Ben Folds LIVE

Ah, the concert fun returns, and what better way to kick off 2007 than the man himself, Ben Folds. A wonderful £12.50 all you can eat Chinese meal was followed by inadvertantly crashing what looked like somebody's birthday party at a little pub (although in fairness it could have just been the fact that everyone else in this pub knew each other except me and the Gee) and getting into the Apollo with great timing, just five minutes before Ben started his set.

This meant, unfortunately, that we'd missed the support act Clem Snide, who had been rather entertaining as the support to Ben's Lowry gig but food and beer are of a higher calling aren't they?

As for the concert itself, well it was as good as you would expect from Mr Folds, although I do have one or two reservations, which are more down to my personal taste than any lack of excellence from the man himself. Firstly, there were a few too many of his slower numbers in the first half of the show and secondly this was the most "skewed towards his solo stuff" concert of his that I've been to. Which is understandable now that he has three solo albums under his belt, but still a little sad for those of us who remember Ben Folds Five with such fondness.

Still the second half of the show corrected both of these "faults" as the more upbeat songs came thick and fast and Ben Folds Five classics such as One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces, Underground, Brick (in a superb Ben-only version) and Army were tossed into the set. Ever the showman, this ensured both that the show ended on a sustained high note and that anyone dissapointed by parts of the first half of the show would have soon forgotten about that and left the Apollo in high spirits indeed.

And don't get me wrong; I had a thoroughly enjoyable night as well. But forgive this old fool for shedding a slight tear that Ben Folds Five are no longer with us...