Well my friends, I just arrived home from the Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds concert. It was actually the most painless trip I have ever taken to Summerfest. For those of you who don't know, Summerfest is quite a novelty. It's this huge music fest held every year down by the lakefront. It usually has a decent line up of performers, including big names on the big stage. This year, Prince was the artist who kicked off the "big names" stage. Tonight, I believe it was Kid Rock. Throw Kenny Chesney in there, and you've got a really weird brew. But yes, this is a thing Milwaukee does every year, and this year, I was able to make to the Ben Folds and Rufus show. But I made it out with out seeing anyone lose their stomach, fall on me because they were so drunk, or break out into any fights. For as much as I hate the crowdedness and craziness of Summerfest, this trip there was actually quite pleasant.
First of all, let me tell you that we had the most kickin' seats. Yes, seats. This is highly unusual at Summerfest as one most often has to stand. We made our way in about 10 minutes before Rufus took the stage. We wandered about, trying to find a spot where we could actually see. We found a decent spot to stand next to the sound booth (which is more like a tower). We kept inching our way in, until we noticed a spot right in front of the sound booth. We then noticed there was a big ledge, and hopped up on it thinking we'd get kicked off it. The guy let us stay. It was great. We could see above all the heads, we were dead center and about 150 feet back. It was so amazing...Full view of the stage. An orange/pink/purple sky in the background, accented by the Milwaukee skyline. The weather was AWESOME. Couldn't have asked for a better atmosphere for the show.
Rufus took the stage first. This was my first time every seeing him in concert. He was much more comical than expected. I'm not too familiar with his songs (by name), but he played a decently lengthy set (about an hour and a half) which included songs such as "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" and "Pretty Things" and much to my suprise (and delight) "Hallelujah". He's a great performer. He referenced Prince rather often throughout the evening...I think he may have been jealous of Prince's following. He also took the liberty of talking about politics. He made some mention about a move that Cheney made today - some "ignorant" comment...I hadn't heard anything about it...I'll have to look that one up. But then he made a plea with the audience to vote because he said "We need to get Bush out!" A roar came over the audience in approval...It was kind of interesting. I wasn't sure if people were actually interested, or if it was because of the beer in their hand. Anyway, I enjoyed Rufus a great deal and would highly recommend him to anyone.
Ben Folds on the other hand, while an AMAZING performer, I would not recommend to everyone...He's got a lot of built up anger and quite a potty mouth. With a new rendition of "Rock This B****" (one that I can't really repeat), he's got quite a track record with multiple swear words. However, that boy can pound the piano like none else! Man! I'm always in amazement of him. He played a lot of classics - a TON off of...hmmmm...what is it? I guess it's a self titled album. It's got the yellowish-orange type label with the white outline of a piano. Songs such as Jackson Cannery, Philosophy, Where's Summer B?, and Underground (which he said was unusual for him to play in concert). Other classics included Kate, Emmaline, Army, Black T-Shirt, and One Angry Dwarf. Stuff off Rockin The Suburbs included Rockin' The Suburbs, Not the Same, Zak & Sara, and Mr. Jones Part Two. He sang some songs off his EPs as well as a new one he wrote for his daughter Gracie (it was a beautiful song - just like Still Fighting It). He sang a Ray Charles song. And of course, it wouldn't have been a good show without the greatest impression of Elton John, and "Tiny Dancer".
All in all, a good show. Thanks for reading my lengthy review (if you've made it this far). You know now a little bit more of my great love of music, and especially Ben (and Rufus for that matter)...
It's late though. Need sleep. Will write more tomorrow (though, it'll show up as two posts on the same day).
Peace out. :)
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