The venue may have been less than half full, but there was still frenzied dancing in the aisles, swaying of arms and lighters, and laughter, shouts, and singing along with the verses of songs, as faithful fans very much enjoyed the show put on by Ben Folds Five yesterday in Mountain View, California.

The Chapel Hill, North Carolina trio delivered their latest singles, "Battle of Who Could Care Less" [950k QuickTime] and "Brick" [750k QuickTime], early on in the set. This allowed those less loyal audience members (many of whom had received free tickets that were being given away at local stores) to leave in time to catch the X-Files.

But the devotees who stuck around were rewarded with another hour of light-hearted pop from the trio of piano, bass, and drums, who were undaunted by the gaps in the far-from-sold-out amphitheatre. Front man Ben Folds carried on with the audience, telling stories of each song's origin and delivering self-effacing jokes.

"This one's from our first album, which probably sold less copies than there are of you people here," he told the crowd before launching into a string of early hits. "So you're an elite bunch."

Later, in honor of the Mother's Day event, which was dubbed "Goodbye El Niño," the trio played the Burt Bacharach tune "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head."

"It is about rain, after all," Folds told the crowd.

Ben Folds Five winds down this leg of their tour tonight in San Diego.