Barenaked Ladies, the final act of last week’s concert was, based on the crowd’s reaction, clearly the headliner. I would have predicted that Ben Folds Five had just as large and fervent a fan following, but I guess that’s me looking through my own filter.
BNL put on a fabulous show filled with unexpected, spontaneous pleasures. Lots of jokes, lots of improvisation. But I couldn’t help but feel sad that longtime lead singer/songwriter Steven Page is no longer with the band.
Page left a few years back after (and I’m guessing because of) an arrest for drug possession. The split wasn’t exactly amicable, as both parties have lashed out in song at the other.
The problem is, Page wrote and sang most of the band’s best songs so it feels somehow wrong for them to carry on without him. Of course they have every right to do so — these guys shouldn’t have to hang up their guitars simply because a founding member exited — but it’s just not the same.
The band worked around Page’s absence by having the keyboardist and drummer sing lead on a couple of songs and even bringing out old Boothby Graffoe to tackle ‘Be My Yoko Ono.’ And Ed Robertson, the other principal songwriter and vocalist (and now sole front man) sang a couple of Page classics, ‘The Old Apartment’ and ‘Brian Wilson.’
The band’s new material didn’t go over as well, and they knew it. I think they played two songs total from their latest, Page-less records.
Page, meanwhile, released the fabulous Page One in 2010, one of my favorite albums of the past several years. I suspect he’ll do just fine on his own, but I’d like to see the old band get back together.
just to check out the late-night record shop.
Call it impulsive, call it compulsive, call it insane;
but when I’m surrounded I just can’t stop.
It’s a matter of instinct, it’s a matter of conditioning,
It’s a matter of fact.
You can call me Pavlov’s dog
Ring a bell and I’ll salivate- how’d you like that?
Dr. Landy tell me you’re not just a pedagogue,
cause right now I’m
[Chorus]
Lying in bed just like Brian Wilson did
Well I’m lying in bed just like Brian Wilson did.
So I’m lying here, just staring at the ceiling tiles.
and I’m thinking about what to think about.
Just listening and relistening to Smiley Smile,
and I’m wondering if this is some kind of creative drought
because I am
[Chorus]
And if you want to find me I’ll be out in the sandbox,
wondering where the hell all the love has gone.
Playing my guitar and building castles in the sun,
and singing “Fun, Fun, Fun.”
[Chorus]
I had a dream that I was three hundred pounds
and though I was very heavy,
I floated ’til I couldn’t see the ground
I floated ’til I couldn’t see the ground
Somebody help me, I couldn’t see the ground
Somebody help me, I couldn’t see the ground
Somebody help me because I’m
[Chorus]
Drove downtown in the rain nine-thirty on a Tuesday night.
Just to check out the late-night record shop.
Call it impulsive, call it compulsive, call it insane;
but when I’m surrounded I just can’t stop.
Meet Me In Montauk 
I went into this concert feeling subtle contempt for BNL generally and Robertson in particular for having the audacity to go on without Page, let alone the audacity of taking the headliner spot as a half band over the reunited and whole BFF. That contempt remained for the first couple of songs of the show, intensified by the fact that, as the headliner, BNL received crowd appreciation instead of rude chatter, better sound quality and better visual production.
But damn if that contempt didn’t start to fade as the band played on. The fact of the matter is that, even without Page, the band sounded great, the humor and comradary (apparently missing from earlier shows according to one review) was there and they managed to even make the old Page songs work. To be sure, the band’s songwriting has suffered without Page, and I still wish these guys would find a way to reunite, perhaps taking a note from the boys in BFF. However, all in all, I came away from the show with a genuine appreciation for BNL, even without Page.
I had that exact reaction… I kind of wanted them to suck when the show started for the same reasons, but they won me over.