Ben Folds at the Palais Theatre

Last night we went to see one of the most awesomest musicians and entertainers ever - the amazingly talented and ridiculously ingenious Ben Folds! He was playing a one-night only show at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda. The Palais is one of the oldest and venues in Melbourne, and one of the most beautiful that I've seen (together with the Forum and the Regent Theatre). It opened its doors in 1927 and, according to its website, is in serious need of restoration. I love old buildings.

The grand ol' Palais

As you can see, the Ben Folds gig was SOLD OUT!

We met up with Sarz and Jules for dinner beforehand, and missed the support act entirely (not that we mind). Had dinner at Chinta Ria Soul on Acland Street. The Chinta franchise is still going strong after all these years, even with separate owners each restaurant still retains the same warm, cosy feel.

With not much time left before the gig, we decided to order the quick and easy stuff. The boys had Asahi beers, and I had a glass of their Swan Valley merlot, which was a nice and easy quaff - by my standards, seeing that I had to skoll it towards the end as we were running late for the gig...

Jam's roti with chicken curry - note that they've actually cut the roti up, which isn't as authentic than if they had served it with a whole piece of roti. Chinta Blues (also on Acland St, but near the corner of Fitzroy St near the Prince of Wales hotel) does this.

Jules and I had the curry laksa. The soup was really rich with lots of coconut milk which, while yummy, is not always necessarily a good thing, as it can distract from the flavour of the laksa

Sarah's chilli prawns. Not what I expected - I thought the sauce would be the traditional reddish sweet chilli one, but this came across as more of a tangy Thai style. It still got good reports though.

We got REALLY GOOD SEATS at the Ben Folds gig - in the stalls, Row P seats 22-25. We were right bang in the middle and were close enough to see Ben's fingers fly across the grand piano keys.

It was a smashing gig. Ben played a good combo of his old and new stuff - like "Annie Waits", "Zak and Sara", "Effington", "Landed", "Gracie", "Still Fighting It", "Fred Jones", "Brick", "Emaline", plus heaps more - as well as two new songs that haven't been released yet. They're from an upcoming album done in collaboration with the writer/author Nick Hornby (High Fidelity), and they sound pretty good! One was about Levi Johnston - the 18-year-old boyfriend of Bristol Palin (daughter of ex-American VP candidate Sarah) and father of her child - and how he got dragged into the limelight, put on the spot and made to marry the girl.

And then there was Missy Higgins!

She came on stage for one song - "You Don't Know Me", which Ben sang as a duet with Regina Spektor on his latest album. She also played some very simple drum rhythms, which was good fun.

Ben totally rocked out with his c*ck out (Ben fans would know what I mean!). The crowd went wild every time, and brought the house down with much cheering, screaming, clapping and foot-stomping. He also took some requests. He played "B!tches ain't shit", which was awesome!

The last time I saw Ben in Melbourne was in 2006 when he played with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, which was absolutely amazing. So it has been a while, and I'm glad I got to see him play.

Dinner was at:
Chinta Ria Soul
94 Acland Street, St Kilda
t: +61 3 9525 4664