dimanche 27 Avr 2008, 16h51m

Sat 19 Apr – Ben Folds, Ari Herstand

Friday Brooke and I loaded up my mom's van (she was nice enough to buy a lot of food and sodas for our drive) and went to go get Melissa and Jo from Parkside to start our adventure. On this bit of the drive Brooke wanted to make a list of all the Ben shows she's been to. And while we did this, we missed the exit to Kenosha, and ended up in Waukeegan. WHOOPS. I am not allowed to do math while driving ever again. :P

So picked Melissa and Jo up 25 minutes later than we were supposed to, so poor Rachel had to sit at East longer than she needed to. Whoops. But then we headed up to Eau Claire. After some nasty rain we made it there- but not after we unfortunately discovered that Brooke's GPS doesn't work there…. weird thing. And so we couldn't find Jim's house. And he was gone. :| But we found a pizza place. So we ate some gourmet pizza. It was pretty tasty. Then we got mapquested to Jim's via the telephone.

We got to Jim's and then we attempted to teach Jo and Brooke Sheepshead. HAHAHA. I mean, I know it's a hard card game. But it's way too much fun. And that passed the hours until Jim came home. We slept and then got up and left for Saint Peter- Gustavus Adolphus College. Which looks like the Wartburg of Minnesota. Though, their caf is worlddddddddssssssss better than ours. And their gym, where the concert was…. is actually also an ice rink. Cause they have a hockey team!? Pretty awesome.

Instead of Ben Lee, Ari Herstand opened. I'd heard a lot about Ari through Mike and Dan. But I'd never heard him. Pretty cool. Lots of layering and pretty typical pop voice. He kept saying things about how excited he was to open for Ben Folds (seemed to be a theme this tour) and during his one piano bit he said something about how that bridge wouldn't have been possible had Ben Folds never been born. A weird fact, that I don't know if anyone else caught, but the banner flying above the stage that was some championship flag was from the year Ben was born. I thought it a bit ironic with that statement. He was pretty good. I'd listen again, I think.

Then Ben Folds. Very typical show. But, a good show to start the two nights off, I'd have been bummed had they been the other way around.
1. Errant Dog
2. Gone
3. Bastard
4. Hiroshima
5. Free Coffee (where he also added the shaker into his piano)
6. Zak and Sara
7. Landed
8. Lullabye
9. Annie Waits
10. All U Can Eat
11. Bitches Ain't Shit
12. Narcolepsy
13. Brick
14. Losing Lisa
15. Battle of Who Could Care Less
16. Rockin' the Suburbs (where Ben said Tambo-Man's name… but not many people are wise to what it is, as apparently his name is "tambo-man")
17. One Angry Dwarf and 200 solemn faces
18. Kate
19. Not the Same
Encore:
20. Effington
21. Philosophy + Inc

A little sad I was without a solo set- I mean, I didn't miss Fred Jones or the Luckiest, but I miss the availability to demand something else. Fred Jones has the perfect spot to ask for something without the audience clapping yet, I don't know why, but people always pause before they clap for that one. Ah well, works to my advantage, I've gotten a couple songs that way. :P But, I guess, if he's gonna play 21 songs, I'm cool with skipping FJ2 and Luckiest in return for Battle of Who Could Care Less. DEFINITELY! I think I'd even take Bastard over FJ2 -> Luckiest = all of solo set. Though, Brooke and I have discussed the fact that he's pretty likely to play the Luckiest cause lots of people at his shows are at their first (and maybe only) Folds show and that's one of those songs that lots of people only know him for. Same with Bitches. AGHDLFJKDFAS. I'd rather have the solo set than Bitches. Not kidding.

At the show we met Paulie and Jenna (brother and sister) and they too are hardcore Ben Folds fans (the only way to be!). They had these signs, they were pretty cool. We got to help hold them cause they were right next to us. They had one that went so they needed some extra hands. And then one said; Ben Folds a family tradition. Another one; Our Mom is your #1 Fan. And A Ben Folds is Rockin St. Peter or something to that nature. With a pretty cute drawing of Ben on it.

We waited around after the show for Ben, but the security was uber at this school, and there was even no Jared and Sam for us. :( And met javajunkie from the burbs there too. And her husband. It was a good time.