Ben Not Folding Under Pressure

Author: Abbie Beane

Longtime liberal arts rival Williams College stole the show once again on Oct. 31, when they introduced singer spectaculaire and master musician Ben Folds. Former lead singer of Ben Folds Five, Folds has been touring solo since Oct. 22 and will not stop until Dec. 6, when he hits Providence, R.I.
From the time he won a "Battle of the Bands" contest at Duke University in 1988 as part of the group Majosha, Folds has been working his way to the top, despite the fact that his most recent album, "Rockin' the Suburbs" fell 18 places on the Billboard 200 compared to his 1999 release "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner."
And although this Halloween many Williams spectators were in rare form, creating even more of a drunken ruckus than usual, Folds would not be deterred from his musical agenda and never failed to project himself and his art above the hullabaloo. Incredibly,despite his 38 years, he still managed to maintain a constant interaction with the audience and appeal to its youth.
Even under the pressure of performing solo, Folds executed the task like he had never known the word "back-up band."
Catering to an eclectic musical taste, Folds played everything from thought-provoking, dramatic cuts to raging, vengeful numbers full of loathing for past romances which left him with empty pockets and without his black t-shirt.
Under hot blue, red and orange lights, Folds performed tirelessly, at times ripping so fiercely into his piano that one could imagine it exploding into flames much like Billy Joel's used to do when he sang "We Didn't Start the Fire."
Yet, for certain numbers, Folds requested the audience's respect and reticence, so that one could hear "the subtleties" of his more melancholy songs. In fact, he mentioned that he had not played for such a chatty audience since opening for Hootie and the Blowfish in South Carolina in 1997. At other times, however, he encouraged the audience to sing parts of chorus for him, which held the rapt attention of the students for the duration of his two-hour performance.
Yet no matter what he was playing, it was remarkable to think that just one man was responsible for creating such a harmonized ruckus and such synchronized chaos.
Also notable was Folds' knack for juxtaposing vulgar or familiar lyrics against aesthetically pleasing melodies, as well as his ability to mix delicate images and heavy rock beats into one giant melting pot. This made for tracks appealing to the average person of average musical intelligence — down-to-earth and void of the pretension that often isolates the listener. Many artists tend to forget their audience, creating ambiguous, foggy tunes with words that only make sense inside the songwriter's head.
In contrast, three of Folds' extraordinary characteristics are his unrepressed sense of humor, his vocal range and his ingenuity on piano. Always cracking a joke and never allowing an overbearing audience get to him, Folds kept his cool while simultaneously heating things up. To one audience member who confronted him with a particularly lengthy outburst, he simply responded, "That's the longest heckling sentence I've ever heard," which put the audience on his side.
His vocal range, also striking, pitched from low to medium octaves and then, without warning, vaulted his voice into a Michael Jackson-type screech. Judging by the applause he received, these amusing singsong screams were real crowd pleasers.
And as for his piano, by the close of the show it was begging for mercy. Quite frankly, it no longer was the sophisticated instrument it started out as — it was his helpless tool, as he incessantly pounded its keys, climbed all over it, walked on top of it and just generally violated it in beautiful ways. This sufficed to dispel all myths that pianos are dry or boring instruments. In fact, Folds so successfully dominated this box of strings that he brought piano music to new levels, stepping up into a league comparable to that of Little Richard or Jerry Lee Lewis.
One thing is for sure: This one-man show proved Folds no longer needs the back-up of Ben Folds Five, although he may need a new Baldwin SF-10 or Baldwin M (his favorite pianos) after he so gracefully destroyed his own on Thursday night.
Modestly, however, Folds said, "I guess I'm just f-----g around tonight." But if that's what he calls a performance of that caliber, I'd like to see this singing-songwriting genius at his musical peak.
For more new releases by Ben Folds, check out "Bizarre Christmas incident" and "Lonely Christmas Eve" coming out on Dec. 1. And if you want to catch him in concert, he will be hitting the west coast next week before returning for gigs in New York City.
A complete list of Folds' touring schedule can be found at www.benfolds.org/news