I went to seen Ben Folds and John mayer at the Hollywood bowl last night. I'll be writing my own review next… but first, i figured i would post some comments made by ban folds fans on Benfolds.net

1. of the bajillion shows ive ever been to, this has got to be one of the most surreal.

first, its ben folds with john mayer. that, to me, is like a wet dream line up. y'all know how much i go gay for the two.

then — at the bowl?

ben folds, the guy that played theatres here in la to hard core dork fans like myself, was playing for nearly 30,000 people. and the girlfriend and i were the only ones singing in the 4 mile radius.

it was also surreal hearing everyone say, 'okay, is the first guy ben fold or was that the second guy?'

clearly mayer's demographic does not listen to ben folds. but thats coo' because they were respectful.

ben. by himself for half the set. playing BFF songs. at not only the greatest sounding outdoor venue ive ever been to, but a venue that i never thought id see him in solely because the general public do not give him a chance.

surreal. so surreal. had to tell everyone about it.

last polka! at the fucking BOWL!

 

 

 

2. Bitches was played, he tried to get everyone to sing at the end and NO ONE was singing. so he just got on top of the piano and danced way to long to make it even more uncomfortable for everyone. then said he had chills from all the singing, like he was at live 8 and everyone was singing at the same time to the same song. it was hilarious. i really think he hates these people. he later thanked everyone for making hime feel like a "misunderstood musical genius since music is so accessible these days and it just went over everyones head."
awesome.

 

 

3. I haven't been involved with any of the Ben Folds communities for some time…used to post over at .com. Got kind of turned off by it after a while. Whatever. But after the 6/9 show at Hollywood Bowl, I felt like…well, I had to say something.

Anyway, this was definitely not a dream match. I got tickets to the concert as a college graduation gift. The Hollywood Bowl is a huge venue, which is fine. What wasn't fine were the John Mayer filling the venue. A lot of very rude, very disrespectful John Mayer fans.

I loved the humor that Ben used. The insults were over all of their heads. (BTW, to the person who said he and his girlfriend were the only ones singing along within a 4 mile radius, I was probably 5 miles away or something, but I promise, I was singing along too.) But I had to focus on Ben a lot more than I usually do at a show, and not just because of where I was seated (which is relatively close for the Hollywood Bowl, but really far from the stage when compared to past shows I've been to.) From my seat in section D, I had to contend the entire time with a lot of very rude John Mayer fans who would not SHUT UP. They continued talking loudly. To make matters worse, as soon as Ben was done, a whole bunch of them started talking s— on Ben (is there a swear filter here?) Normally I don't cause problems, but again, they wouldn't SHUT UP. Finally, I stood up, displayed my Ben shirt, and said "listen, if you don't like the music, that's fine. Please, I came here with an open mind, I'm not really a John Mayer fan, but this isn't a competition, it's a concert. I'm just here to have a good time and you folks are spoiling it." Some lady gave me crap about how she paid for her ticket. I said "yeah, I paid for mine, too. I paid to hear Ben, not to hear people verbally abuse his music."
The point is, whoever thought this would be a good match for a tour is probably about as dense as the Mayer fans who's heads Ben's incredibly witty insults went flying over. "Nobody pays attention to the lyrics." Sadly Ben, I have to agree. Apparently, they don't pay attention to much of anything.
Props to whoever I saw on the boards earlier making the comment about "Wonderland" and daring a parent to explain that one to their kids.
I'm out…we'll see if I post again. I usually get tired of such things.

P.S. Why am I pissed off right now that I'm looking at Google Ads on this page and there's one for free John Mayer music? Oh yeah…because his fans who don't get Ben are little whiny wussy 13 year old girls who are upset because Ben isn't "smokin' hot" and doesn't sing like a pretty little pedophile and bitter middle-aged women who are upset because they paid the same amount I did for my ticket and yet are 3 rows back (and are upset because Ben isn't "smokin' hot" and doesn't sing like a man who's looking to have a mid-life crisis with them even though he's getting divorced.)

Okay. NOW I'm spent.

 

 man… Ben folds fans are bitter.

-Aleon