Setlist, Comments & Nonsense from Ben Folds in Wilmington 10.05.09

First things at the top...the Setlist in Chronological Order.

Free Coffee

Last Polka

Gone

Sentimental Guy

Effington

Still Fighting It

Jesusland

Annie Waits

Brick

(New Album with British (awesome) Author Nick Hornby on Lyrics Portion of the Show)

"Days Like These"

"Levi Johnson's Blues"

aside where he plays a Japanese radio jingle he wrote for a radio station

"Belinda"

pt 2

You Don't Know Me

Birthday/I Wanna F U/Rock This Bitch

Kate

Selfless, Cold and Composed

Landed

Dr Yang

Zak and Sara

Philosophy

Army

Purple Haze

Not the Same

One Angry Dwarf and 200 Angry Faces

25 Songs total, by Album.

Ben Folds Five

Ben Folds Five - 2

Whatever and Ever Amen - 4

The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner - 1

Ben Folds One

Rockin' the Suburbs - 5

Songs for Silverman - 3

Way to Normal - 4

Miscellaneous

Covers - 1

Improv - 1

Collaboration with Nick Hornby - 3

Random - 1

Lots of thoughts on the show will have to will until the morrow. Highlights included head-butting my brother when he played Philosophy. Also he has clearly become a superbly more amazing piano player since I last saw him during an XPN Live at Noon event about 7 years back.

This was my (and Nick's) first time seeing him without a band and it was strange. He has great stage presence, a seriously intense control of the crowd and a great sense of modest humor. But what threw us (I think I can speak somewhat for the duo) was that it was a seated show in an opera house and there was no rhythm section. Don't get me wrong...he is amazing and does a great job of filling in those holes with just a piano and sheer will.

One who has been listening to the Five since 1995 and seeing them play since almost as long as that can't help but play drums on their legs, hear missing background vocals and long for the old days. I'm thrilled that Ben has got his shit going on almost 15 years later. I was fortunate to see him play new and old songs and to hear stuff with an author I respect deeply.

Remembering seeing the Five play Brick live for the first time before it became a single, and hearing all those bass lines that were only in my mind was a definite sense of nostalgia.

And knowing that two of my favorite people and biggest fans weren't in attendance was also a touching reminder that no matter what we see, there is always something more under the surface.