Ben Folds at Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, Ponte Vedra Beach (November 22, 2025)

Singer/songwriter Ben Folds just ended his “Ben Folds and A Piano” tour at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, in the beautiful coastal town of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

As previously mentioned about the Baptist church-turned-concert venue Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, it underwent a year-long-plus shut down for a massive renovation ($12.9 million dollars) to add two side balcony seating, new sound system, and various other upgrades to make it a first-class venue when it re-opened in August 2025. It’s simply one of the best, if not the best-looking venue, in the greater Jacksonville area.

For this particular show, the standing room (normally 1,103 capacity) was transformed into a seated arrangement. We’re not talking about just random fold-out chairs that people can just shove out of the way… this was a very calculated layout to maximize the space with rolls of seats, lettered A to Z (maybe going all the way to the early double letters). Leg room is good, but you’ll still have to stand up to let others through to find their seats. Again, as I’ve already previously mentioned, “really well designed” and you can tell the people who worked on the seating layout really put some thought and planning into it.

Opening the show was songwriter, singer, and actor, Lindsey Kraft. She previously appeared with Folds in last year’s Paper Airplane Request tour.

Kraft said that all the songs on her brief 35-min set were being written for a Broadway Musical that she’s currently working on (with award-winning producer/songwriter Linda Perry). She said she was “shopping the songs.” I’ve never heard of that term, but I think I got the meaning. She was basically testing her songs on audience to get feedback and see what worked and what didn’t. Maybe finetune some notes or lyrics, or maybe re-work the song for its final recording.

As Kraft (and I guess her mother) said it herself, these songs are deeply personal. Example is a song about her father, Sam (called “Sam I Am”), and she explained how he was an alcoholic, an addict, but he was also clearly an inspiration and shaped her to the person she is today. Like how her dad would sneak her in during intermissions for Broadway shows (because they didn’t check for tickets) – so she’s gotten to see all the world’s greatest second-half of the show. That’s probably how she got bitten with the Broadway bug.

 

After a very brief 15 or 20-min intermission, Ben Folds casually walked on stage in a Happy Face T-Shirt. I suppose there was no need to reset the stage, as the same piano didn’t have to go anywhere.

According to Folds on stage, “Never been here before, not a lot of ‘first time’ on this tour.” Noting what a rare treat this was for him to see this venue and the small city.

Usually with the last date of a long tour, you can tell the bands are exhausted and just really looking to get back to their familiar home beds and take a much-needed rest. But not Folds, it looks like he’s just getting started! Folds looks refreshed and it sounds like he can play for another eight hours, but he said that he had to cut it down to an hour and a half to a curated setlist he’s carefully put together (which apparently contains two “Effington” on the setlist photo).

Speaking of which, Folds have been playing completely different sets every night. It shouldn’t surprise any Folds fan, as last year’s Paper Airplane Request, his set was created by fans in the audience writing song titles and throwing it on stage as paper airplanes. It just shows that Folds is one of the best pianists and has an amazing memory and can play any songs, or even change it up if he needs to add in a few extra notes, in his vast catalog of music.

Just like Ben Folds’ show I saw in Minneapolis in Sep 2012, the guy has stories about all his songs. It really gives insights on how he came up with the melodies or inspiration to write some of his songs. Just to give you some examples, he didn’t realize he accidentally ripped off Manchester’s 10cc song “One Night In Paris”, for a bit in “The Last Polka”. I don’t think anyone would have noticed, if he hadn’t pointed it out.

My favorite story is when Folds met Jeff Bridges, The Dude, himself. Somehow, Folds ended up riding with Bridges in his limousine and he said he’s never seen so many middle-age women’s boobs pressed against the window. “Is it like this for you all the time?”

I didn’t know this, but one of the new songs, “When We Were Light” was written by Folds for Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical. I didn’t know they were still making new Charlie Brown specials, but the Summer special aired on Apple TV on August 15th, 2025. Hearing Folds talk about the song on stage, it sounded like he had a blast (and a dream come true) to be working with the Schulz family to get the right tone and style.

The holiday song, “We Could Have This” (appearing on 2024’s Sleigher) is a duet with Lindsey Kraft. You’ll probably never hear this song played live outside this tour (unless Kraft & Folds tour again in the future).

Folds will be appearing with full orchestras (Oregon Symphony at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall) for his next few appearances, and that might be it for the rest of the year.

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