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live in japan
Sep. 23rd, 2005 09:00 pmJust got back from the Ben Folds show, which was awesome. Just wonderful. Lovely, even. And at $70, the most I've ever paid to see a single artist. (Not to mention riding the bullet train up here, and the $100 hotel room I ended up in because everywhere else was full.)
Anyway, when I got there and got in line, it occurred to me that people seemed to be lining up in order of the number on their tickets, which was the order they were purchased in. It seemed I had gotten at the end of the 0-100 line. My ticket number was 580 (of 600, I'll wager). Maybe I should have gone down several flights of stairs to my rightful place, but I thought it was stupid to make people line up like that and anyway I figured if it was really such a big deal they'd make me wait when I gave them my ticket. They didn't, and I got a great spot, right at the very front and to the left, with a great view of the piano keys. (Should I feel guilty? Am I going to hell?)
When Ben came out it was all dark, and I guess he didn't see the edge of the stage because he fell right off it. Lost his glasses and everything. Throughout the first song he was intermittently wiping blood off his face. He was a trooper, though. He pushed on and played the whole damn show with blood on his face and hands. Anyway, here's the set list, best as I can remember (the order may be off, but that's the tunes, I'm pretty sure):
1. Bastard
2. Gone (You never know, when you go to a show, which of the songs they do will be stuck in your head afterwards. This time, for me, for whatever reason, it was this one.)
3. Jesusland
4. You To Thank
5. Still Fighting It
(the next three he did by himself)
6. Brick
7. Gracie
8. Army (with the audience doing the horn part) (he said the whole song is true, except he never had a mustache or a mullet, and he worked at Hardee's, not Chik-Fil-A)
9. Zak and Sara ("about a girl who had to sit on an amp all day while her boyfriend played Dust In The Wind")
10. Where's Summer B?
11. Bitches Ain't Shit (Dr. Dre cover- it was awesome)
12. Landed
13. All U Can Eat
14. Late
15. Rockin' the Suburbs (I was proud to be one of the few middle class white males in the audience (though the spirit of the song applies pretty well to the Japanese, too) Ben played the bass solo at the end himself)
16. Philosophy (I'd heard this version of the solo at the end before, but it was still amazing to watch him actually play it.)
17. Not The Same [encore] (also with audience participation)
I think that's all of them. Of course I would have liked to have heard more from Reinhold Messner, but I wasn't really expecting to. No complaints about the setlist. (Though the vocal harmonies were a little off at times.) Great show! I hope Ben's okay... I was toying with idea of hanging around afterwards and seeing if I could meet him, but I thought he probably wanted to take care of his injuries...
Anyway, when I got there and got in line, it occurred to me that people seemed to be lining up in order of the number on their tickets, which was the order they were purchased in. It seemed I had gotten at the end of the 0-100 line. My ticket number was 580 (of 600, I'll wager). Maybe I should have gone down several flights of stairs to my rightful place, but I thought it was stupid to make people line up like that and anyway I figured if it was really such a big deal they'd make me wait when I gave them my ticket. They didn't, and I got a great spot, right at the very front and to the left, with a great view of the piano keys. (Should I feel guilty? Am I going to hell?)
When Ben came out it was all dark, and I guess he didn't see the edge of the stage because he fell right off it. Lost his glasses and everything. Throughout the first song he was intermittently wiping blood off his face. He was a trooper, though. He pushed on and played the whole damn show with blood on his face and hands. Anyway, here's the set list, best as I can remember (the order may be off, but that's the tunes, I'm pretty sure):
1. Bastard
2. Gone (You never know, when you go to a show, which of the songs they do will be stuck in your head afterwards. This time, for me, for whatever reason, it was this one.)
3. Jesusland
4. You To Thank
5. Still Fighting It
(the next three he did by himself)
6. Brick
7. Gracie
8. Army (with the audience doing the horn part) (he said the whole song is true, except he never had a mustache or a mullet, and he worked at Hardee's, not Chik-Fil-A)
9. Zak and Sara ("about a girl who had to sit on an amp all day while her boyfriend played Dust In The Wind")
10. Where's Summer B?
11. Bitches Ain't Shit (Dr. Dre cover- it was awesome)
12. Landed
13. All U Can Eat
14. Late
15. Rockin' the Suburbs (I was proud to be one of the few middle class white males in the audience (though the spirit of the song applies pretty well to the Japanese, too) Ben played the bass solo at the end himself)
16. Philosophy (I'd heard this version of the solo at the end before, but it was still amazing to watch him actually play it.)
17. Not The Same [encore] (also with audience participation)
I think that's all of them. Of course I would have liked to have heard more from Reinhold Messner, but I wasn't really expecting to. No complaints about the setlist. (Though the vocal harmonies were a little off at times.) Great show! I hope Ben's okay... I was toying with idea of hanging around afterwards and seeing if I could meet him, but I thought he probably wanted to take care of his injuries...
