The tour in support of the recently-released Lonely Avenue album is now underway, with dates across the eastern US. At the Detroit show, Ben played a few songs from the new album (Saskia Hamilton, Belinda, From Above, Levi Johnston’s Blues),  but relied on a mix of recent and past material from his repertoire, even reaching into the Majosha wayback machine for Emaline. The set, which ran over two hours with multiple encores, was full of energy, appreciated by the crowd of several thousand at Detroit’s outpost of the Fillmore group of performance spaces (formerly the State Theatre which, according to veteran soundman Leo Overtoom, is one of the best-equipped and most acoustically desirable venues on the tour).  Many dependable features of a Folds show delighted the audience, including the crowd vocal harmony parts on Not the Same and Army, the impromptu riffs from Misirlou and Hava Nagila woven into other songs, and a snippet of Dr. Pyser. Of course, no show would be complete without improv, and Ben did not disappoint with a couple Detroit-themed jams. New bassist Ryan Lerman is fitting in well and had some tasty licks on One Angry Dwarf and Philosophy. Ben told me they are still rehearsing new material for future shows, including some surprises, so showgoers later on the tour have a lot to look forward to.
The tour caps off in December with a date at New York’s Beacon Theatre. After the live finale of The Sing-Off and a break for the holidays, there are plans for touring in the UK and Europe, as well as Asia and Australia in the months following the new year.
