Ben Folds at the Mann

Quick review...

Not put off by Hurricane "Heeanah", Tim, Carolyn, Rach, and I went to see Ben Folds play with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra on Saturday at the Mann... To be honest, the show was a little short for my liking, but C made the good point that we were paying an entire orchestra for the same price as a normal concert ticket, so you really can't complain about that. I guess.

Otherwise, completely awesome.

He opened with "Zak and Sarah"... here's a similar clip*** from when he played with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra...




Our sound** was not quite as good as the above clip, (understatement) but the view was great and we knew the songs by heart anyways. Except for a few new ones which are definitely going to rock when "Way To Normal" comes out on Sept. 30th.

And he encore'd with "The Luckiest" which was Rach and I's wedding first dance song thingy*. Not many people get to hear their song in a situation like that... Here's another clip***:



*If anyone is considering that for their first dance, let me just warn you ITS REALLY FRICKIN' LONG. Pretty and meaningful and blah, blah, blah, sure, but tell your DJ to cut that off at like 2 minutes 30 seconds. And that's not just me talking, Rach was bored to tears. I mean, she says that she was crying because it was our wedding day, but let's be honest, I was the giant blubbering idiot all day long, so I'm not buying it...

**Also, Dear Mann Center, seriously, fire the interns you've gotten from Larry's Sound Technician Day School for Troubled Youth and hire a professional please. This is the second time we've been burned by you. You DO NOT want me to put you with The Electric Factory in the category of places I will never again spend my concert budgetary allowance.

***Look Ma!, I embedded video!