theSuburbs.org.uk

Additional UK Date Added!

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:01:25 GMT

Can't get to any of the other UK dates? Live near Nottingham? You're in luck because Ben (or rather, Ben's peeps) have added a new date to the tour - July 7th at Rock City.

Live nowhere near Nottingham? You're in luck too, because a couple of dates have sprung up in Japan. The guys will be playing at Fuji Rocks, Niigata on both the 22nd and 27th July. You're right - five days is a fair old interval. More Japanese dates? Possible dip southwards to Australia? Or maybe just a holiday? Stay tuned.

Ah, also, before I forget the Bristol date changed to the 13th July. Sorry I was a bit late on that one.

Oh, and don't forget all logged in members of the boards can add themselves to whichever dates they are attending. Anyone want to plan a UK Suburbs meet-up this time round?

UK/European Dates - There's More!

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 9:52:01 GMT

Further to the Fan Club Effeciency Shocker - turns out they didn't quite give us the whole story... which is good news!

According to a MySpace bulletin (which I didn't get - where's the love?), here's a full(er) list of UK/European dates. Thanks to greggraham on the boards:

June 24 - Newcastle, UK - The Academy
June 25 - London - Shepherd's Bush Empire
June 27 - Glastonbury Festival
June 28 - Nijmegan, Holland Festival
June 29 - Amsterdam - The Paradiso
June 30 - Hamburg, Germany - Greunspan
July 2 - Bochum, Germany - Zeche *
July 3 - Manheim, Germany - Alter Feurwache
July 4 - Werchter, Belgium - Werchter Festival
July 5 - Bonn, Germany - Rheinculture Festival
July 7 - Bristol, UK - The Academy *
July 8 - Sheffield, UK - The Academy *
July 9 - Liverpool, UK - The Academy *
July 11 - Dublin, IRE - Oxegen Festival
July 12 - Kinross, Scotland - T in the Park Festival

Presale dates are marked with a *

I knew there had to be a London date in there. Also - Glastonbury! I said I'd see what I could do...

(Disclaimer: I did nothing)

UK/European Tour 2008

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 9:16:17 GMT

Following on from a recent dribble of European dates coming through (and UK rumours), the Ben Folds Fan Club - yes, that Ben Folds Fan Club - have announced the full lineup of UK and European dates!

I've bunged them up on the tour page, but for your convenience:

2008-06-29 - Amsterdam - The Paradiso
2008-06-30 - Hamburg, Germany - Greunspan
2008-07-02 - Bochum, Germany - Zeche
2008-07-03 - Manheim, Germany - Alter Feurwache
2008-07-04 - Werchter, Belgium - Werchter Festival
2008-07-05 - Bonn, Germany - Rheinculture Festival
2008-07-07 - Bristol, UK - The Academy
2008-07-08 - Sheffield, UK - The Academy
2008-07-09 - Liverpool, UK - The Academy
2008-07-11 - Dublin, IRE - Oxegen FESTIVAL
2008-07-12 - Kinross, Scotland - T in the Park Festival

Recovered from the shock? Well I hope you're sat down because as well as telling us something we didn't know, the Fan Club are offering presales for the non-festival UK dates! They start today (9th) through to the 11th. If you aren't signed up, don't come crying to us paying members. If you are, check your email.

Bravo BFFC. Keep it up.

Anonymous Tip-offs... UK dates?

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:12:07 GMT

Conspiracies abound! Today, I recieved an anonymous email via some wacky self-destructing message service (worst business idea ever) that simply said:

check folds wiki [touring]. true.

So off I hop and find the following:
Ben Folds will be touring the UK in late June, early July 2008. He will tour Nottingham, Sheffield, Birmingham, Newcastle and Cardiff as well as other cities.

True? Not true? London conspicuously missing? Some bored person seeing if they can get a news post on the site (Hello)? Anagram implicating Shatner ('Kirk succeeding two-hour lift')? Who knows. But I'll have any official news as and if it happens. Just a quick note: I'm off on my hols until the 15th, so for all the latest Ben news keep an eye on the boards. Bye for now!

More New Tracks - Hiroshima and Kylie

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:36:39 GMT

We're at that key time - a tour just before a new album - where Ben has a go with some new material. You've probably already heard Errant Dog, Effington, Free Coffee and The Bitch Went Nuts by now, but since then he's pulled out two more - 'Kylie from Connecticut', and the B-side-tastic 'Hiroshima'.

Apparently Ben was recording these shows, as he invited the audience to perform a couple of parts to mix into the studio version of 'Hiroshima' (though the 'la-da-da' stuff he recorded for 'Rockstar' never made it). Handily, someone else was recording too, so you can hear the songs in pretty great quality. Big thanks to Ryan at fishyrecordings.com (sell them and you're dead).

