Copious Use of the Eff Word

OK, this post is not for the feint [sic] of heart. Wait, you're not supposed to "sic" your own words, are you? And anyway, even if you are, I'm not sure that first sentence means anything except that I'm trying to be cute.

Geez.

So, what I mean to say is that you really should navigate away from this page if you are easily offended.

Ben Folds was the next act I saw after DeVotchKa. And no, I didn't end up going to KZoo to see them (DeVotchKa) on Thursday. Too much going on that day. Way too much actually. But that's another story entirely. (Been saying that a lot lately, yes I have...)

So all y'all know that they typically play music through the PA before a concert starts that may or may not be related to anything, right? Well, the last thing we the fans heard before Ben walked out on stage was this. When the song first came on, everyone was kinda looking around at each other like...wtf is going on?? Weird... But then, the chorus hit. And everyone started giggling guiltily. Giggles turned to guffaws, and soon we were all laughing merrily.

Remarkable how using the eff word and God in the same sentence makes peoples' skin crawl, I think. You should really click that link if you haven't already. You'll be glad you did. Because you will be laughing so hard you'll be crying. Truly. Unless you have a stick up your butt. In which case, you probably navigated away from this page already, like my above warning asked you to. Right? So no flame-o-grams? K, thanks.

Right, so this post is actually about Ben Folds...well, I guess the "Ben Folds Bonnaroo experience". Suffice it to say that I'm now a Ben Folds fan. He put on a fantastic show. He was funny, engaging and his songs are great. Great melodies, clever lyrics, blistering satire and all that. He's actually a little too clever for his own good at times, but it was a whole ton of fun to watch. First thing out of his mouth when he got to his mic was, "Wow, you are a sh*tload of people!" Well, we were, actually.

He started off his set with a song he wrote in a Waffle House. It's called "All U Can Eat" and just about perfectly sums up my angst with our great country. And yes, it IS a great country. Just a little sick sometimes. :-)

I was close enough to get some great action shots:

There were a couple different times he had us sing along with him on harmony parts. I know it sounds cheesy, but it was actually great fun.

Especially when he was conducting us:


BF and Dr. Dre wrote a song together. Hilarious, actually. Even more use of the eff word. I think I probably laughed the most at this show out of all of them. Many of the other folks performing were taking themselves rockstar seriously. You'll understand that with the next coupla posts.

So then at the very end, he told us that he was going to take a picture to submit to the Bonnaroo photo contest. He got up on top of his Baldwin baby grand, waved at us, flipped us off, and here's the result:

I also think that between the "explicit content" of his lyrics and the opening song, the BF show was the highest density use of the eff word of the whole weekend. Which is saying something, given that it's a favorite of rock stars everywhere.

So, check back soon...more to come!