Ben Folds Five Reunites for MySpace

Band to perform final album for MySpace program “Front to Back”

By Randy Harward

Ben Folds Five will reunite for a one-night-only performance on the inaugural episode of MySpace’s “Front to Back,” celebrating “iconic albums that have helped shape the MySpace Generation.” Folds, bass player Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee, who haven’t performed together in a decade, will perform their final album, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner at the UNC Memorial Hall in their former hometown of Chapel Hill, NC on September 18.

“When MySpace approached me about doing this gig,” say Folds in the press release, “I misunderstood and thought they wanted us to play Purple Rain front to back, so of course I said yes. But we're happy to do The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner instead. Of our three albums, this one brings back the most vivid memories. It was actually written to be one song of many movements, which is why there are motifs that appear throughout the album. That should make Reinhold a natural to be played front to back.”

Anybody else out there kinda wishing they would perform Purple Rain? You know, just to hear Folds and Sledge do the Wendy and Lisa dialogue from “Computer Blue?”

Folds: Wendy?

Sledge: Yes, Lisa?

Folds: Is the water warm enough?

Sledge: Yes, Lisa.

Folds: Shall we begin?

Sledge: Yes, Lisa.

Proceeds from the show will benefit Operation Smile. For more details, visit MySpace’s “Front to Back” page.