B.A.

ben folds summer tour

all shows are with ben folds / guster / rufus wainwright, except where noted **

all shows are all-ages, unless otherwise noted.

stay tuned for more ticket pre-sale information

6/18 highland park, il ravinia festival
** ben and rufus only
on sale now

6/19 kettering, oh fraze pavillion
general on sale 5/1

6/20 sterling heights, mi freedom hill amphitheatre

6/22 columbus, oh promo west pavilion
pre-sale going on now
general on sale 5/7

6/23 st. louis, mo fox theatre
general on sale 5/15

6/25 milwaukee, wi milwaukee summerfest
on sale now

6/26 indianapolis, in white river state park amph.
general on sale 5/8

6/27 cleveland, oh scene pavilion

6/29 vienna, va wolf trap tilene center
pre-sale going on now
general on sale going on now

6/30 baltimore, md pier six concert pavilion
pre-sale going on now
general on sale 5/8

7/1 gilford, nh meadowbrook farm

7/2 newport, ri newport sunset music festival
general on sale 5/1
**ben folds (amy fairchild will support)

7/3 buffalo, ny independence weekend - niagara square
general on sale 5/15

7/5 sayreville, nj starland ballroom
general on sale 5/7

7/7 philadelphia, pa penn's landing
on sale 5/1

7/8 boston, ma fleet boston pavilion
pre-sale going on now
public on sale 4/30

7/10 wallingford, ct careerbuilders.com-oakdale theatre
pre-sale going on now

7/11 boston, ma fleet boston pavilion
pre-sale going on now
general on sale 4/30

7/13 new york, ny central park summerstage
pre-sale going on now
general on sale 5/1

7/14 new york, ny central park summerstage
pre-sale going on now
general on sale 5/1

7/15 pittsburgh, pa chevrolet amphitheatre at station square
general on sale 5/15

7/17 kansas city, mo city market
general on sale 6/5
**ben folds/guster/gavin degraw

http://www.benfolds.com/







Anyone looking forward to this? I'm especially happy to see that he will playing in the Fox Theatre.

woofman

I'm there

Caoimhin

I just saw his solo show at The Bowery Ballroom last week and it was an amazing show. He really kept it fresh by doing a lot of old stuff that he admittedly hadn't played live in years. Probably the best live show I've seen him do in a long time and he's always fantastic. Unfortunately the evening was tainted by the fact that all the New York hipster asshats in the audience treated the opening act like shit.

I'm not sure I'll be able to see his New York Summerstage dates, though. They're in the middle of the week (pathetic working stiff that I am) and Summerstage is kind of a pain.

slop101

When's his album/ep collection coming out? I tried to buy the eps through his website, but I couldn't ever get it to work.

whynotsmile

no LA dates?

damn i gotta see rufus already

Caoimhin

The first two EPs were already released last summer. The third solo EP was abandoned in favor of working on his full album. He ended up doing a third EP with Ben Kweller and Ben Lee. You should be able to get all of them via his website or www.attackedbyplastic.com, which is where you'll be directed for the actual order anyway.

I think the album is supposed to come out at the end of the summer or beginning of fall. He mentioned at the show that he's still finalizing what stuff will go on and that he's still planning to move ahead with the William Shatner album he's talked about for a while.

slop101

That's the website that I couldn't get to work - It's not down or anything, but I can't ever get it to complete my purchase - It just doesn't work right. I emailed them months ago, but never got a response. So shoddy!

Tommy_Harn

Um, I think (and hope) this is wrong. If you check the Guster site, you'll see they're playing at the High Falls Festival Site in Rochester on July 3rd.

B.A.

it could be, but that is what his website said at the time.

Tommy_Harn

So, is the album all new material? Or will the stuff on the EP's by included?

Giles

I hope he plays some his new songs - the last couple of show's I attended were bland and predictable.

Caoimhin

My understanding is that a couple of the songs from the EPs will be on the album, but almost all new stuff. I think "All You Can Eat" and "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You" from the EPs will show up, but he did 2 or 3 that are only from the new album and were pretty solid.

If the rest of his shows are anything like this one, he basically did a couple of things he planned ahead of time, then let people shout out stuff from all the albums. He also did a Lucinda Williams song, "Careless Whisper" and a Liz Phair song he's been doing for a while.

WhattheFFF

Both EPs & The Bens are available on ITunes. You can also order the EPs from www.awarestore.com

Spiderbite

I wish he would come back to Birmingham.

Spiderbite

Is a 4 song e.p. all they are releasing? If so, I am a little disappointed. I was hoping for something that might rival The Thorns album.

Caoimhin

The EP's the only release they've planned, as far as I know. They did a sort of mini-tour in Australia, but I think it's very much a side gig and something not really destined for long-term projects.

Tommy_Harn

Now, the Guster website says the 7-3 show is in Buffalo, not Rochester. That sucks.

B.A.

Well, I was able to get tix in the first row of the first balcony - should be a great spot to catch the show even though I have never sat in the balcony at the Fox before. Probably would have been able to get better seats if I didn't have to buy tix for a group of five - oh well.

B.A.

Rufus Wainwright was alright, but he is just not my cup of tea. I will say that he is a very good musician - he had some funny stories at times and had a good rapport w/ the crowd. His set went a little slow, but it was worth it when he finally performed Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" towards the end.

Plain and simple - Ben Folds is awesome. His one-hour set went by much too fast. The guy is funny as hell. It was great when he brought Rufus out and they performed an old George Michael song - it was hilarious. He got the crowd involved in "Army" and one other song. I could go on and on - check him out whenever you get the chance. My wife is seven months pregnant and she said she could have sat there for hours and watch him and not get tired of it.

Guster reminded my brother and I of The Samples, even though we haven't listened to the later band in well over five years. Their single "Amsterdam" is really their best song. Their stuff seemed pretty repetitive after a couple of songs - too much of a jam band for my tastes. Good musicians, but we still left w/ about twenty minutes left in their set to beat the traffic and get home at a decent hour.

woofman

I saw them Tuesday. Guster was very impressive as usual. Rufus put me to sleep. He just kept droning the same friggin' note all night, and singing at a snail's pace. Ben Folds rocked, as mentioned, great crowd interaction. He brought out Rufus to sing Careless Wisper. He also brought out Guster and they improved a reggae song called "Rock out, whip your cock out" IT WAS HILARIOUS!!!!!! He told a few jokes and by the end of the show I was very pleased. Now I want to see the five' get back together again. Even though I got food poisoning (that luckily didn't hit until after the show) and puked my guts out every hour until 7AM the next morning, I had a good time.

Caoimhin

Apparently, Ben has made the Shatner album and a third EP his priorities before the full studio album:

http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/ar..._id=1000550566