Playlist Rewind: Miniature Tigers at the Factory

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Normally, when we go to a show at a standing-room venue like the Electric Factory or the TLA, we try to get there right when, or shortly after, the doors open because, well, we're old farts and like to snag the upstairs bar stools. This is especially true when we're going to a sold-out show. Knowing that the Ben Folds show at the Factory this past Saturday was sold out, we actually arrived there a few minutes before the doors opened. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who got the memo, because the line waiting to get into the show ran through the Factory parking lot, all the way down 7th Street, turned down Willow Street, and made it about 2/3 of the way to 6th Street. So much for our master plan.

We managed to snag a pretty good spot to watch the concert from, though, and we were very optimistic about this concert. We've seen Ben Folds a couple times before, and he generally puts on a great show, and Miniature Tigers (MySpace) has impressed us lately. And MT did not disappoint. The band's set was short, but memorable, and we think they endeared themselves to quite a number of fans. True, the acoustics in the Electric Factory still suck, and so some of Charlie Brand's lyrics got lost—a real pity, cause Miniature Tigers' lyrics are really worth listening to. Plus, we couldn't help but love Brand's awesomely bad sweater. He and drummer Rick Schaier really take being hipster seriously, and in an appealing way, not an obnoxious one. (Unfortunately, we didn't get pictures, but Schaier came into the audience during Ben Folds's set and rocked out with some hipster dancing. Words cannot do justice...) Plus, we're inclined to think well of anyone who slaps a Dharma Initiative sticker on his guitar. We walked away from the show liking Miniature Tigers even more than we'd expected to. If and when the band comes back to Philly, hopefully to someplace like the Khyber or the North Star, you can bet we'll be there.

Miniature Tigers wrapped up their set right around 9, and then it was time for the gratuitous set change. Now, these things always take longer than we think they should (especially given that Folds piano and drum kit were already on stage when the evening began), so we figured the headliner would take the stage right around 9:30, 9:35. So we were shocked when it looked like things were all set to go at 9:20. But alas, it was not Ben Folds who took the stage, but the Gracenotes from West Chester University, who recently recorded with Folds. (That album, which features Folds performing w/ a cappella groups from around the country, should be out in April.) The Gracenotes did an enjoyable, if difficult to hear, three song set, including their version of Folds's "Fred Jones, Pt. 2." Once that was done, we figured Folds would almost immediately take the stage. Wrong. It was not until 10 p.m. that he finally came on, by which point two and a half hours of standing on the concrete floor had taken its toll. Maybe all would have been forgiven if he'd done a killer set, but by the time he finished (at midnight), we couldn't help but be disappointed—if not a little bit angry. Folds seems to have lost some of the playfulness that made our previous experiences at his shows so enjoyable, and he takes himself far more seriously—and displays a far larger ego—than his music suggests. There was a stretch of about a half hour in the middle of Folds's set where he completely lost us by playing what felt like six slow, depressing songs in a row. It may be blasphemous, but we have to say that we kind of wished that Miniature Tigers had played longer, and Folds shorter—not to mention earlier.

Photos by author, all rights reserved.