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Live Concert Review-Ben Folds & The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra-Heinz Hall-2.13.10

By Jodi Temyer
Published: February 15, 2010

On Saturday night, despite the remaining foot and a half of snow, a sold-out crowd made their way to Heinz Hall on Valentine�s Day eve. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra was playing, and I treated my Vday date to a romantic evening of songs about a delusional girlfriend who hears voices in her head, coming to terms with a failed relationship, an acid trip, and even abortion.

Happy Valentine�s Day, baby�it�s Ben Folds.

Under the leadership of Assistant Conductor Thomas Hong, the PSO played the part of Ben Folds� band, leaving him responsible for singing, piano-playing, and, of course, story-telling.

Opening to �Zak and Sara� ('Rockin� The Suburbs,' 2001), the PSO seemingly swallowed any noise Ben was banging out on the piano, and it took some adjustment on everyone�s part to balance it all out.

The first story of the evening was leading into �Effington� ('Way to Normal,' 2008), a song Folds wrote while traveling and Concert Review-Ben Folds-Pittsburgh, PA

passing a town called Effingham.� One could question whether Folds was taking a slight jab at the city currently hosting him, since the song repeats the lyrics, �If there�s a God/He�s laughing at us and our football team.� He should be advised to skip this if he visits Indianapolis any time soon, otherwise he might have a new story to preface that song with.�

It�s possible that the set list was planned to avoid a majority of Folds� songs that might spark extra-depression around the love holiday, with �You Don�t Know Me� and �Song for the Dumped� being left out of play. Instead, the audience was treated to �Jesusland� ('Songs for Silverman,' 2005) and �Steven�s Last Night in Town� ('Whatever and Ever Amen,' 1997)�a song about a guy named Steven who made all of the girls in town turn against him by declaring he could never marry a woman with cellulite, and then insisted for weeks that he would be leaving town the next day and wanted a party.

Occasionally, Folds performed songs that were slightly more touching, such as �Gracie� ('Songs for Silverman'), which Folds said was written for his daughter, and �Landed� ('Songs for Silverman'), with lyrics that describe coming to terms with the end of a bad relationship. He also performed �Brick� ('Whatever and Ever Amen'), the popular song credited with launching his career when he was a member of Ben Folds Five, and also widely known as being about having an abortion. The set finished with �Narcolepsy� ('The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner,' 1999), featuring a little help from the guest tenor, who (not saying his voice wasn�t amazing!) took more away from the song than he added to it. For the first several minutes, he stood there awkwardly staring at Folds, while it would�ve been a much better performance if he would�ve appeared randomly to sing his part with no prior introduction.

Concert Review-Ben Folds-Pittsburgh, PA

The PSO joined Folds in the first song of his encore, and the only moment of the night that he acknowledged Valentine�s Day when he briefly toyed with the idea of calling his wife while he performed �The Luckiest� ('Rockin� The Suburbs'). A sweet song in its own right, it still exhibited the ironic way that Folds portrays emotions in his lyrics, with lines that include, �Next door there�s an old man that lived to his nineties/And one day passed away in his sleep/And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days/And passed away/I�m sorry I know that�s a strange way/To tell you that I know we belong.� Imagine getting that in a Hallmark card.

During the encore, someone from the balcony yelled, �Rock this bitch!� which is a request for Folds to make up a song. Luckily, he obliged. The PSO, who only had 30 seconds left of play before verging on a union violation, was asked to give Folds an A-minor, while he launched into an impromptu song about climbing Mt. Washington and a woman who lived at the top that wouldn�t let him use her phone. The PSO literally left 30 seconds into it.

Ben, in his typical Where�s Waldo-style of dress, was all smiles and enthusiasm for the entirety of the show, but unfortunately (aside from Hong, who grinned from ear to ear), the PSO almost looked irritated and bored with what they were playing. Maybe smiling is a union violation too.

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