Ben Folds : Live

It's always nice when you can scratch something off your list of things you'd like to do while you're able - seeing Ben Folds perform live was one of those things, and the experience was nothing short of amazing.

Sarah and I had purchased tickets to the Ben Folds/Houston Symphony what seems like eons ago (actually in August) and the anticipation had been building ever since. I have always heard that he is a particularly electric peformer, and most music is better live anyways - needless to say I was pretty pumped. Day of the concert, bolted from marching rehearsal, touched base with the booster meeting, and all but sprinted down 290 to pick up Sarah and go to Jones Hall.

After parking in the most labyrinthine parking complex ever, we left the realm of the Morlocks to go stand in the longest will call line ever. Happily, that was for A-L... we hopped over to the line with 4 people in it (yay for the end of the alphabet) only to find that they had lost our tickets. Reprints were quick, though, and in we went.

Our seats were... well... amazing. Upper tier, just off stage right center - basically in line with the best view you could imagine of the centrally placed piano. The symphony was set up behind, as it would be for a piano concerto (as we thought some of the less likely concert-goers may have expected). The only tell-tale that this was an unusual concert was the drum kit in the back, and the fact that the percussion setup was something more akin to a piece by John Mackey rather than Rachmaninov.

Note: The thing I found most humorous was that all the orchestral players were going through their normal, pre-concert paces - orchestral excerpts and all (whoever was playing Pictures was pretty damn good, too) - for a Pops concert. A Rock-Pops concert at that (or Pop-Rocks... that would be fun... but I digress)

The concert itself was excellent - the color pallete available to these pieces with the addition of the full orchestra made for some really cool takes on things (Not the Same and The Ascent of Stan most notably). Ben is a phenomenal performer - wicked amazing, especially on his more pyrotechnic pieces (Philosophy, et al...). Simply amazing. Just a lot.

Dinner afterwards - Star Pizza and Dos Equis - all in all a ridiculously great evening. What a nice way to begin closing out my first marching season at Waller - part 2 this weekend! San Antonio Super Regional - can't wait for the kids to perform and see everyone and their brother. That, atop Grand Nationals the weekend after, means I get to check out marching band two weeks in a row. Sweet.

In closing, I leave you with proof that Thanksgiving is apparently no longer a holiday - taken at the CVS here in Waller today. Somehow, I know "The Man" is behind this, nefarious bastard that he is...