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Tour

Solo album and tour slated for 2023

What Matters Most

After an eight-year recording hiatus, Ben Folds has announced a new album project, What Matters Most, due out June 2. The first song from the album, Kristine from the 7th Grade, was teased last fall, and the first single Winslow Gardens being released this month.

The album will be accompanied by a tour of North American cities including dates previously announced, spanning from April to August. Dates announced so far are on our tour dates page.

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Buckle up, kids

UPDATE (September 8:) More show cancellations and postponements: New Haven, Dallas, Tampa, Charleston, Portland and Detroit. Remaining shows are still on the schedule. Only fully vaccinated patrons will be admitted and masks will be required. Even though the venues have been working hard to ensure a safe experience, with the general rate of infections in these areas they feel it’s not prudent to proceed with these shows.

UPDATE (August 13): York and Bensalem, PA shows have been postponed into 2022. The remaining shows are still on the schedule, but attendees will be asked for proof of vaccination (so bring your CDC card), and masks will be required inside the venue for any indoor shows through 2021. Ben’s crew is working with venues to ensure that these requirements can be met. The best bet is to check with the venue if you plan to attend and have any questions. See Ben’s social media (@benfolds on Twitter, @actualbenfolds on Instagram) for the full statement.

With the pandemic shifting gears, Ben has posted some advice about the upcoming tour – specifically, don’t be surprised if there are changes or cancellations to some dates and venues.

Buckle up kids, it’s going to be a wild ride. My upcoming tour is likely to take some unexpected turns as we continue to see the latest COVID virus variants sweep across the country.

While I intend to make my best effort to proceed with our announced shows, there is a possibility that we may be looking at concert postponements or cancellations.

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Folds cancels shows for the rest of 2020

Ben Folds today announced the cancellations of all his shows until at least the end of 2020. Here’s his statement:

This is the official announcement that my touring for 2020 is now canceled and will be rescheduled at the first opportunity in 2021. That’s the important part. But if you’re interested, here’s why I’ve made that decision now:

Infectious disease specialists tell us that COVID-19 will be here for a while, swirling around the globe until it is stopped by a vaccine, and that it is astronomically unlikely that we will develop and distribute that vaccine this year. In fact, we have never before developed a successful vaccine against any coronavirus. Well. That’s all I really need to know.

Just leaving shows on the books, going with wait-and-see until the last minute, is not in the best interest of ticket buyers, promoters, crew and even businesses near venues. It just adds to our endless list of uncertainties. What is needed in a time of such uncertainty, when a historic pandemic is killing people, erasing jobs, and disrupting life as we know it, is to shed as much of that uncertainty as possible, and to take stock of that which is certain.

Health and safety come first. That is certain. The well-being of my audiences — from 12-year olds whose parents cover their ears when I forget not to cuss, to couples their grandparent’s age singing three-part harmonies — is too dear to me to be put at risk. Not to mention those whose paths we might cross once the show lets out. Until this virus is in the rear view — and again we’re told this will not be in 2020 — we cannot be certain large gatherings won’t re-ignite the spread just as it’s been contained. I’m sure that some cities, states and venues might technically allow our concerts much sooner than others. But remember that the USA is a massive country. One city may experience what seems like complete recovery just as another in a neighboring state is seeing an uptick in cases. It would be irresponsible to incentivize music fans to travel from where there was a cancelled show in an infected area, to attend a show in an infection-free area.

Our federal government leaders have decided to let the states and cities fend for themselves, making decisions like these all more stressful. It’s a little like when traffic lights are out during a storm. (Nobody ever complained of the government coming between them and a car accident, did they?) Absent clear direction, we’re all left to rely on what the car ahead of us did, hoping that nobody gets run over in the process. Honestly, absent federal guidance, I took my cue from Taylor Swift who also cancelled all her touring for 2020. A decision like that takes guts, so thank you President Swift. And I’m grateful to have a booking agent, manager, and crew with broad shoulders.

Of course, this is a huge disappointment to me personally.  I’ve never gone a whole year in my two decades plus as a performer without seeing you all from the stage regularly.

Here’s what I say. Let’s get through this and look forward to a time when we can begin the next phase of that long road to recovery. When we can party like it’s 2021 and not like it’s 1918. When we can sing those three-part harmonies with healthy lungs. That is when live music will be able to step in and do its part to heal and inspire. Until then, please stay safe, and remember, no matter how bad it gets, the most comforting certainty is that all this too shall pass.

Ben

Cake Redux

Following last year’s acclaimed tour of the eastern US with Cake, Ben Folds is teaming up with the anti-grunge heroes for a co-headlining western states tour in September 2019. Kicking off in Bonner, Montana, adjacent to the college town of Missoula, the tour plays eleven gigs in seven states, wrapping up in the Dallas, Texas area.

“We had so much fun with Ben last summer that we decided to do it again, this time in the west,” said Cake frontman John McCrea. Calling them “masters and my friends,” Ben said he was happy to be on tour with the Sacramento-based band.

Cake are somewhat of a pillar of the ecology-smart movement. (more…)

Summer evenings with Ben Folds

Ben’s summer schedule this year unites him with alt-rockers Cake on a month-long tour of east coast and midwest festival venues. The An Evening with Cake and Ben Folds mini-tour will play shows in Boston, Philadelphia, Queens, the Jersey Shore, Columbia, Md., Richmond, Nashville, Indianapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee.

The two are a compatible match, according to Ben: “Cake – my rough contemporaries, comrades and heroes – to me, they make universal, poetic, identifiable music with a groove. I’ve learned a lot from these guys and I’m proud as punch to be on tour with them this summer.” He’s also thrilled to have Boston-based electro-funk duo Tall Heights on the bill as openers, and encourages fans to get there early.

He’ll also do a show with the Grand Rapids Symphony and a solo evening at the Bay View Festival in Petoskey, Michigan. Info is available on our Tour Dates page.