Ben Folds Live

Ben Folds is that rarest of species among the indie fraternity – the dazzling showman. At one point during Live – a collection of songs from the Folds back catalogue captured during his ‘Ben Folds And A Piano’ tour across the US earlier this year – the singer responds to a shout of “rock this bitch” from the crowd by extemporising a song of that very title.

“I’m gonna rock this motherfuckin’ bitch/Like she’s never been rocked before” croons Folds, in a truly hilarious parody of Barry Manilow-like, M.O.R. emoting. For all its levity, this throwaway tune sums up at least 50-60% of the Folds canon, where genre clichés are appropriated and brilliantly re-deployed for the singer’s own ends. Just listen to the way he completely reinvigorates the staid, Billy Joel school of piano laments on ‘Not The Same’, by picking as subject matter not the standard unrequited-love scenario, but an oddball tale of a friend who “took some acid at a party, climbed a tree outside and came down a born-again Christian.”

Which is not to say there aren’t moments of genuine sorrow and melancholy here. ‘Brick’, an early BF5 number, is a truly heartbreaking tale about the singer’s high-school girlfriend, who was forced to abort the couple’s child. However, for the most part, whether Folds is encouraging the crowd to act as a makeshift brass section, or playfully throwing in a snippet of ‘Misirlou’ from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, this is music guaranteed to put a smile on your face.