AND I’M SO FREAKIN EXCITED!
I finally bought my ticket and I’m going with a friend. I’ve seen Ben a bunch of times but not in 2 years, and I’ve never seen Guster so I’m reeeally excited for that. Rufus I like, so hopefully I’ll love him after this show. The same concert is happening the day after and I think it’s just so damn cool.
Anyone else planning on going to either show?
shameless bump
No one’s going? Or jealous that *I’m * going? 
I’m stuck in Florida, but I’m a huge Ben Folds fan. (I’ve only seen him once, on the fall 2002 solo tour.) You go and have a great time!
I’m going to the July 10th show in Connecticut. Should be a good time.
In my ideal world, the performers would be swapped around. I know barely any Rufus Wainwright but am a big Guster fan.
I’d go, but I’m 3000 odd miles away.
Jealous? Nah. I live (near) god’s paradise on earth, and shows like that come and go weekly and they are free! And I can bring all the homebrew beer I can get down me neck!
Have fun!
Sigh. My three favorite musical acts. They played in Indy last Saturday. I wanted to go SO badly but I didn’t have a car and no one would go with me (I’m about 4 hours from Indy). Damn, I was so sad.
Think of me while you’re having a kickass time. 
I’ve been trying to love Rufus Wainwright after a show for months now but security still stops me at the stage door…
Well, THAT was a weird show. Friggin’ long (4 hours) and I’m still not sure who the headliner was. Rufus Wainwright was listed on top, but everyone did sets that were about the same length (though only one got an encore). The big draw here was definitely Ben Folds, the middle act. The Army song is so much fun!
About a third of the people left before or during Rufus’s set. It was kind of sad but completely understandable, since his style is quite different and the audio mixing was doing his voice no favors. I felt like my head was going to explode, a little.
The great thing about a show with one band and two solo performers is that there are so many possible ways to combine them. I’ll leave it at that.
Some further research reveals the order changes every night. Neat!
Ooooh!! Thanks for bumping this! You’re making me even more excited for this show. And it hadn’t ocurred to me that people might be coming for only one of the acts and leave thereafter. I might go into convulsions of joy if they all start playing together.
The last Central Park show I went to was They Might Be Giants 2 years ago. The Moldy Peaches opened for them, and to my surprise, a lot of people left when they finished. I usually get a good spot when I go to shows there, so if people keep leaving, then I’ll keep moving forward! Yaaay.
In a word: FANFUCKINTASTIC!
Holy crap folks, this show was awesome. It was Guster, then Rufus, then Ben, and it was a very Ben audience. It was so cool how they kept coming out and playing with each other, too.
Highlight: Rufus coming out when Ben was playing to sing George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” together. Priceless.
My sister loves Rufus, and right now she’s out in Santa Fe and having a lousy week so I called her a few times while he was playing and she got to listen. She said it made her day.
Big downside: Last night it poured and it was drizzly all day today, so the ground was soaked. Even though one of the people I was with had brought a windbreaker and we sat on it, it didn’t really protect all of me from the wet ground so my jeans got all sorts of wet. Also, standing for 4 solid hours with a sprained ankle is not good times. I held up pretty well though, and now I’m icing it as I type. I have a feeling my legs will feel all sorts of broken tomorrow. Yay.
Damn that was fun!
Which songs were you happiest to hear them play?
I’m always a fan of “Army” live.
I haven’t seen Rufus or Guster in concert, so I don’t know what songs their sets typically consist of. However, for Rufus I’d like to hear “14th Street” or something in French (“Complainte de la Butte,” “Quand Vous Mourrez de Nos Amours,” "Rebel Prince), and for Guster I’d love “Diane,” “Fa Fa,” or “Barrel of a Gun.”
My favorite part was when the Guster drummer was playing with Ben Folds, and then Ben started drumming on the piano strings. Crazzy.
I forgot to mention that I correctly predicted 2 songs last night. When Guster was on, I was thinking “I hope ‘Barrel of a Gun’ is next” and then they did it! And when Ben was on, he opened with “Lullaby” and I thought “I bet ‘Zak and Sara’ is next” and it was! It was kinda freaky. 
I was hoping Ben would do “Philosophy” but he didn’t. Guster came out and backed him on “Fair” and that was sooo good. Okay really it was all good, lol.
I was looking forward to “Army,” which he did do. And, like the live album, he had us be the horn sections. Yknow, now that I’m thinking about it, I’ve seen “Army” several different ways. I saw BF5 the day that Reinhold Messner came out, and Darren and Rob sang the horn parts. The next time I saw them was 2 months later and they had a whole horn section to actually play it. Now the last 2 times I’ve seen that song live, I’VE been the horn section. Sweet.
I was really happy that Guster did “Amsterdam” and “Backyard” from the newest album. Some girl had written to them saying “Hey Guster, I see that you’re playing in Central Park in July. Can I play violin with you?” And indeed she did, on “Two at a Time” (I don’t know if that’s the actual title, but it’s the last one on Keep It Together). “Fa Fa” was another I was happy to hear, but I would have loved to hear “Center of Attention” or “Happier.”
SmackFu, that was pretty freakin great when the Guster drummer came out, but Ben didn’t play the strings on the piano with him. Instead, he sat down at the drum set and played while Guster guy was on bongos. I’d forgotten that Ben was a drummer too! I have seen Ben drum on the piano strings in shows past, tho, and that’s always great.
<whine> I’m so jealous! I play violin! Why wasn’t that meeeeeeeee? </whine>
BTW, Guster has an open taping policy, so you should be able to find legal copies of the show you saw online, assuming someone taped it. Start at the www.guster.com messageboards. Not sure about the Ben and Rufus parts.