Last Friday, Ben Folds dropped his most recent album So There and played a secret show live on Lightning 100 from historic RCA Studio A. Lightning 100 staff and a few special listeners got to attend the show. The Music Row studio is now owned by Ben Folds himself. He said when he first looked at buying it, “there was nothing in there. When I walked in there wires hanging out of the floor and walls, the doors were open. It was pretty much ghost town.” The studio is now full of his own pianos, beautiful high ceilings, and white lights strung all over the staircase. Everyone was seated around Ben on his old Steinway Piano. DJ Lt. Dan started the show by discussing the new album So There. It’s eight chamber pop songs, recorded mainly in the studio, created with yMusic Ensemble, and performed with Nashville Symphony. Ben played tracks from the album: “Phone in a Pool”, “So There”, “Not A Fan”, and “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Movement 3.”
It was the day before Ben’s birthday his 30th, he joked, so the crowd sung him “Happy Birthday” as Lt. Dan gave him a cupcake with a candle in it. Ben was asked questions throughout the show about how he came to own the studio, his favourite albums, fondest collaborations, playing Colbert’s first Late Show, and learning from Neil Young. He also took requests from the crowd and played old songs “The Ascent of Stan” and “Landed.” The next day Ben headlined Live On The Green Music Festival to over 20,000 people. He played for almost two hours accompanied with some of the ensemble from his album. Ben entertained the crowd beyond belief with his talent and intellectual subtly funny personality.
Written by Atalanta Benitz
