"..for your little minds to blow..."
Jun. 23rd, 2004 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
e_clareGuster + Rufus + Ben Folds = a most excellent concert. Hoo-wee! I'm just a bigger fan of that Ben Folds every time I see him...right, then. Don't know where that came from...aside from it being almost 3 a.m. and all.
Since plans with other people never quite materialized, I ended up going with some work-folk. Among the four of us, we had two huge Ben/ casual Guster fans, a huge Ben/ huge Guster fan, and a casual Ben/ casual Guster fan. None of us really counted ourselves as Rufus fans...and I have to admit, this concert did nothing to change my opinion. The man's got a nice enough voice, and doesn't seem too bad at the songwriting bit, but damn, does he put on a dull show: *sings at piano, walks to stool & sings with guitar, crosses back to piano; repeats*
Guster opened; the best part of their set was Jackie's running commentary. She's seen them something like 20 times, and shared all sorts of fun facts. They were kind of low-key, honestly, because the crowd wasn't giving them much to work with. Two things I saw that I've never seen before: 1) not one, but TWO killer banjo solos, and 2) the drummer rocking out over his conga drums.
My only real problem with Guster is the continuing mental associations of any and all songs from Lost and Gone Forever with summer drama, and small children dressed as mice. (Cinderella, three years ago in Bexley. Papier-mache watermelons! And painting the watermelon carriage, and running lights, and twine bracelets, and Scott, and...oh my.) Yes. I enjoyed Guster.
Rufus, I pretty much already covered. Moulin Rouge were all played, but weren't enough to really hold my attention. I do think he's a good songwriter, though, and appreciated the songs he performed where I caught the titles. "Vibrate" and "Pretty Things" were two that stuck in my brain; the audience was much more into the nearly full rainbow that appeared right before "Gay Messiah" than it was in the guy on stage. Guster joined Rufus for a performance of his father's (Loudon Wainwright III, late of Fox's Undeclared) song "One-Man Guy." And those are all that I remember.
My issue with Rufus? Too self-important. He's kind of the odd one out in this lineup, because the others seem to have such a great time performing, as well as a sense of humor about themselves, their songs, and just life in general. Rufus joined Ben for the cover of Wham's "Careless Whispers" ("Never gonna dance again..."), and just sounded like he always does (ie, kinda miserable). I don't think the boy can sing things ironically, unfortunately. He seems like he needs more snark in his life.
As I'm falling asleep writing this, and I need to be at work at 11 am, I'll cover the Ben later.
EDIT: Ben Folds. What to say about Ben Folds? The man puts on an AWESOME live show, though I fear I've been spoiled for life by his kickass, nearly 2-hour set last fall at Smith. He played a couple of selections from the upcoming album (including one for/about his daughter...awwww!), a couple from the "Sunny 16" EP, and all the rest of the hour came from Ben Folds Five albums.
I did notice that he definitely has a routine for live performances on most of the songs, and recognized many of the extended showing-off moments from November--but still, it's totally worth spending the time/money to see Ben live. The live performance is inherently different from what you get on the studio album. I mean, there's only so much give-and-take in a singalong with your CD--with several hundred other people there, being a part of the audience-provided "bitchin' horn section" on "Army" is way cooler than just rockin' out in your own car (although I tend to do that with my windows all rolled down, which makes it more interesting at stoplights).
Dude. If I were ever to start rabidly following a musician, Ben Folds would be it. I'm already considering going up to the Cleveland show Sunday night with Jackie (the scheduling manager for the movie theater, and my unofficial guru of all things related to indie rock and concert-going). Is this a bad plan? *shrugs* You tell me.
Since plans with other people never quite materialized, I ended up going with some work-folk. Among the four of us, we had two huge Ben/ casual Guster fans, a huge Ben/ huge Guster fan, and a casual Ben/ casual Guster fan. None of us really counted ourselves as Rufus fans...and I have to admit, this concert did nothing to change my opinion. The man's got a nice enough voice, and doesn't seem too bad at the songwriting bit, but damn, does he put on a dull show: *sings at piano, walks to stool & sings with guitar, crosses back to piano; repeats*
Guster opened; the best part of their set was Jackie's running commentary. She's seen them something like 20 times, and shared all sorts of fun facts. They were kind of low-key, honestly, because the crowd wasn't giving them much to work with. Two things I saw that I've never seen before: 1) not one, but TWO killer banjo solos, and 2) the drummer rocking out over his conga drums.
My only real problem with Guster is the continuing mental associations of any and all songs from Lost and Gone Forever with summer drama, and small children dressed as mice. (Cinderella, three years ago in Bexley. Papier-mache watermelons! And painting the watermelon carriage, and running lights, and twine bracelets, and Scott, and...oh my.) Yes. I enjoyed Guster.
Rufus, I pretty much already covered. Moulin Rouge were all played, but weren't enough to really hold my attention. I do think he's a good songwriter, though, and appreciated the songs he performed where I caught the titles. "Vibrate" and "Pretty Things" were two that stuck in my brain; the audience was much more into the nearly full rainbow that appeared right before "Gay Messiah" than it was in the guy on stage. Guster joined Rufus for a performance of his father's (Loudon Wainwright III, late of Fox's Undeclared) song "One-Man Guy." And those are all that I remember.
My issue with Rufus? Too self-important. He's kind of the odd one out in this lineup, because the others seem to have such a great time performing, as well as a sense of humor about themselves, their songs, and just life in general. Rufus joined Ben for the cover of Wham's "Careless Whispers" ("Never gonna dance again..."), and just sounded like he always does (ie, kinda miserable). I don't think the boy can sing things ironically, unfortunately. He seems like he needs more snark in his life.
As I'm falling asleep writing this, and I need to be at work at 11 am, I'll cover the Ben later.
EDIT: Ben Folds. What to say about Ben Folds? The man puts on an AWESOME live show, though I fear I've been spoiled for life by his kickass, nearly 2-hour set last fall at Smith. He played a couple of selections from the upcoming album (including one for/about his daughter...awwww!), a couple from the "Sunny 16" EP, and all the rest of the hour came from Ben Folds Five albums.
I did notice that he definitely has a routine for live performances on most of the songs, and recognized many of the extended showing-off moments from November--but still, it's totally worth spending the time/money to see Ben live. The live performance is inherently different from what you get on the studio album. I mean, there's only so much give-and-take in a singalong with your CD--with several hundred other people there, being a part of the audience-provided "bitchin' horn section" on "Army" is way cooler than just rockin' out in your own car (although I tend to do that with my windows all rolled down, which makes it more interesting at stoplights).
Dude. If I were ever to start rabidly following a musician, Ben Folds would be it. I'm already considering going up to the Cleveland show Sunday night with Jackie (the scheduling manager for the movie theater, and my unofficial guru of all things related to indie rock and concert-going). Is this a bad plan? *shrugs* You tell me.
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good concerts
Date: 2004-06-23 01:39 am (UTC)im trying to gather boston people to go to the ben folds/guster concert (not sure if rufus is playing...) on july 8th at the fleet center. so, if you wanna see them all play again, come out to boston then. and of course to see me and other b-town peeps. hehe