Ben Folds Five are back, and the Tivoli is the second stop

The original trio's first U.S. tour in about 15 years comes to Chattanooga's Tivoli Theatre on Tuesday, April 13, 2027, the night after it opens in Knoxville.

Chattanooga is the second stop. When Ben Folds Five posted their first U.S. tour in roughly a decade and a half, the run began on April 12 at Knoxville's Tennessee Theatre and came straight down I-75 for night two: Tuesday, April 13, 2027, at the Tivoli Theatre.

The tour was announced on October 21 and moved fast. General sale opened at 10 a.m. local time on Friday, October 23, through Ticketmaster and the band's official tour page. As of this week tickets are on sale, so anyone who missed the first rush should check the Ticketmaster page now. With 1,750 seats at the Tivoli, it's a big room but not an arena, and a reunion run this short won't leave many second chances.

Here's the whole announced run as it stands: Knoxville on April 12, Chattanooga on the 13th, then Jacksonville's Florida Theatre, Pompano Beach Amphitheater and Clearwater's BayCare Sound. After Florida it heads to Texas, with ACL Live at the Moody Theater in Austin, 713 Music Hall in Houston and the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, and it closes April 24 at Avondale Brewing Company in Birmingham. That's nine dates in all, and the band has said more are coming, per Consequence.

The original trio hasn't done a run of shows together since breaking up in 2013.

This is the original lineup: Ben Folds on piano, Robert Sledge on bass and Darren Jessee on drums. As mxdwn reports, the three haven't toured together since they disbanded in 2013. They did reconvene once, for a show at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, North Carolina, in August 2023. For most of the past decade, Ben Folds the solo artist (with orchestras, alone at a piano, on long theater tours) was the version people could actually see. A Ben Folds Five show is a different thing: three players, with the bass and drums carrying as much of the songs as the piano does.

The Tivoli suits that. It is a 1921 movie palace on Broad Street. A piano-bass-drums trio that made its name on dynamics, loud then suddenly very quiet, is the right fit for the house. Its events page has the date up now.

The routing also explains why Chattanooga made a nine-city list at all. Starting in Tennessee and heading south through Florida and Texas, the band could have skipped straight from Knoxville to Jacksonville. Instead they gave this city a Tuesday in April, a school night. Plan around that and leave time to park downtown.

If you saw them in the '90s, this is the reunion you've probably been told for years wasn't happening. If you've only ever seen Folds alone at a piano, come hear what those songs sound like with Sledge and Jessee on stage behind him. Either way, buy early.

Sources: Ben Folds — Tour (benfolds.com); Tivoli Theatre — Upcoming Events (tivolichattanooga.com); Ticketmaster — Ben Folds Five, Chattanooga, Apr 13 2027 (ticketmaster.com); Consequence — Ben Folds Five Announce First US Tour in 15 Years (consequence.net); mxdwn — Ben Folds Five Announce Spring 2027 U.S. Tour Dates (music.mxdwn.com)