Concert in a cave
I went to a concert by myself because I was tired of not going to concerts
And I like caves.
There’s a venue in Pelham, TN, where they turned a large cave into a concert venue. It’s been on my list to visit for a while, and when I saw one of my favorite singer-songwriters Ben Folds would be playing, I jumped at the chance.
Walking from the gravel parking lot down into the cave is a slow descent. The cave entrance looks like this…
But let’s back up a bit first.
I’m trying to use my camera more often. I’ve had the busiest year; you don’t even know. Things are starting to slow down, and I’m trying to get back to my other hobbies. I’m keenly aware I need to edit/post my Morocco pictures, and that’s coming very soon. In the meantime, the process of creating this post is actually me trying to get my workflow down so it’s less burdonsome to post.
In the spirit of this, the first few pictures are from my nice camera not that you can tell.
Here’s the hotel I stayed at in Kimball, TN. I think it’s out of focus. I left my camera off for so long (1 year) that it lost all its settings, and I’m in the process of putting it back together.
I got the hotel on points.
Here is the view from the parking lot toward the other side. A small lake, and there’s a highway beyond that. Notice how foggy it was? I had a whole other side trip planned for Rock City Gardens. But since a major attraction there is Lookout Mountain, and I didn’t think I’d be seeing very far on this foggy day, I skipped it.
The rest of my photos are from my phone. Because the concert was in a cave, I didn’t want to mess around with low exposures and so forth. I’m the laziest photographer. I seriously shouldn’t even have a nice camera.
I dream of being the kind of person who is into photography, but in practice it doesn’t really happen.
It was pretty cool walking down into the cave, and then seeing this…
That’s Ben Folds’ opening act, Lindsay Kraft. She didn’t know how to play the piano before 2020, when she couldn’t get these musical songs out of her head and taught herself to play. Now it’s 2024, and she plays pretty decently, and accompanies herself singing.
Here’s a few bad pictures (from my phone!) of Lindsay from later in the show.
Here’s the top of the cave…
So, this tour was called the “Paper Airplane Request Tour.”
You write a request on a piece of paper, fold it into a paper airplane, and throw it onto the stage. I was too far back to get a good picture of this, but I stole one from Reddit.
Great concept.
My request was this…
… but Mr. Folds played a set list in the first 40% of the show, and sung this song third! So I tore it up, didn’t throw it.
Here’s the full set list, if you’re curious. Mostly I’m saving this for posterity. I love his music, and it was a blast to see what he’d play next.
Capable of Anything
Sentimental Guy
Ascent of Stan
Fragile
Kristine from Seventh Grade
Effington
Still Fighting It
Phone in a Pool
Me and Maurice
— The requests started here —
Missing the War
Not the Same
(Someone requested “Happy Birthday to Jason” so he made up a song for that)
Song for the Dumped
(Someone gave him a multiple choice which included the last song and the following song, so he quickly played a few scores of “Song for the Dumped” in minor as a joke.)
Emmaline
Learn to Live With What You Are
Careless Whisper
Barrytown
In Between Days
Carrying Cathy
Rock This Bitch - In a Cave (w/ Lindsay Craft)
Zac and Sara
Encore: Underground
“Underground” contains the chorus “We can be happy underground” and was too perfect for the setting.
Ben Folds always gives a great concert. He loops the audience into singing parts of the song with him, and when he’s not singing, he’s communicative and playful.
Evidently this is the first time a grand piano has been played in a cave? This was told to us, but it feels difficult to believe. Maybe he meant this venue, or maybe he meant a full concert, or both.
As I said above, I was worried about going by myself. What would I do? You can’t just read a book like at a restaurant. And unlike a movie, there’s much more potential interaction with other people. But, now that my cherry is popped, I can see myself doing it again. It really wasn’t a big deal at all.