Chicago w/ Youth Symphony - June 6, 2015

Point one: Holy hell those kiddos could rock, and the Chicago Theater was perfect.
Point two: Loved the audience, and particularly their love for Andy the approx. 16 year old saxophonist. I love sitting next to strangers who have either not seen Ben ever or in years - or in this case ever with a symphony. Watching their delight makes my delight even that much more meaningful.
Point three: Poor pianist girl in the symphony, I think the only thing she even played on was Cologne and she sat there all serious through the show with her hands in her lap.
Point three b: She did erupt into a grin after each song, and particularly One Angry Dwarf.
Point four: I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS NEW RECORD. I mean I anticipate any Folds release, because there is no other choice being me and all, but I am SO enthralled by this new sound. I can't even come up with adequate words. I hope it does well - even if it's just in the indie circuit well.
Point five: This show will likely be my last show before July 4th, and it was a hell of a show to end my (first) decade of Folds Fandom. (July 4, 2005 was my first show and the day I became a fan).

Okay here be the set list.

1. Effington (loved that Sam stood up and sang the opening line and wasn't amplified at all but we had no problem hearing it.)
2. Jesusland
3. Erase Me (reportedly the second time that it's been played with a Symphony so the arrangement is technically a work in progress. AND HOLY CRAP it was intense and wonderful and I want... no. NEED. a symphony recording of this song)
4. Cologne
5. Concerto Movement II
6. So There (which I was quasi-surprised that new stuff was being played, but I'm not a composer - at all - and don't know how time consuming it would have been to take the yMusic arrangement and make it a 60 piece)
7. Steven's Last Night in Town

Intermission

8. Zak and Sara
9. Capable of Anything
10. Rock this Bitch
11. Landed
12. You Don't Know Me (which featured one of the young girls from the symphony on the female vocals, clearly not very rehearsed but I was super proud of her)
13. Brick
14. Not the Same
15. One Angry Dwarf (which was particularly wonderfully loud)

Encore:
16. The Luckiest

In all these years of following Ben, this was my first symphony show.  Very glad it was with CYSO.  My wife and I were both band nerds growing up (still are I suppose) and had several good friends go through the CYSO program.  The organization I work for shares a fundraiser with them too, so always happy to support the program when I can.  Being my first symphony show, I had never seen how he does Rock This Bitch with a symphony before.  That was truly amazing and those kids really deserved the mid-show standing ovation they got for pulling it off.  That's one of the few times I've actually appreciated someone yelling for Rock This Bitch.  Normally I think it kills the momentum of a show, but that was actually incredible to witness last night.

I totally agree Allison - I'm really looking forward to this new album!!  I absolutely love the new material he wrote with yMusic.  I almost wish he'd make a full album of that and just release the concerto as a non-album single.  (Trey Anastasio has done that with some of his orchestral pieces - Time Turns Elastic and Petrichor).  So There and Capable of Anything sounded great last night, it's probably because they were written for classical instruments to begin with.  Of the old material, I'll repeat the comment I made from the two previous Chicago shows that I think Erase Me and Effington are the two most successful orchestral arrangements.  Speaking of Effington, my wife and I thought it was really interesting that the it was conducted in 1, that's not how I hear it at all.  I wonder if it's arranged in 1 or whether the conductor just chose to do it that way.  If that's how it's arranged on paper, that would make for a shit ton of 32nd notes to read through. (I said we're band nerds, right?)

stray note from show: the limited merch on sale last night all featured the So There cover art

  Speaking of Effington, my wife and I thought it was really interesting that the it was conducted in 1, that's not how I hear it at all.  I wonder if it's arranged in 1 or whether the conductor just chose to do it that way.  If that's how it's arranged on paper, that would make for a shit ton of 32nd notes to read through. (I said we're band nerds, right?)

I was following you but then I lost you here. While I understand the terminology of music but I can't connect the concepts to music in my head. Anyway...

Yes. I agree the newer arrangements, anything post WASO I think have been the best. I think they've been done by the Nashville Symphony - which of all the symphonies I've seen Ben with is probably my top and the Minnesota Symphony I remember being quite good. But CYSO was definitely up there for sure.

Rock this Bitches at symphonies are my favorite, because there's just the genius more obviously on display for the average or symphony subscriber member of the audience to actually see. I was particularly fond of the one I saw in Tampa last year because there was a four piece choir as well - and Kerry Marsh who's been in charge of all that for Ben and the quartet added something awesome. But CYSO did a good job with it last night.