Ben Folds Releases Live Album and 2025 Tour Dates
Ben Folds celebrates the release of Ben Folds Live with the National Symphony Orchestra, a brand-new album recorded in concert at the sold-out Concert Hall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC on October 25 and 26, 2024 – mere months before Folds resigned his position as the first ever Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) following President Trump’s decision to seize control of the esteemed Kennedy Center. The album is available now at all DSPs and streaming services; multiple physical products are available, including CDs, signed CDs, standard black vinyl, signed standard black vinyl, opaque white vinyl, signed opaque white vinyl, signed metallic gold vinyl, and limited-edition Coke Bottle green vinyl.
Watch Ben Folds Live with The National Symphony Orchestra here.
Folds – who headlined a special Pops On Independence concert in Philadelphia, PA at Independence National Historical Park alongside The Philly Pops – will mark the arrival of Ben Folds Live with the National Symphony Orchestra with a wide-ranging US tour schedule that will see him performing solo dates and symphony concerts alongside some of the country’s leading orchestras. For complete details and ticket information, please visit here.
Ben Folds Live with the National Symphony Orchestra sees Folds performing classic hits and new music from his genre-bending body of work thus far, joined by the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Principal Pops Conductor of the NSO Steven Reineke, along with very special guest artists Regina Spektor and Tall Heights; the makeshift choir includes Doug Peck, Nicholas Kassoy, and Marc Silvey. Live recording producers include David Boucher, Joe Costa, Justin Ellis, and Ben Folds. Orchestrators include Jherek Bischoff, Alex Turley, Eric Allen, and Rob Moose. The recordings were mixed by Boucher and mastered by Kim Rosen.
Having spent eight years carefully nurturing orchestral innovation and programming with actual purpose as the National Symphony Orchestra’s first-ever Artistic Advisor, Ben Folds officially offered his resignation at 1:59 pm Eastern on February 12, 2025 – exactly one minute after President Trump’s administrative regime change of the Kennedy Center officially took hold.
“I had my statement up by 2:01,” Folds says in an exclusive interview with Kyle Meredith, nationally syndicated radio host at WFPK FM, Louisville. “The takeover was at 2:00. I wanted no part of what was coming.”
Folds knew Trump’s taking over the traditionally bipartisan Kennedy Center wasn’t simply a reshuffling of jobs or a new marketing campaign. It was a betrayal of mission, a hostile remodeling of one of America’s most vital cultural institutions and artistic sanctuaries. More than simply a concert hall, the Kennedy Center has always been an essential engine for civic and artistic connection. As NSO Artistic Advisor, Folds gave young orchestrators a platform while helping to pilot programs like Declassified, which introduced modern songwriters to orchestral arrangements.
“We weren’t using the orchestra as props,” Folds says. “We were challenging them to bring new music to life, while giving the orchestra a one-size-fits-all role. Our experimentation was a beacon for other orchestras throughout the private sector.”
Now, with Ben Folds Live with the National Symphony Orchestra, Folds leaves behind a document of his experience at the Kennedy Center – part protest, part celebration, entirely earnest in its ambition. The album features a lush reimagining of old favorites like “Still Fighting It,” which, with its newly restored orchestral intro, manages to sound both bigger and more intimate than ever – an anthem turned lullaby, then turned back again.
“It works because it’s not pretending to be something else,” Folds says. “It’s using the orchestra as it should be used. To elevate, not decorate.”
Taken together, the album plays like a requiem for a moment and a love letter to everything that moment made possible. There’s humor, heartbreak, and conviction in every arrangement, from “Kristine from the Seventh Grade,” a tender gut-punch about misinformation and fractured friendships, to “Fragile,” which borrows its arrangement from Mozart but still sounds utterly modern. Having previously presented Regina Spektor’s premiere orchestral performance, Folds invited his old friend to return to the Kennedy Center stage to perform their popular duet, “You Don’t Know Me.” Among the many highlights, the soaring, ambitious “Capable of Anything” stands out for its Jherek Bischoff-orchestrated bridge and a message Folds describes as a warning shot.
“We’re all capable of terrible things,” Folds says. “But we’re also capable of doing better. That’s the choice.”
Part protest, part celebration, entirely earnest in its ambition, Ben Folds Live with the National Symphony Orchestra lands with the clarity of a final bow before the curtain drops. Except it’s not the end – it’s a rally cry. “This album suddenly now feels much bigger,” Ben Folds says. “I knew we were making something special with the NSO. I didn’t know it’d be a time capsule of the last moment before it all got torn down. I still believe there’s more good than not,” he adds. “But you must work for it. You have to say something. Especially now.”
