One Angry Dwarf & 80-Piece Orchestra

Have been meaning to post about the Ben Folds and Sydney Symphony concert I went to last Friday.

It was AWESOME (and I'm not one of those cute Gen Y's who use the word liberally).

Here's a not so nice write up in the SMH. While I agree with Mr. Zuel that it's hard to improve on the originals, I think it's a bit cynical to say 'what's the point' when the arrangements showed off both Ben and the SSO's talents (like he , 'not just your usual pop-classic duet), the audience had a heap of fun and all the musos looked like they enjoyed doin' it. Isn't that what entertainment is all about?

Highlights for me were...

1. When he had to stand away from the piano and sing Not The Same - painfully uncomfortable, awkward and hilarious
2. The sci-fi'esq intro to one of the songs - I think it was One Angry Dwarf
3. Getting the story behind Cigarette - all the words are from one sentence in a newspaper article. Strangely he played Landed instead after telling the story
   
4. The orchestra playing the melodian part of Stephen's Last Night
5. And of course, finishing up on Luckiest in the encore - this last one for completely sentimental reasons
   

He also played a few of my favourites that don't usually get much airplay at gigs - Evaporated, Alice Childress and Carrying Cathy.

There are some fuzzy videos on YouTube. Of particular interest is this rendition of Rock This Bitch.

We got our photo snapped by some photographer sponsored by Jameson - hence the annoying logo. This is NOT an ad for them.