Ben Folds and the Seattle Symphony. For few musicians would I have fewer reservations about this potential pairing – and in Folds’ recent visit to Seattle, this critic was not disappointed.
Folds played a magnificent set, highlighting the strength of his songwriting, giving the audience a window into the process of converting pop songs into orchestral pieces (or, at it’s called, “arranging”), and generally providing a great evening.
The Symphony, too, was unsurprisingly great; as Folds commented, “they had some great beards;” so too, however, they seemed to have an excellent feel for Folds’ music, here soaring in perfect complement to grandiose heights, there becoming nearly imperceptible. So too, the eight-person choir added tremendous depth to some pieces, liberating Folds to take the lead and retain the accompanying depth he typically manages himself for recorded works.
The evening started with Zak And Sara, a song that unfortunately (it‘s a good song!) was one of the weakest of the evening due to sound balancing issues; Mr. Folds’ vocals were lost at times in Zak & Sara, overwhelmed by the orchestra. Fortunately, the soundboard got things fixed after that (though there never was quite enough piano for this writer’s liking). Noting that he had a “slightly larger band than normal tonight,” Folds took off into a set that ranged across some of his strongest works from past albums, as well as flitting into new territory. “Smoke” made great use of the orchestra’s percussion session, while the cellos, basses and choir added tremendous new depth to the chorus on “The Ascent of Stan.” On “Lullabye,” both Folds and the Symphony took an interesting new turn – first jazzy, then into a 1930s vaudeville vibe, then adding even a hint of Christmas music (all of this likely due to the influence of the arranger, himself a sax player).
Folds rounded out the show with stalwarts “Not the Same,” “Brick,” and “Narcolepsy,” as well as numerous others; upon those three, in particular, the orchestra added notable depth and beauty. On “Not the Same,” as he has for many years, Folds conducted the audience in three-part harmony – a magnificent event to share, and especially accompanied by the Seattle Symphony. On Narcolepsy, the orchestra added a magnificent cacophony to the opening, followed by a bombastic bridge, then an unusual, operatically-inclined vocal exploration repeating the line, “not tired,” numerous times – something that, at first, garnered snickers from those surrounding this author, but which built to such beautiful crescendo as to no longer be a laughing matter.
Finally, Folds said goodbye to the orchestra, noting that “we’re leaving the stage now because that’s what we do,” only to return for another long encore (the second), in which he performed solo renditions of three additional songs – “Army,” “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” and finally, the classic Ben Folds tune, re-written lyrically at every show, “Rock this Bitch” – a song he declined, respectfully, to play while the Symphony remained on-stage. However, his usual lyricism return in the closer, incorporating “I love the Seattle f&%kin’ Symphony” into his lyrics for posterity – something this author doubts has ever occurred before. Terribly classy, to be sure, the song was an audience-pleasing end to a stunning merger of symphony and pop, an overall great show.