Ben Folds Live with the National Symphony Orchestra Tracklist:
1. But Wait, There’s More
2. Fragile
3. Kristine From the 7th Grade
4. Effington
5. The Luckiest
6. Capable Of Anything
7. Still Fighting It
8. You Don’t Know Me (Feat. Regina Spektor)
9. Landed
Bonus Tracks
10. Still
11. Cologne *
12. Moments (Feat. Tall Heights) *
13. Gracie *
14. Not The Same *
* Digital Edition Bonus Tracks
Ben Folds 2025 North American Tour Dates:
7/22/25: Portland, ME – State Theatre
7/23/25: Rockport, MA – Shalin Liu Performing Arts Center
7/25/25: Simsbury, CT – Simsbury Performing Arts Center (w/ the Hartford Symphony)
7/26/25: Groton, MA – Groton Hill Music Center
7/27/25: Cranston, RI – Park Theatre and Event Center
8/7/25: Menlo Park, CA – The Guild Theatre
8/8/25: Folsom, CA – Harris Center
8/9/25: Las Vegas, NV – Wynn – Encore Theater
8/11/25: Grand Junction, CO – Asteria Theatre
8/13/25: Big Sky, MT – Warren Miller Performing Arts Center
8/14/25: Jackson, WY – Jackson Hole Center for the Arts Center Theater
8/16/25: South Jordan, UT – Rio Tinto Kennecott Stage at America First Square
9/5/25: Louisville, KY – Whitney Hall (w/ the Louisville Orchestra)
9/6/25: Terre Haute, IN – Hatfield Hall
9/8/25: Iowa City, IA – Hancher Auditorium
9/10/25: Sioux City, IA – Orpheum Theatre (w/ the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra)
9/12/25: Denver, CO – Boettcher Concert Hall (w/ the Colorado Symphony)
9/13/25: Denver, CO – Boettcher Concert Hall (w/ the Colorado Symphony)
9/16/25: Oklahoma City, OK – Tower Theatre
9/17/25: Little Rock, AR – The Hall
9/19/25: Abilene, TX – The Paramount Theatre
9/20/25: New Braunfels, TX – Brauntex Theatre
9/21/25: Fort Worth, TX – Tannahill’s Tavern & Music Hall
9/24/25: Lafayette, LA – Heymann Performing Arts Center
9/26/25: Atlanta, GA – Atlanta Symphony Hall (w/ the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra)
9/27/25: Atlanta, GA – Atlanta Symphony Hall (w/ the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra)
10/4/25: Grand Rapids, MI – DeVos Performance Hall (w/ the Grand Rapids Symphony)
10/5/25: Dayton, OH – Schuster Center
10/7/25: Pittsburgh, PA – Heinz Hall for the Performing Art (w/ the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)
10/10/25: Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Auditorium (w/ the Asheville Symphony)
10/11/25: Winston–Salem, NC – RJ Reynolds Auditorium (w/ the Winston–Salem Symphony)
10/15/25: North Bethesda, MD – Music Center at Strathmore
10/16/25: Wilkes-Barre, PA – F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts
10/18/25: Erie, PA – Warner Theatre
10/19/25: Rochester, NY – Beston Hall
10/21/25: Norwalk, CT – District Music Hall
10/23/25: Brookville, NY – Tilles Center for the Performing Arts
11/6/25: Rockford, IL – Coronado Theatre
11/8/25: Waukegan, IL – Genesee Theatre
11/10/25: Champaign, IL – Virginia Theatre
11/11/25: Marion, IL – Marion Cultural and Civic Center
11/14/25: Flint, MI – FIM Capitol Theatre
11/16/25:Newark, OH – Midland Theatre
11/18/25: Charleston, SC – Charleston Gaillard Center
11/20/25: Fort Meyers, FL – Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall
11/21/25: Coral Springs, FL – The Center – Coral Springs Center for the Arts
11/22/25: Ponte Vedra Beach, FL – Ponte Vedra Concert Hall
12/2/25: Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (w/ the Oregon Symphony)
12/4/25: Seattle, WA – Benaroya Hall (w/ the Seattle Symphony)
About Ben Folds:
Ben Folds is an Emmy Award-nominated singer-songwriter who has created an enormous body of genre-bending music that includes pop albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, a holiday album, and numerous collaborative records. He currently tours as a pop artist, while also performing with some of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras.
A New York Times best-selling author, Folds also composes new music for film, TV, and theatre. In 2022, he launched Keys For Kids, a charitable music education initiative in his native state of North Carolina which provides funds and keyboards to existing nonprofits that offer free or affordable piano lessons to school-age children from economically disadvantaged households. He also advocates for arts funding in schools and communities as a member of Americans For The Arts and on the Board of the Arts Action Fund.
