Ben Folds UMKC- Kansas City, Missouri 4/5/2008

Overall, amazing show. Audience was pretty rude to Eef and talked, texted, complained, etc through out his performance. There was also a band called Black Violin before Eef, who were pretty tight, but they were just there for this show. We had the nice crowd of college students yelling for Bitches Ain't Shit, but luckily they didn't interrupt the show too much, but none the less. I got to meet Ben and the boys afterwards and got my handwritten setlist/notes signed. We had a member in the audience standing next to me named Justin, this was his 50th Ben show...Holy shit, Allison, you just got f*cked! Hehe...He had a sign asking for the Last Polka and Ben agreed to play it for him. Then for the encore, before they started One Angry Dwarf, Ben said they would play it as fast as they ever have and could play, they also asked Justin to give them the starting tempo. Overall, a great show, nice stool throwing at the piano, just overall a lot of fun. My favorite show so far.

-Errant Dog
-Gone
-Annie Waits
-Landed
-I Suppose I Said the Wrong Thing (Rock This Bitch)
-Free Coffee
-Still Fighting It
-Effington
-You to Thank
-Hiroshima
-Kate
-Philosophy (w/ misirlou)
-Lullaby (Band Leaves, Just Ben Right Now)
-Last Polka
-Kylie from Connecticut (Band Returns For End of Song)
-Bitches Ain't Shit
-Narcolepsy
-Army
-Rockin' the Suburbs
-Zak and Sara
-Underground

Encore:
-One Angry Dwarf

*Background info...I got fanclub tickets through a friend that said he "Found" them, he also works at a radio station, I'm guessing that's how he got them. Anyways I thought they were student tickets and made fake UMKC ID's for my girlfriend and I, then found out we didn't need them and got in just fine since they were, as said earlier, fan club tickets.

well, shit, gabe. next time you need fan club ticket, just say so!  i've got your back.  you're a good kid.

DUDE. DUH.

And I'm of course way behind on shows, and I KNOW I'm not the person with the most ben folds shows, I only started in 05. THOUGH. who is this Justin kid, and where can I find him? He and I should be friends. CLEARLY. CLLLLLLEEAARRRRLLLY. Cause who wouldn't want to be friends with me?

GOOD GOOD. Ben's hung out after multiple shows now. I so want my siblings to meet him. It'd be crazy. And awesome. And everyone can experience my clonesssssssss. And by clones I mean my sisters who happen to resemble me quite a lot, like think Ben and Chuck, just we get along better. :X

He was a really cool guy (Justin). All I know is that he said he posted tons back in 03 on bf.org and that he just recently posted their again to see if anyone else would be there that would remember him. I did feel cool however since I kind of knew him, he was the employee at the Apple store that sold my dad his iMac, I remembered him completely, hehe.

Been so long since I posted here, I don't even have the old Yahoo address I registered with.
I'm Justin, and I'm a Ben-a-holic. Some might remember me by an old handle, darthjustin. I used it on the Armchair, the .org, and here.
I'm usually pretty quiet. I used to do a lot of stuff with the fan community, but as real life consumed me I stuck to collecting CDs, concerts, and going to shows. And last night, with Ben playing songs for me and getting to meet some great folks, I'm reminded once again why he's not only my favorite musician, but why his fans are some of the best around.
Gabe, it was nice to meet ya! Thanks for making fun of the losers behind us mocking Eef.

I know Justin!  I haven't seen him since October 6, 1999 when we went to Columbia, MO together.  Cool guy!

So, justin, how many years makes up your 50 shows? I'm intrigued. It's rare that I find someone who's been to more shows than I have been to - i hear of them in fairytales and the like.......

I could use to learn from you.

So, how many bills of ben's do you think you've paid? And I know i've witnessed the crowd change in the last couple years, but i'm assuming you've been seeing ben for at least 10 years, is it different a lot now?

50 shows. amazing feat. were you a dead head in a past life?

hey, justin.  you get a mention in this review.
http://media.www.unews.com/media/storage/paper274/news/2008/04/07/News/Ben-Folds.Rocks.Swinney-3307905.shtml

number one show, eh?
can you keep all 50 straight in your head?

i'm worried about myself, the 17th'll be my 20th show. so far their all separate, and i can recall exact dates and shit, but, 50. man. we should be bowing at your feet!

The KC show was fantastic - I enjoyed it more than Springfield overall. I was on the "security" staff for the show, which meant we got t-shirts and permission to tell people to shut the hell up. I used that authority while Eef Barzelay was performing - the crowd was so awful to him. After the show, we headed over to the merchandise table to pick up the MySpace DVD. While there, poor Eef was sitting, looking glum, waiting for someone to buy his CDs. I overheard him say, “Man, this is the worst I’ve ever done at one of these things.” Well, damn. We turned around and asked Eef which CD he recommended (we already have his newest one) and apologized to him on behalf of decent people everywhere for the ridiculous behavior of the audience. He seemed to cheer up a bit, and my friends, I think we saved a life that night. The CD we got was Soft Spot. Fan-freaking-tastic mellow, chill out music. We bought another Clem Snide CD over the weekend just for kicks.

