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By Dave Miller

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Kate Miller-Heidke sure knows how to make a good first impression.

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Fresh from kicking off the Coachella music festival in California which earned her a mention and photo in the New York Times, Miller-Heidke came to Chicago for the first time on Monday as the opener for Ben Folds, who's in town for three sold-out shows at the Vic Theatre. The 28-year-old popster is trying to make a name for herself in this country after enjoying major success in her native Australia. That doesn't appear to be a question of "if" but "when." She was the best opening act I've seen in a long time.

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Coming out in an elegant, light-colored dress bathed in blue light, Miller-Heidke showed off her voice right away on the opening ballad, "Our Song," one of four numbers she played from her pop American debut album, Curiouser. She has an enchanting voice that can switch gears in a heartbeat and soar into operatic territory. She doesn't overuse her unique range, but when she steps on the gas to hit a long, operatic note, it's nothing short of arresting.

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Miller-Heidke's voice was center stage in her short set as it was accompanied only by her husband's acoustic guitar and her sometimes keyboards. What helps her stand out is her sneak-attack humor whether taking a long opera note to an extreme length and following it with a gutteral monster-like sound to a funny song about an ex-lover's online request to friend her on Facebook with her killer title response, "Are You Fucking Kidding Me?" Her husband, Keir Nuttall, also showed his humor with his playing during a long guitar solo on the closing "Words" - on which Miller-Heidke began by sounding like Kate Bush before she ended by giving everyone a final listen to her stunning operatic vocals. Oh yeah, she also name checked the Sex Pistols.

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My only complaint was that her set was too short. She played six songs. I could have listened and watched her all night. I'm not sure why she played such a short set. Her album is filled with 14 quality songs. Perhaps she was limited by not having a backing band - which could have been due to the fact that Folds' Steinway grand piano took up a good chunk of the stage. Maybe she was tired coming off Coachella as she cancelled an in-studio radio appearance that was supposed to take place after the show. Or it just might be that Folds' manager didn't want the opener to overshadow the headliner. At least the fans who came to see Miller-Heidke were rewarded with a bonus when Folds graciously brought her and her husband back onstage for "You Don't Know Me" during his set. Her voice and sparkling presence immediately lifted the proceedings. When she left, someone in the crowd yelled, "Bring her back!" The piano man acknowledged the sentiment. "I want them to tour with me forever," Folds said, "but they're going on to bigger and better things. One day I'll be opening for them."

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The setlist:

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Our Song
Politics in Space
Dreams (I Love You)
Caught in the Crowd
Are You Fucking Kidding Me?
Words

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Start: 7:31 p.m./Finish: 7:59 p.m.

Totals: 6 songs, 28 minutes

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Ben Folds

Photo by Dave Miller

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Review by Andrew Smith

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I was happy to attend my first Ben Folds show, and this one was on solo piano. It was the first of a sold-out, three-night stand.

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First, opening act Kate Miller-Heidke, hailing from Australia, was fantastic. She's garnered quite a bit of acclaim Down Under with nine nominations (but no wins) for the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Awards, which are, as far as I can tell, like our Grammys. Her first US release, Curiouser, was just released in mid-March after being released in Australia in 2008. To my ears, she sounded like Bjork (in a good way) when Bjork is singing in her least-stylized manner (read: in a conventional voice). I can see why Folds is one of her biggest supporters--he confessed as much in no uncertain terms from the stage--and this is the second time he's invited Miller-Heidke on tour with him. She is absolutely worth checking out: I'm considering buying her record sight-unseen based on her short set, and she's coming back in June or July to headline her own show (no venue yet).

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Folds started the show by staying offstage and playing studio recordings of tracks one and two from his next album. He then strolled onstage in jeans and collared, short-sleave shirt, and kicked off the show with an Elliot Smith cover. His voice was in fine form from the get-go. Next, on "Annie Waits," the audience was clapping and shouting in response to Folds at specific moments of the song. This would be a constant throughout the evening. I knew Folds had a loyal following at one point, but, if I had any doubts about his connection with his fan base, they were dispelled: his fans know his material almost verbatim. As well, the show was all-ages, and there were many college- and high-school-age fans there. It seems Folds is adding to his fan base as the young folk discover his music.

