Yesterday was the first truly warm day of the year. It was also the peak blossoming of the cherry trees in the median park of Memorial Drive near MIT. To celebrate the season, some friends hold an annual picnic there, which was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.
In the evening, I went to the Spring Weekend concert at MIT. For $15, I got (MIT-affiliate discount) tickets to see Ben Folds, with Sara Bareilles opening. Both are famous piano-pop stars, so I think this is the first time I’ve been to a concert by musicians this famous.
The concert was held in the Johnson Ice Hockey rink, ice-free for the summer, and essentially a long concrete box with stadium seats along one long wall. The stage was at one end, which left the audience divided into sitters, in the stands, facing the wrong way, and standers, on the bare concrete floor in front of the temporary stage. I was there with some other Harvard biophysicists; we were standers.
I only recognized about two songs from Folds’s performance. His music is a bit obscure, and tends to border on atonal. His performance, however, was very impressive. There were five performers, all obviously working hard in the tremendous heat that grew in the strangely unventilated room. Ben Folds particularly could often be observed dripping in sweat, with one hand playing his signature grand piano, the other shaking a maraca, while singing into his microphone. All five kept towels handy.
Musically, I was happier with Sara Bareilles. Her set was shorter, but I knew more of her songs (including a nice cover of “Umbrella” with what might have been a ukulele). She certainly lacked Ben Folds’s outgoing performance, but her singing left no doubt about her talents.
It was a fun night, but at 4 hours long I would have preferred not to have to stand the entire time. Next time maybe I will bring a picnic blanket to pad the concrete floor.