I took a picture of the schedule of the day's events that was posted on the door to the food room:



I love finding stuff like this - it’s like a glimpse into some secret concert world, where April 6th is reserved for “fun, festivity and frivolity in Nashville.” Good times. Speaking of secret concert worlds, apparently Ben’s rider required that he be provided with lots of soy and organic food and, among other things, exactly one box of Raisin Bran. I’m guessing, since he’s on the road constantly for weeks at a time, he uses his rider to do grocery shopping. I’m cool with that.

My 3rd and 4th shows are the 19th and 20th - I think I've got an addiction.

I know Justin!  I haven't seen him since October 6, 1999 when we went to Columbia, MO together.  Cool guy!

Kyle! It's been a long time! That was such a good show, too. What are you up to these days? I'm in KC working for Apple, which is nice. Did you catch the game last night?

So, justin, how many years makes up your 50 shows? I'm intrigued. It's rare that I find someone who's been to more shows than I have been to - i hear of them in fairytales and the like.......

My first show was Feb 1 1996 at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, KS. I've been going ever since, to as many shows as possible. Moslty in Kansas and Missouri, but sometimes a trip East to visit family coincides with a show. What a coincidence. I never set out to see Ben a bazillion times, it just sort of worked out that way.

So, how many bills of ben's do you think you've paid? And I know i've witnessed the crowd change in the last couple years, but i'm assuming you've been seeing ben for at least 10 years, is it different a lot now?

Only in that there are more of the same people going. You've got the die hards, the casual fans (Brickheads was the term thrown around quite a bit in the 90s), the folks who are just interested in seeing live music, and the pretentious asshats trying to be cooler than everyone around them. The KC show was full of those in the area directly behind me, more than I'd seen in a while at a Ben show. They were terribly rude to Eef (whom I adore), and there were several points when I couldn't even understand him because people were so damn loud. It was the exact behavior people complained about when Ben opened for John Mayer.

hey, justin.  you get a mention in this review.
http://media.www.unews.com/media/storage/paper274/news/2008/04/07/News/Ben-Folds.Rocks.Swinney-3307905.shtml

Frank sent that link to me! I was misquoted. I actually said "Well, I'm a little biased because it's not often the man dedicates songs to me, so I have to put this show at number one." Really, I'd put it top 20. Springfield was a little better, but not by much. I think my favorite show would be the Granada in September of 97.

ONE. thanks for the schedule. that's the most colorful one i've seen in a long time. ours last week (for a competely different tour) was just like this
2- SOUND CHECK BTT
4- SOUND CHECK THT
blah blah blah.
caps and bold and boring.

My 3rd and 4th shows are the 19th and 20th - I think I've got an addiction.

WELCOME to the club.

Quote from: ChudleyCannons on April 07, 2008, 04:34:40 PM
So, justin, how many years makes up your 50 shows? I'm intrigued. It's rare that I find someone who's been to more shows than I have been to - i hear of them in fairytales and the like.......

My first show was Feb 1 1996 at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, KS. I've been going ever since, to as many shows as possible. Moslty in Kansas and Missouri, but sometimes a trip East to visit family coincides with a show. What a coincidence. Wink I never set out to see Ben a bazillion times, it just sort of worked out that way.

Quote from: ChudleyCannons on April 07, 2008, 04:34:40 PM
So, how many bills of ben's do you think you've paid? And I know i've witnessed the crowd change in the last couple years, but i'm assuming you've been seeing ben for at least 10 years, is it different a lot now?

Only in that there are more of the same people going. You've got the die hards, the casual fans (Brickheads was the term thrown around quite a bit in the 90s), the folks who are just interested in seeing live music, and the pretentious asshats trying to be cooler than everyone around them. The KC show was full of those in the area directly behind me, more than I'd seen in a while at a Ben show. They were terribly rude to Eef (whom I adore), and there were several points when I couldn't even understand him because people were so damn loud. It was the exact behavior people complained about when Ben opened for John Mayer.

Quote from: melissa on April 07, 2008, 11:45:55 PM
hey, justin.  you get a mention in this review.
http://media.www.unews.co...cks.Swinney-3307905.shtml

Frank sent that link to me! I was misquoted. I actually said "Well, I'm a little biased because it's not often the man dedicates songs to me, so I have to put this show at number one." Really, I'd put it top 20. Springfield was a little better, but not by much. I think my favorite show would be the Granada in September of 97.

i don't think i ever set out for it either. it's just that addiction thing. and the fact that i'm in college and ben's tour schedule has this crazy habit of aligning itself with my break schedule. and i'm not even kidding. i do travel more states than you, but i've got partners in crime that help me go weird along the way.

Welcome, jpar.  It sounds like you live pretty close to me.  I've lived all over the KC metro area and beyond (Bonner Springs, Mission, Lawrence, Topeka), but now I'm stuck in Emporia for graduate school.  I was just curious where you're at in this Kansas/Missouri conglomeration.