Ben Folds

Julie and I used to regularly go to concerts back in our city-resident, pre-parenthood days: Bad Religion, Matthew Sweet, Archers of Loaf and Built to Spill (the best double bill I've ever seen), Seam and Versus, Yo La Tengo. But moving to the suburbs and becoming parents has made us more domesticated, and we hadn't seen a show for over ten years. But last night, in a belated celebration of her birthday (which was in February), we rectified that by seeing Ben Folds at the Vic Theatre. Ben is a longtime favorite of ours (in fact, we once saw him during his Ben Folds Five era, at Park West) who is one of the few artists that either of us has kept up with over the years.

Last night he delivered a great show, totally solo, which I enjoyed more than the Ben Folds Five show with full band. The latter was more bombastic and theatrical (albeit tongue-in-cheek, as he mocked numerous arena rock cliches) whereas solo he seemed more intimate (with charmingly funny banter between songs) and more focused on the music. He played songs from throughout his career, including many I hadn't heard before. (He admirably refrained from doing "Brick" which is still his best-known song and one that I love, but is probably one he's grown tired of performing.) Two highlights for me were "Philosophy" (still beloved after all these years) and "Still Fighting It" (as a dad, the line "you're so much like me...I'm sorry" has particular relevance for me) but pretty much every song was great. He's also really into the whole acapella thing too, concluding the show by stepping away from the piano and directing the audience in a three- or four-part harmony. Terrific music, terrific showmanship. Check out Ben Folds when you get the chance.

Two other highlights from our evening: an unexpected detour to our favorite restaurant, Rose Angelis, for dinner, where I throughly enjoyed my old standby rotini alla puttanseca and Julie had a marvelous special of pear-stuffed ravioli; and the discovery of another used bookstore, Gallery Bookstore, which I'm sure we'll be returning to soon.

All in all, a great evening.