he Odd Men Out Tour kicked off in Boston this summer, featuring Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright, along with Australian musician Ben Lee. The show rocked the packed Bank of America Pavilion in downtown Boston, right on the harbor.
Ben Lee opened the show and was the biggest surprise to me. I was less familiar with his music than I am with the music of Folds and Wainwright; but he put on one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. One of the songs off his new album, Awake Is The New Asleep, is appearing in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. I would recommend a Ben Lee performance to anyone who enjoys acoustic rock or just seeing great live shows.
Rocker Ben Folds played the middle act of the concert and had the biggest, most packed audience of the show. His great variety of songs ranging from his hit “Brick” to his rock number “One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces.” His cover of Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit” (Snoop Dogg also chipped in a few lines for that one) also appealed to anyone and everyone in the audience. Folds and his band (Jared Reynolds on bass and Lindsay Jamieson on drums) proved that you can create rock and roll with a piano and without a guitar.
Closing the show was the popular musician that no one knows about, Rufus Wainwright. Rufus has had his music featured in such movies as Big Daddy, Shrek, Moulin Rouge, I Am Sam, and Zoolander, among several others, but still remains a lesser-known artist. Lacking the extreme energy of Ben Folds, Wainwright and his band played a more relaxing set to end the show that the audience loved. The set included many of his classics like “Instant Pleasure” and a few new songs such as “Between my Legs.”
The show was planned extremely well, both in stage setup and timing, lasting a good four hours. The music never got old or stale, with the crowd chanting “one more song” as each performer ended his set. The time between sets was perfectly planned, with enough time to leave for a drink or to meet Ben Lee in the pavilion outside the tent.
Although the show I went to was in Boston, Albany attracts several big name artists every year including Matchbook Romance, Cake, Tim Reynolds, and most recently, Green Day. If any of the artists from Odd Men Out Tour comes to the area, be sure to check out their show.
