landed” and the single-song-encore performance of “One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces.

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