But wait-a-minute... isn't Hiroshima a relyric'd improv based on a drunken shout from Berlin? Either Ben has secretly been testing out new material for years, or he's getting drunks to write for him these days. Careful now; that sounded dangerously like an opinion.

Oops - that reminds me. If you only read one humongous post this week, make it Chudley's. Thankee very much little lady!

I've Run Out Of Fingers

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:25:32 GMT

As I write this, the number '799908' is staring back at me from the lower right hand corner of the screen. See it? If you're reading the number 'var curDateTime = new Date(); var curHour = curDateTime.getHours(); var curMin = curDateTime.getMinutes();var curTime = ((curHour < 10) ? "0" : "") + curHour + ":" + ((curMin < 10) ? "0" : "") + curMin; document.write(curTime);' then you're too far right and too far down. Look a little bit down from the 'Make a Donation' button (I still have one of those?).

Well, if that number happens to read 800000 then I want to hear from you! Throw a screen-grab my way, telling me when it happened, and I shall pop up a post about it. In fact, why not tell me as much erroneous information as you care to try about this semi-event. What you were wearing? Any particular items of interest on your desk? Is your seated position an exact match of the recommended poise... that kind of thing.

Anyone not interested in these kinds of shennanigans kindly keep moving through to the boards, where we shall endeavour to amuse you with tales of mugging, death threats and stalking. Hey, it's what fans do!

New tour dates - and another Orchestra!

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:12:15 GMT

OK, maybe my first new year's resolution should have been to update the news more than once a month...

Anyway, seems Ben has been organising a few tour dates, as well as continuing to try out some of his new unfinished songs. I'd say if he was still changing them around as much as he is, then we're unlikely to get an album out of him the first half of this year.

Still, I was interested to hear that he's going to do another gig with an Orchestra - this time keeping it local by kicking off Nashville Symphony Orchestra's season, though before you panic-buy tickets it's not until September the 7th.

No doubt some more university gigs will pop up over the coming weeks, so I shall do my best to keep on top of those.

My New Year's Resolution

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:11:20 GMT

Does anyone take these seriously? I like to think that I do. Resultingly, I have no idea how much a packet of crisps costs these days, and the smell of Kentucky Fried McBurger King is actually more of a put off than anything else (that 'WrapStar' in late October was a failed experiment. Or successful, if you note I haven't returned).

So with the obvious dietary tickboxes already checked, I thought it might be nice to turn my efforts outward, and actually do some of those things I keep saying I'm going to do. Hopefully, using the annual 'R' word will somehow focus things.

So, here are my plans:
1) Finish the tour page. I'm talkin' full archives back to that fateful show on the 16th July 2001.
2) Setlist submission - Some way to end my tyrannical reign over the setlist archive.
3) Discography. Holy hell - doesn't this place have one of those STILL? And I thought it was a fan site..!
And finally:
4) Get at least one exclusive item for you dudes. Audio? Video? Autographed banana peel? I've no idea what. Just something. It'll be here and here alone (until our happy friends reupload sans mercy).

How will I fare? Check back in twelve months. Or every day. Or just grab the RSS feed. It'll plug right into iGoogle no problem.

In the mean time, have a great 2008!

To answer a couple of questions...

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:46:40 GMT

I love Fridays. They're ace. Especially the last one before Christmas. Especially if there's a big pile of Folds news regarding new songs, album, and all sorts!

Allison, our resident roving reporter, attended the Nashville show on the 19th of Dec, and has come back with a bumper pack of videos, news tidbits and information regarding the new album.

Quick version: Ben's an angry man, and the anger has manifested itself in a number of new songs. The new songs aren't made from exploding synths (as he alluded to a million years ago), but they are frenetic in parts, and funky! It's not Silverman pt 2. The album is scheduled for completion in February, so we can expect to see it in 2008 for definite.

Long version... come right this way.

Thanks Allison. You should know by now that we all love you.

Ben's new album... finished?

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:54:13 GMT

Feeling weary at the current lack of Folds? Speedy_(the_Drummer) took a more proactive approach than the rest of us with our refresh buttons. He went and emailed Engine Studios (where Ben was due to record) and asked them how it was going. Thusly, they replied:

Actually [speedy], that did not end up happening here due to scheduling conflicts. Ben ended going with producer Dennis Haring and doing the record entirely in Nashville instead of here at Engine with Brian... a bummer, but that's the way it works out sometimes.

Dennis who? Waitaminute - 'Ben ended... doing the record'. It's the past tense! Has he done it? Is it finished? Will he be playing new material on the new tour dates that have popped up? I'll give you a clue on that last question: he had better.