A polite respite from pandemic panic

Ben Folds brought his piano, the Sydney Symph and some beautifully arranged songs to Town Hall.Credit:Emma Sandall

Ben Folds & The Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Sydney Town Hall, March 6
★★★½

It had been a hell of a week. So who better to comfort us than our hometown orchestra and an honorary citizen balladeer wearing his heart on a well-tailored sleeve?

Ben Folds might have carried a whiff of danger back when fronting his rock quintet in the '90s, inventing piano-punk and becoming a sort of Kurt Cobain for band camp nerds. However on this night the 53-year-old from North Carolina via Adelaide was polite almost to a fault.

Witness the way that, after another virtuosic run down the keyboard, Folds would raise his arm in a Liberace-style flourish.

Or graciously let the Sydney Symphony Orchestra be the star of the first two songs, sprawling odes to American flyover country in Effington and Jesusland. Their mannered melodies were sung gently enough to melt in to the strings and woodwind, bar conductor Nicholas Buc's surprise bellowing of Effington's first line.

Or the moment where Folds met with civility a raucous request for Rock This Bitch, an improvised centrepiece of his solo piano shows, patiently inventing a part for each section of the orchestra and teaching it to them as we watched.

There was even an interval, for goodness sake.

But old-fashioned showmanship, hummable tunes, lush arrangements and love were what we came for, and this show delivered.

Folds is a master at writing a miniature character study on paper which becomes universal in performance, and the SSO were fitting accomplices. Take Free Coffee, ostensibly a song about Folds suddenly not having to pay for stuff after he became famous. Between its twitching violins, dramatic brass dives and Folds' bewildered vocal, it captured our discombobulated mood.

He repeated the trick with Steven's Last Night In Town, a rousing Gershwin-esque arrangement elevating the titular jerk into a figure whose foibles we willingly related to.

There were a few more straightforwardly sentimental moments. Folds' twin son and daughter might now be 21 years old, but he still sings the songs he wrote about them – Still Fighting It and Gracie – with tender sincerity, the latter coming with a beautifully restrained string part.

I Still Call Australia Home got a run belying the fact Folds only lived here full-time for a few months, while The Luckiest, if a tad perfunctory on its umpteenth airing, ended the show with welcome calm.

Source: Read Full Article