Ben Folds live in Canberra - review
I've been a big Ben Folds fan for a couple of years now - I've got pretty much everything he's recorded, even the obscure stuff. Which is why last night's concert at Canberra's Royal Theatre was so satisfying: Folds doesn't build his set around his big radio hits - in fact, Brick and Rockin' the Suburbs, perhaps his two most mainstream hits, were nowhere to be heard, not even in the encore. It was a night for the fans, who know and appreciate his clever and cheeky while poetic lyrics and his powerful piano solos. He paused before Effington to explain the Lydian mode; he reminded us that he was about to play a song in F -"that's one flat, everyone." His unique nerdy style went down great with his audience, young nerdy guys and their young nerdy girlfriends, and young nerdier guys who are so nerdy they don't even have girlfriends (like yours truly). It was an intimate concert - he got up and took requests, sending his band offstage to re...