Ben folds was certainly ‘rocking’ the suburbs’ this evening, more specifically that suburb called Ardwick which is home to the fabulous Apollo. The American crooner is on his European tour and has been the hitting the major cities, and tonight was Manchester’s turn to be treated to his impressive catalogue of hits which goes right back to the nineties when he was then known as The Ben Folds Five.
Support this evening came from Spanish songstress Lau Noah who warmed up the audience with her beautiful guitar playing and then went step further and bravely invited the entire audience to join her on her final song which they did very well! The Spanish born singer now lives in New York and impressed with her self taught playing, proving to be a distinguished musician, soulful and with a wonderful stage presence and sharp humour.
Folds entered the stage, unassuming, casually dressed and greeted the audience with a shy, slightly awkward wave. On stage this evening was a full band, which was lucky for UK audiences as Folds just this week announced a ligament injury to his hand which means he has had to cancel the European leg of his tour.
Folds has only released two albums in the last ten years, but his latest album ‘What Matters Most’ released in June of this year has been hailed a success by critics. One of the strongest songs on the album ‘Winslow Gardens’ was second on the bill and sounded fantastic with the added element of a full band. Folds has no problems playing solo (barring hand injuries) but having that fuller sound this evening really embellished the melodies.
Having gotten into Folds back in 2005 when ‘Songs for Silverman’ was released, I was pleased that a number of tracks from that beautiful album were included tonight, ‘Landed’ and of course songs from his 2001 album ‘Rockin the Suburbs’ including the haunting ‘Still Fighting it’.
Folds completes the UK leg of his tour tomorrow evening in Edinburgh, and you can find out more information HERE about upcoming shows.
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