Birmingham 19th Feb 2010

Well that was bloody good.

Support was Kate Miller-Heidke who was excellenet

Setlist in a not well remembered order:

Levi
Gone
Doc Pomus
Belinda
Sleazy
You To Thank
Cologne
Rock This Bitch (someone asked Ben to show us his bellybutton...)
Bastard
Still Fighting It
Landed
----SOLO---
Fred Jones Pt2
Last Polka
Picture Window
Hiro's Song (Ben couldn't remember the chords so just hit out a beat on the microphone)
---------------
Annie Waits
Hiroshima
From Above (with Kate Miller-Heidke)
You Don't Know Me (with Kate Miller-Heidke)
Saskia Hamilton
Effington
Zak and Sara
Bitch Went Nutz
Kate
Rockin' The Suburbs
Army
-------------
OAD

Thanks Dean! Surprisingly little Lonely Avenue there - was hoping for Password tonight but suppose it's not very live-friendly. Great list though - glad you had fun!

Thanks for the setlist. I'm really looking forward to tonight's gig, I've travelled down from Edinburgh for the concert and I'm also going to Friday night's gig in Glasgow.

Good stuff.

I agree, not very Lonely Avenue skewed, an interesting, but good cross section...

LA   6
RTS   6
WTN   5
BF5   4
SFS   3

.....I have too much time on my hands.

It was fantastic, topped by Ben walking into GBK whilst we were stuffing our faces with burgers!  Talk about starstruck! He walked back out after we'd spotted him and he went to Tesco.

Wish I could go to another date on this tour!

First time at The Institute - not my favourite venue ever...though I think I am getting old and need to site down these days. Is it me or did that place have way too many people for the amount of space...I couldn't even get my hands in the air it was that tightly packed...

Anyway, I have some shots up from Birmingham last night: http://tinyurl.com/333w9jl

A friend of mine went to the HMV Institute last month to see Foals, and reported back to me that it was a great venue.  Well - it's a great LOOKING venue - but yes, way too crowded on the ground floor.  I'm 6ft and struggled to see at times, so my 5ft5in companion... well.  In spite of this, just brilliant, one of the best Ben Folds gigs I've ever seen.  There was at least one more Lonely Avenue song than that, I think - playing over half of the new album seems perfectly adequate to me.

Yep, the "Show Me Your F****** Bellybutton" song (that morphed into Rock This Bitch) was top notch too.  Also the longest show I've seen of his, at two hours, and I suspect it could have been even longer.  There was a curfew of 10.30, and it was only a couple of mins shy of that when they left the stage, so I think they could probably only fit in one song when they came back, played at the now customary batshit crazy speed.

So in summary... yes.

It was a brilliant gig! I was holding back initially as I thought it was merely post-Ben hyperness but no a couple of days later and I can conclude this was Ben at the best I have ever seen him! He was so relaxed and in a rocking mood! He seemed pleased everyone just knew the parts to Army with barely any orchestration. Kate was brilliant too - both the song and the support act now I come to think about it I've got some shots as well let's see if I can upload one as it was truly awesome! Thought at times maybe the crowd could have been more supportive. Really enjoyed The Last Polka, that felt like a treat!

I have moved out've Coventry this weekend and Ben has helped me every step of the way, listened to him packing - gig - listened to him whilst cleaning the house, driving home and unpacking. Got to love that man and his musical abilities!

First time at The Institute - not my favourite venue ever...though I think I am getting old and need to site down these days. Is it me or did that place have way too many people for the amount of space...I couldn't even get my hands in the air it was that tightly packed...

Anyway, I have some shots up from Birmingham last night: http://tinyurl.com/333w9jl

Yeah indeed. I got there for about 7.00 with "unreserved seat" tickets (doors opened at 6.30 and Kate started at 7.30) and it was literally so crowded that there was nowhere to stand that I could actually see the stage. From my point of view it was preposterously packed for the size of the place.

We too had the unreserved seat tickets  and got there at about 6:50, only to find nowhere to park my 9 month pregnant behind! Finally spotted a 6 inch gap by a pillar and to my delight, the family sitting there squashed up and we actually managed to fit both me and hubby in! Thanks to that lovely family!

So, the gig? Good but not my favourite Ben gig ever. The atmosphere was a bit aggressive and as much as the band were good I couldn't get over the fact that Jared wasn't there (no offence to Ryan who did a great job). Only other complaint was OAD as an encore. Of all the encore songs he does, that's my least favourite so I left feeling a little let down!

Kate M-H was rather special though! Hubby ran downstairs to buy her album, which she signed "to my unborn fan" cos he told her how the baby kicked all the way through her set!

I've been on a massive Ben trip since Birmingham...a few days later, I have gotten over the Institute and am loving the Folds unconditionally again!

Kate Miller Heidke was brilliant - She is massive in Australia, and I shot at Sydney's equivalent of Hammersmith Apollo when I was out there, so got an album signed in a shot. All my Oz mates are jealous!

I wish I'd gotten down for the London show...two and a half hours? Man, that's some Ben lovin' - I want my extra half hour next time...

There's a 5 star review on the Independent website somewhere of the London show...google it!