Friday, September 19, 2008

Ben Folds Five (updated 10.23.08)

Last night we had an amazing opportunity to go see Ben Folds Five perform for the first time in around 8 years. The show was at Memorial Hall at UNC Chapel Hill. The concert was partially a benefit for Operation Smile but it was also an event for a new series of concerts put on by myspace called front to back. The band was given the choice to play any of their albums front to back, they decided on "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner" an interesting choice seeing how it was the least successful album they put out and ultimatley led to their breaking up.

There were a couple of highlights for me (Bill).
  • One was the people watching, now remember this show was on the UNC campus and 600 of the 1600 tickets were allotted for the students. As I sat there before the show I leaned over to Danielle and told her "This album came out in 1999, so if there are any freshmen here they were like 9 when this album came out and there is no way they know all these songs" and I tell you the truth, once "Narcolepsy" started I saw two girls lean over to each shrug their shoulders and say to each other "I don't know this song" that continued all the way until "Army" everyone went nuts during that song. Then soon after that they all went back to a confused look and soon broke out their cell phones and started texting. I found it all to funny and sad that their were some people who bought airline tickets and traveled thousands of miles for this concert while others could care less and were wondering when he was going to play his solo stuff.
  • Another great moment was "Your Most Valuable Possession" I was wondering how they would do this song. The vocals of this song are a voicemail recording of Ben's Dad saying some random thoughts early in the morning before he really wakes up. Well it was very cool that Ben's Dad actually came out and read what he had said that morning. It was really fun.
  • After the band had finished "Lullabye" and the crowd went nuts, I was thinking is that really it? Are they just going to play the album and walk away? Well obviously the answer was no, they came back out and played 7 more songs from their other alubms, and that left those girls even in front of us even more confused. That was until they played thier last song of night "Song for the Dumped" oh how the crowd went crazy.
  • All in all the biggest highlight from last night was Danielle leaning over to me and telling me the baby was doing backflips in her belly. I don't know if it had to do with the music or not but I like to think our kids gonna be a fan of Ben Folds Five.
It was a very special night and we had a blast. In October the show will be on myspace check the front to back site and I 'm sure they will have more details.
Here is a pic from the show, they wouldn't let us bring in real cameras so I only had my cell so its not that great but its the best I could do.


In other news Danielle goes in for her first ultrasound on Tuesday so hopefully we will have some pics to post then.
Peace out,
Bill


Now you can watch the video! Enjoy.
Ben Folds Five - MySpace Front To Back concert

3 comments:

Marylin Shannon said...

Wow, Bill, all I can say is, "HUH?" But, I'm sure you didn't expect me to know a thing about Ben Folds Five. I do know what a "sheepfold shelter" is. Is "Folds" Ben's last name?

Don't mean to embarrass you, so let's talk baby talk. We are so excited about you and Danielle expecting our 5th grandchild. My folks had all girls, Al's had all boys, Del and Christy have one of each (in reverse order), so all bets are off regarding which sex you two will birth. Either way, its coming into lots of relatives on both sides who are ready to love and spoil it when you two aren't looking. Just remember, everybody has a job and its our job!!! I'm just kidding, we try our very best to not disobey our grandkids' parents.

We know who calls the shots regarding our grandkids. And we try to honor their parents' request. Even when when we were not allowed to reward Alex for his straight "A" report cards. No hard feelings, just a comment. Del and Beth are wonderful parents and are raising a great young man and, also, a great young lady.

Will you have the baby dedicated in N. Carolina?

Love, Mom (AKA Nana Shannon)

Marylin Shannon said...

Wow, Bill, all I can say is, "HUH?" But, I'm sure you didn't expect me to know a thing about Ben Folds Five. I do know what a "sheepfold shelter" is. Is "Folds" Ben's last name?

Don't mean to embarrass you, so let's talk baby talk. We are so excited about you and Danielle expecting our 5th grandchild. My folks had all girls, Al's had all boys, Del and Christy have one of each (in reverse order), so all bets are off regarding which sex you two will birth. Either way, its coming into lots of relatives on both sides who are ready to love and spoil it when you two aren't looking. Just remember, everybody has a job and its our job!!! I'm just kidding, we try our very best to not disobey our grandkids' parents.

We know who calls the shots regarding our grandkids. And we try to honor their parents' request. Even when when we were not allowed to reward Alex for his straight "A" report cards. No hard feelings, just a comment. Del and Beth are wonderful parents and are raising a great young man and, also, a great young lady.

Will you have the baby dedicated in N. Carolina?

Love, Mom (AKA Nana Shannon)

Marylin Shannon said...

Bill, for the record (not sure who is keeping it) Uncle Bill had all girls, ours are both sexes, David adopted. I could go on and on (Campbell's had only girls), there is just no way to predict from the past, but I did want to mention those details.

Also, how can you post the baby's ultrasound picture and not reveal the sex of the baby? I'm sure there is a way to do that, I'm just current on that opportunity.

Love, Mom & Nana Shannon