Aside from being completely underwhelmed by the Grille on Seventh (I’ve never said this about a restaurant meal before, but the food was boring; it made me think that old people must dine there a lot: very bland), Dan and I had a great night. Our seats for Ben Folds with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) were perfect (on the floor, right of the stage, about eight rows back). We could see him perfectly.
The highlight (for me) was when he brought out a tenor to accompany him on “Narcolepsy”. I was going along enjoying myself, digging Folds’ piano chops, and the PSO, and thinking that Folds has a pretty nice voice to go along with everything. And then the tenor opened his mouth, and I was blown away.
I should try to catch some opera sometime.
Anyway, the audience participation (de riguer) and the rousing “Army” that closed the show, pretty much sealed the deal.
This song always reminds me of finding and marrying Dan. Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine’s Day.
Red Pen Mama 
I was there too- but way up high in the cheap seats!
Dan got me the tickets for Christmas, which is why we got the good seats. Otherwise, we probably would have been sitting with you!
What was your favorite part of the show?
to be completely honest I was a little disappointed. I saw him play the same show with the Boston Pops in October, and many facets of the night were better- sound quality, his voice (it sounded like he had a cold or sore throat?), my seats, the enthusiasm of symphony (they were all smiling, movin & grovin), and he had backup singers. Not the tenor we had last night, but I think local college students? who were on the stage the entire show.
Last night was still great, but even my companion mentioned how bad the sound quality was, as did someone in the audience. The write up is here: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10045/1035877-388.stm?cmpid=newspanel0, and the PG seemed to agree with my frustrations. Dunno if that was a Heinz Hall issue, a symphony issue, or Ben’s issue.
Re Oliver Twist, we had Pho at Vietnam Pho in the Strip before hand- and it was an excellent choice! Inexpensive, the place was almost empty, and it was very close the the cultural district. I highly suggest going next time!
The first song, it was definitely hard to hear him singing, and I think they corrected for that. It may have helped to be sitting where we where. I haven’t seen Folds in quite some time (I think the last time he was still “Five”), so it was a real treat for me.
I’ve eaten at Oliver Twist, and I like their food a lot. We didn’t go there Saturday night; seemed too crowded. After the show, we stopped at Melange for a glass of wine and dessert.
I will have to try to get to Vietnam Pho soon. Unfortunately, I won’t be having their signature dish, as I’m vegetarian. But I’ve peeked at their menu, and I’m sure there wil be something tasty!
And thanks for the link to the PG article. I was going to look for that today.