Пятница 20 Май 2011, 21:46
My mind was blown, as was the roof off the Palais on May 20th by Benjamin and Kate. Ben Folds has been one of my all-time favourite artists for years but I've never been in the right country to see him. That is, until last night. And to date, it was the best gig I've been to in my life. Hands mother-effing down.
Once the crowd was warmed up by the sex-laced operatic tone of the beautiful Kate Miller Heidke, Benjamin greeted Melbourne with his ode to Sarah Palin's son in law…or whatever their legal relation actually is, and the night kicked off. The crowd really fired up, however, when Ben commenced his third song of the night, Gone, from the Rockin the Suburbs album, belting the shit out of the piano in true Folds form.
From there, shit got intense as Ben interwove the big numbers from his latest album, co-written with British novelist, Nick Hornby, including crowd favourites, Saskia Hamilton and Belinda, with the classics. And of course, as was tradition, Ben "rocked this bitch", this time with an obscure improvised melody driven by "scary clown" chords, to the tremendous delight/fear of the Melbourne audience.
Perhaps the most exciting moments for me included those when he and Kate performed his stuff together, and during the incredible encore. Kate sang alongside Folds for a couple of songs, including Songs of Love, From Above, and of course, You Don't Know Me, with Kate taking Regina Spektor's part.
Kate took the song further however, by adding her own unique interpretation which made for an absolutely thrilling performance, ending with her producing a gigantic, soprano note that absolutely ripped the ceiling off the Palais and shot into the stratosphere. Together with Folds' encore, which included both an improvised percussion piece and one of my all-time favourites, Zak & Sara, these were the highlights of my night.
Overall, Ben and Kate were both stunners. Melbourne should be honoured to have been blessed with the presences of such immensely talented artists. Consider this bitch officially rocked. 11 out of frigging 10.