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Folds showed his trademark humor--often self-deprecating--in his stage banter and during his songs throughout the evening. For example, at one moment, Folds played a Chicago-style-blues-into-nonspecific-jazz version of the non-song-audience-request "Rock This Bitch." The audience clapped along, and he added lyrics about how the jazz chords he was playing could "sell a hundred records" and that "there was a band called Tortise that had chords like these." The "Rock This Bitch" fun may have started in Chicago: I have a friend who had it on a mix CD from a live show he went to in Chicago in 2002, and it sounded like it was the first time Folds had ever riffed on the shout-out.

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Overall, the show was consistently enjoyable because of Folds's material, his voice, and his energetic performance. His energy reminded me of Elton John's legendary first performances in the U.S. back in 1970. Folds's energy isn't to that level, but he still gets up off his piano stool a la Jerry Lee Lewis. For me, Folds's five-song stretch from "Rock This Bitch" to "Bitch Went Nuts" was the best sequence of the show.

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One drawback on the night was that Folds apologized to the crowd before "You Don't Know Me" because the piano was really out of tune. He joked to the audience, "I'll make up for it by hurting myself for you" in reference to how physically difficult the piano was to play. He even stated from the stage that, if there was any way he could, he was going to get another piano for nights two and three. After "Fired," Folds explained, "the only way to make [a piano like this] sound good was to do some damage to your hands" and gave some technical explanations why that was the case.  During the last song of the encore, you could see Folds cursing the piano a couple of times as he tried to play it. One of the strings seemed to go during the song as it started to create a buzzing sound when its hammer hit it.

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Some nice or funny moments in the show:

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Before "Time," Folds talked about how he opened up for Neil Young for about 40 shows one summer, and Young would cover the song. He said one show was a meet-and-greet in a field somewhere, and Young was playing requests. Young had to have album cover lyrics for many of the songs put right in front of his face so he could read them. Folds said, "He had written so many good songs that he couldn't remember them. That's bad-ass."

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The audience shouting out oh-oh-oh-ohs on "Hiroshima." Folds responded with his own off-the-piano-stool playing.

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Before the encore, Folds confessed to the crowd that he used an audio device that he got from a sound man that simulated the sound quarters going into a pay phone. He used it to to steal phone calls from pay phones during his first two tours.

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Some other highlights of the show are when Miller-Heidke and her guitarist joined Folds onstage for "You Don't Know Me," and also when a drumset was brought out for Folds to jam on for the outtro of "Steven's Last Night in Town." He began playing a floor tom while a roadie walked it over to another area of the stage, and then a couple of roadies began bringing out the rest of the drumset a couple of pieces at a time. Folds played the drums so hard that his spectacles when flying off his face. It was great showmanship, and Folds isn't too bad on the skins, either.

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Folds played a three-song encore, and he lost me for a bit for the first two songs of it. A friend I was with mentioned that a solo piano show might be served better by being a bit shorter as it's just piano and voice. Folds then left the stage but had the PA system play two more studio tracks from his next album. Out of the four studio tracks, two sounded great over the crowd noise.

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I was not that familiar with most of Folds's material before this show--I was pleased that he played his song "Landed" which I love--and it was wonderful to discover his quality songwriting live. I now understand why he has a cult-like following: he's a fantastic songwriter, his primary instrument is something different than guitar/bass/drums, he's a skilled lyricist, and his vocal register is much higher--and therefore, unique--when compared to most rock singers. I don't know if he'll ever gain mainstream acclaim, but I can see him becoming an American treasure at some point. He is already to many, and this show was strong persuasion to share the same perspective. Selling out The Vic for a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday stand on solo piano is no mean achievement in my book.

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The setlist (* personal highlights):

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Say Yes (Elliot Smith)*
Annie Waits*
Sentimental Guy
Effington*
Time
Dog
Rock This Bitch
Hiroshima*
Still Fighting It*
You Don't Know Me* (with Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttal)
Bitch Went Nuts*
Fired
Steven's Last Night in Town (with drum-solo outtro)
Selfless, Cold and Composed
Landed*
Jackson Cannery
Tom and Mary
Zak and Sara
Rockin' the Suburbs*
Army
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The Secret Life of Morgan Davis
Mess
Song For The Dumped*

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Start: 8:23 p.m./Finish: 10:07 p.m.
Totals: 23 songs, 1 hour and 44 minutes

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