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Ben Folds + Liam Finn Thebarton Theatre, Fri 8 April When the slightly unkempt Liam Finn walked onto the stage of the Thebarton Theatre, there was a wave of slight confusion rushing over the crowd. Who was this guy and where the hell were Gelbison? The answer, we were told, was that Edo Kahn was sick and that Finn, whose band Betchadupa were in town to play at the Enigma Bar the following night, was the last minute replacement. I'm not sure why the whole band couldn't have rocked up with him, but I must say I was quite impressed with Finn as a solo performer. His band is extremely tight but slightly dull - Finn solo is quite interesting and very entertaining, especially with his use of what I assume was a Boss Loop Station pedal to attempt to recreate the sound of his entire band using only an acoustic guitar (cf. Machine Translations). But it was Mr. Folds that we were all there to see, and after a very dramatic musical introduction, he and his touring entourage of two (the replacement 'Five, I guess) took the stage to a storm of applause. An interesting choice of opener (The Cure's In Between Days) gave way to a series of songs from Folds' now quite extensive solo career - 2001's 'Rocking The Suburbs', the four EPs and the soon-to-be-released 'Songs For Silverman'. He had a neat way of playing songs that were unfamiliar to the crowd: he'd say, 'Here are two new songs', then play them with no break and no elaboration, and then go back to the material we know and love. It meant that the crowd got to taste the brilliant new material without getting all anxious about it. However, the show started to really heat up when the band left and Folds was all alone at the piano. Noting a list of requests that were thrown at him, he launched straight into a medley from the 'Five, featuring a solemn Brick, a pensive Emaline and a light-hearted Philosophy. Then came the crowd singalongs - the now regulation brass section of Army had voices screaming, and when the band came back for Not The Same, Folds stood atop his piano to conduct what had become an audience choir through the vocal acrobatics of a three part harmony. A short encore break (with the most thunderous chants of "more!" I've ever heard in my life) saw him return to guide us through a singalong of the brilliant Underground, to then scream the profanities of Rockin' The Suburbs. Then, finishing up with One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solemn Faces, Folds gave Adelaide its first real mosh pit for years. That was the best thing I've seen at the Thebby, well, ever. He's still got it, and I reckon he's never going to let it go.  |
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