At The Helix · DCU, Collins Avenue, Glasnevin, Dublin 9
Only the published dates are confirmed for this programme.
Ben Folds brings his Paper Airplane Request Tour to The Helix, a format built around audience participation as much as his own back catalogue. It suits longtime fans of his work with Ben Folds Five and as a solo artist, as well as anyone who enjoys a piano driven singer-songwriter show with a genuinely unpredictable second half.
The first half of the show is a standard set of Folds’ own choosing, drawing on his work with Ben Folds Five and his solo albums, played in The Helix’s Mahony Hall, the venue’s main concert space. For the second half, audience members write song requests on paper, fold them into paper airplanes, and throw them toward the stage; Folds then picks planes at random and plays whatever request lands, unrehearsed. Anyone who doesn’t bring a pre-made airplane can fold one on the spot using paper available at the merchandise table, so no advance preparation is strictly necessary to take part. It makes for a different show every night and a noticeably more playful atmosphere than a standard concert, since nobody, including Folds himself, knows exactly what the second half will contain until the planes start landing.
The tour is booked through promoter Singular Artists, and the two-half structure, a conventional opening set followed by the request-driven second half, has become something of a signature format for Folds on this run of dates, distinct from a standard support-act-then-headliner concert bill.
The Helix is on the DCU campus on Collins Avenue in Glasnevin, Dublin 9. Dublin Bus routes serving DCU stop close to the venue, and there is pay parking on campus. The venue is around 4km north of the city centre.
Glasnevin Cemetery and the National Botanic Gardens both make a good pairing with an evening show if you build a full day around the trip out to DCU. There is more to see across Co. Dublin.
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