Ben Folds Five - Live at Local 506, 1994 (Archival Tape)

Download in FLAC (Stereo/Mono Versions): https://drive.google.com/drive/folder...

Performed live on April 17, 1994, at Local 506 in Chapel Hill, NC.

On a cool spring evening, Craig Zearfoss got his equipment set up at Chapel Hill's Local 506, intending to capture, as he has done for the past several years or so, up-and-coming local talent. That night in particular was a drums, bass and piano trio, playing nerdy pop and rock numbers unlike what anyone else was putting out on the scene. Originally billed as Dear Rosetta Stone, they decided to change out their name shortly before the gig. After they set up their instruments, the fledgling band finally announced their new name to the impressionable audience: Ben Folds Five.

This is the first ever recorded concert of the band that we know of, and considering it's their fourth show *ever*, it's unlikely any before this one were taped. They went by the name "Dear Rosetta Stone" for those gigs, but since this is their first AS Ben Folds Five we went with the "first Ben Folds Five concert" branding because it's technically true! And much catchier sounding. It and many other recordings Zearfoss made throughout the years were sent off to the archives of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for future preservation. Performing to a seemingly sparse crowd, the trio gave a lively performance, notably performing an early version of One Angry Dwarf before the lyrics were finalized, and Guilty, one of Ben's oldest songs and one that would almost never be played live again outside of a random one-off in '99. All of this culminating in Ben falling onto his piano at the end of Philosophy to finish off the set, a move that will become iconic as the years go on. I'd also like to point out that Robert is sporting a shirt from Toxic Popsickle, his first band from the early 90s which you can listen to on this channel!

Because of how uniquely historical this concert is, we did some work to it. The video is interpolated from its original 15fps to a clean 30, with some light color correcting to make it look less washed out. Most importantly though is the audio. Obviously this is a pretty amateur-ish setup that was then stored on VHS, so the quality wasn't crystal clear. I did my best to restore and recover what was there by doing something I've never done before. I Giles Martin'd the audio, splitting the stems and stereoizing and mixing them to create a clear, crisp listening experience. A download will be provided for both the stereoized mix, and a cleaned up mono track with only the usual de-noising and EQing. Somehow even nearly 5 years into running this channel I am still finding new ways to challenge myself and my audio engineering abilities. Hope you all enjoy!

☆Timestamps☆
00:00 I've Arrived (One Angry Dwarf)
03:48 Jackson Cannery
07:42 Emaline
11:37 Underground
16:12 Crowd Banter
16:53 Eddie Walker
19:52 Ben Dances
20:31 Guilty
23:07 Crowd Banter
23:35 Uncle Walter
27:37 Sports & Wine
31:06 Video
35:19 Philosophy
39:37 Outro

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