Ben Folds Five end a 15-year Houston absence at 713 Music Hall

The reunited trio plays 713 Music Hall on Wednesday, April 21, 2027, one of only nine dates on its first full tour since 2013.

Houston last saw Ben Folds Five on Sept. 25, 2012, at what was then the Bayou Music Center. Plenty of people who were in that crowd have kids in high school now. Next spring the trio is coming back, and Houston made a very short list.

Ben Folds Five play 713 Music Hall on Wednesday, April 21, 2027, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $54.95 to $231.60 through Ticketmaster. The show was announced Oct. 21, and tickets went on sale Oct. 23.

Ben Folds, Robert Sledge and Darren Jessee are reuniting for nine concerts in 2027. It's the band's first full tour since 2013, and stops are scarce. The run opens April 12 at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville, plays Chattanooga's Tivoli Theatre the next night, and then heads into Florida, including Jacksonville on April 15. Austin's ACL Live is April 20, which puts Houston on the very next night. Birmingham is on the schedule for April 24. So if you're in Texas and want to see this lineup, these two nights are your options.

The reunion grew out of an anniversary. This fall the band marked 30 years since its self-titled 1995 debut with an expanded edition, released Sept. 4 through Capitol/UMe. Getting the record back into circulation with extra material seems to have pulled the three of them back together. No new studio album has been announced with the tour, so go in expecting a celebration of the catalog, not a new-album rollout.

This lineup matters because the band was always more than Folds' piano. Sledge's fuzzed-out bass and Jessee's drums made a piano-bass-drums trio sound like a rock band, with no guitar anywhere on stage. Folds has played Houston plenty on his own over the years, but those shows are a different animal. This is the three-piece, with the push and pull between three players that a solo set can't give you.

The room is a step up from 2012 as well. 713 Music Hall holds 5,000, which makes a midweek date in April a real event rather than a quick stop. A big floor and three people on stage making a lot of noise is a good match.

A few things to know. It's a Wednesday, so plan your evening around a 7:30 p.m. start. The price range is wide, so check the map before you buy. And with only nine dates, this probably won't be the last you hear about it: if the night sells well, expect people to still be talking about it at the next office happy hour.

Fifteen years is a long gap for a band that never stopped mattering to the people who grew up on it. In April, Houston gets the three of them back in one room for a single Wednesday night.

Sources: Ben Folds Five Reunites For 2027 U.S. Tour – JamBase (jambase.com); Ben Folds Five announce reunion tour – Stereogum (stereogum.com); Ben Folds Five Set 2027 Tour – uDiscover Music (udiscovermusic.com); Ben Folds Five Announce Spring 2027 U.S. Tour Dates Marking First In 15 Years – mxdwn (music.mxdwn.com); Ben Folds Five first tour since 2013 – SPIN (spinmagazine.com); Ben Folds Five tour ACL Live – CultureMap Austin (austin.culturemap.com)