Ben Folds

Ben Folds with yMusic Live Review & Concert Photos| The Florida Theatre, Jacksonville, FL | April 22, 2016

by • May 6, 2016

Ben Folds sits center-back on the stage with the six-piece yMusic orchestra flanking his piano to either side in reverse victory formation. A man who could be his stunt double raps percussion off to the side. The members of yMusic conspicuously sit in folding chairs you might find at a VFW.

The show is colored by mood. Not the kind of mood inducing tears, but the kind allowing for a good belly laugh alongside introspection and self-important wallowing. This is no VFW. We are in downtown Jacksonville’s nearly ninety-year-old venue, The Florida Theatre–a place with the dexterity to host a symphony with the same aplomb as a pop musician.

A huge projection screen looms floor to ceiling behind the band, casting a muted orange glow acting as the ornate room’s giant mood ring. Folds opens with newer stuff. His fingerprints show up on the stuff written for a small orchestra as much as they did on Whatever and Ever Amen. He calls the music “chamber rock”–part virtuosity, part rock performance.

“I was thinking about how in the beginning of a relationship you overlook things you don’t overlook in the third verse.”

The mood morphs to red as Ben Folds tells the tale of initial bliss giving way to harsh realization. The fact that she likes to touch you while you eat seems cute at first, but grates on you by verse three of the relationship.

Ben Folds

Simple lyrics laced with snark and stunning musicianship. Ben Folds’s lyrics and yMusic’s chamber music is the juxtaposition of lamb and collard greens. This really difficult thing to prepare properly next to something simple and delicious, yet only life-changing when created by the hands of an expert. Something folksy and relatable next to something few people could ever dream to create.

The screen turns red. He plays a ditty. “It’s called ‘Architecture on Bay Street.’” The night turns part comedy show as Folds serenades us with an extemporaneous effort about Downtown Jacksonville. The crowd skews a little rowdy, and Folds eggs us on to challenge him. The mood screen turns a turbulent shade of blue. He wrote the next song in two parts. “The first part was in New Orleans. The second, I threw my phone in a pool in Los Angeles and Ke$ha jumped after it with all her clothes on.”

The backdrop turns blood red as “Phone in a Pool” ends. Red fading to blue, “conversations about him being good to you.” Light rhythm softly driving the tune. Folds walks off and his chamber band plays an aggressive disjointed symphonic piece. The mood an alien shade of green.

We all expect a Prince cover. One of the rowdy folks yells as much. “I haven’t forgotten Prince. You fucking genius. Thank you for reminding me.” Ben Folds ends his tribute to Prince abruptly and keeps doing Ben Folds things. The mood turns blood orange for “Steven’s Last Night in Town”. Folds starts to meander back down nostalgia lane. Then someone says something about Gainesville. We are treated to another improv comedy bit. “Fucking this bitch from Gainesville … Wish we were!” The room is becoming rowdier at his insistence.

The energy in the set has moved through its logical build and Folds rides the room’s energy to the encore. The encore becomes a singalong. Folds sits at his piano, legs spread like it’s his living room. From that throne, he would conduct the entire room. A thousand thirty and  forty-somethings belting the pitch he prescribed for us based on our position in the room.

Ben Folds

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Ben Folds Live Review by Jason Earle, edited by Matthew Weller.

Concert photos by Jenn Ross Photography.

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