After over a decade of inactivity, 90′s alt rock favorites Ben Folds Five have returned on a tour that has taken them across the country, bringing back old favorites and treating fans to some new ones off the band’s comeback album, The Sound of The Life of the Mind. The album’s lead single, ‘Do It Anyway’, made the rounds on the internet recently due to appearances from the cast of Fraggle Rock. Armed with new songs and a new sense of energy, it’s great to hear many songs from the Ben Folds Five repertoire that were banished from Folds’ solo tours.
The show got off to a relatively slow start with two new songs, ‘Michael Prayton, Five Years Later’ and ‘Hold That Thought’ sandwiched around a somewhat lesser known track from 1997′s Whatever and Ever Amen, ‘Missing The War’. However the opening notes to fan favorite ‘Jackson Cannery’ garnered applause from the crowd causing instantaneous dancing.
From that point on, the band took a trip through their impressive catalogue of songs. Guys in the crowd danced and sung along to early hit ‘Song For The Dumped’, while the girls swooned when the band slowed down for ‘Brick’, the band’s most well known song. It must be noted that while the old songs were definitely crowd pleasers, this was no nostalgia act. New songs, specifically ‘Do It Anyway’ were absolutely rocking live and garnered great reaction from the crowd. ‘Do It Anyway’ is a a real departure from the band’s previous material, eliciting almost a bluegrass vibe through Folds’ keys, and played to perfection.
The show closed with the easy sing a long – ‘Army’ – which drew the night’s biggest reaction. The band came back out for a quick encore of ‘Magic’, followed by the band’s first single, ‘Underground’. Of note is the surprising omission of two of the band’s most well known songs, ‘Philosophy’ and ‘One Angry Dwarfs and 200 Solemn Faces’, but there’s always next time. With the high quality of the band’s latest album, it can only be assumed that Ben Folds Five are back for another run.
Photos by Dino Perrucci via The Capitol Theatre
2012.10.09 :: Ben Folds Five :: The Capitol Theatre
