Ben Folds, (The Palais, 3rd September)

After three years away, Ben Folds returned to Australia to play gigs that didn't really showcase Way to Normal, but did manage to reflect a range of material across his career. Maybe that's a slight generalisation but I was sure I'd get to hear a bit more of the new stuff, like Cologne, Errant Dog or Bitch Went Nuts. He opened with Free Coffee, a song that wouldn't immediately spring to mind as a likely candidate for a solo piano gig. But then he went back to Anne Waits from Rockin' the Suburbs, a crowd favourite where hand clapping from the audience was encouraged.

From the new album we also heard Doctor Yang, one of the most energetic performances of the set, showing that Ben's live energy can't always be captured on a studio recording. Missy Higgins appeared to perform guest vocals and drumming for You Don't Know Me, another set highlight. And we also heard Effington, a chance for Ben to show off his fast piano fingers. But that was it. Much of the newer material was left untouched in favour of classics.

There was some even newer material from the new album in the works which Nick Hornby is writing lyrics for. There was the beautifully poignant Picture Window and the hilarious story of Sarah Palin's daughter's boyfriend Levi's Blues, based apparently on the contents of his MySpace page. Both songs are great and the album promises to be some of his best work yet.

From Songs for Silverman, we got Gracie, Landed and Jesusland, from Rockin' the Suburbs there was the title track, Zak and Sara, Still Fighting It, Not the Same (complete with three part audience harmony) and The Ascent of Stan. We also heard classics The Last Polka, Best Imitation of Myself, Brick, Narcolepsy, Lullabye and Emaline. As usual, there was the good old Rock This Bitch, improvised specifically for a Melbourne audience and also part of Purple Haze and Bitches Ain't Shit.

The last two songs were The Luckiest, another audience favourite (although a song I've always thought slightly twee) and Such Great Heights, a cover of the Postal Service song played frequently not so long ago on Triple J.

It was a fairly comprehensive range, but there were a few missing favourites, most notably Army with its compulsory audience horn section singalong and One Angry Dwarf or something else similar from Whatever and Ever Amen. Ben's always a great performer and he can't please all of the people all the time. I just would have liked to sing along to the trumpet section of Army one more time...