Rocking the Suburbs...

...or should I say downtown Minneapolis. Aimee and I went to see Ben Folds at Orchestra Hall Saturday night. Only a couple days prior to the concert did I realize that Ben was playing with the Minnesota Orchestra. I figured he was playing at Orchestra Hall because of the venue size and didn't think anything of it. We sat in the middle of the first row in the first tier. Orchestra Hall was a beautiful venue but more equipped for instrumental music (Duh). The vocals were not loud enough so you could hear Ben over the Orchestra. It was a very good concert but very toned down to what you would expect from a Ben Folds concert until the encore. Ben came back out and performed 3 encores. The 1st encore with the Orchestra which was obviously planned. Then the fans clapped and chanted for a couple minutes, the orchestra left and he played Rock this Bitch and Army. The energy in the room was through the roof. After he left the stage the crowd was chanting "Ben, Ben, Ben" and clapping for another 10 minutes straight until he came back on stage and played Rocking the Suburbs. At this point the crowd went nuts! Everyone on the main floor stood up and rushed to the front of the stage. You got the feeling that everyone was craving for the piano smashing vulgar language Ben to show up that night but got the toned down church lady version. Never the less the show was really good and the Minnesota Orchestra was a fine tuned machine. I will definitely be watching to see if Ben returns to Minneapolis, hopefully to First Ave this time.