"And there will always be a part of me, nobody else is ever gonna see but you and me..."

Ben Folds at Muhlenberg College.

I saw Ben Folds in March as a birthday present from the Randall to my Dante (bringing it back!) and co-BBIF (BBIF is a long story that involves a friend of ours calling me a "Big Breasted Indian Friend" except this girl's "I" stands for "Italian"), Alison. The auditorium was packed and Ben focused on a lot more of his newer material (Songs for Silverman and Supersunnyspeedgraphic). However, his piano playing ability was astronomical. I would think he was on crazy amounts of speed if it weren't for the fact that he was incredibly precise and playing like it was his last day on earth. Having seen him later with John Mayer, I can definitely say that the passion and drive were there at Muhlenberg and made for a better show. The best show I've seen of his, by far. It felt like he wanted to be there and wasn't just playing a show because he was on tour. He felt alive.

The energy level that he poured out onto the crowd was reflected back to him as a result, and he was very much a captivating presence. He kept discussing this $8000 instrument he had purchased (it looked like a keytar or synthesizer or something) and was hilarious. At one point, he launched into an insanely wonderful rendition of the Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" (better than the cover of it that's floating around online) and managed to play one instrument with his toes, while continuing on the piano with his hands.

We were in Ben Folds' direct line of sight (we showed up early and positioned ourselves as close to in front of his piano as possible) and had opted to wear very bright colors. We were clearly the only people who were rocking out and knew all the lyrics. During and after the show, Ali and I discussed amongst ourselves how we definitely thought that Ben Folds kept looking at us, and one or more of her friends who was with us said the same thing without having heard our story. This led us to the logical conclusion that Ben Folds probably thought we were awesome. And we are.



Ben Folds - Gracie from Songs for Silverman



Ben Folds - Landed



Ben Folds - Such Great Heights