Ben Folds chucked a stool at his piano twice, conducted the audience in a three-part harmony and invited Big Daddy Taxi cab driver Rick Shaw on stage to play harmonica.

The mark of a great concert or any artistic output is a tension between two opposing emotions or ideologies. And Folds accomplished a level of precise musicianship — vocally and on keys — with an aura of turmoil looming over the Wharton Center's Cobb Great Hall on Monday night.

An angel played the notes, and the devil kept things unpredictable.

One of the unforeseeable moments was when Folds left the stage after a couple of tunes to go to the bathroom, leaving his drummer to explain what he ate at Beggar's Banquet the day before.

Throughout the show, Folds told tales of his adventures in East Lansing. His first story was a narration of an adventure to Meijer.

Supposedly, a Meijer promotions manager, on his day off, caught Folds taking pictures in the supermarket, which is a no-no. But Folds let the crowd know he got the better part of the deal, secretly taking two photos and then letting the people at Kroger sneak a peak at his pictures.

The piano man was very attentive to the crowd's rants, was super funny, played the piano like a lunatic and even performed a version of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't Shit," which he jokingly mentioned he wrote with Dre.

On stage it was only Folds, a drummer and a bass player, but Folds is a band in himself. It doesn't really matter who is around him.

The set started around 8:30 p.m. and lasted a solid two hours. Some of the highlights included a hard-hitting version of "Army," a smooth rendition of "Annie Waits" and Folds playing the heart-felt "Brick" solo.

Watching Folds slam his fingers on the piano keys was almost like figuring out a really hard math problem — complicated, intense and rewarding when done.

And his voice was right on across the board with quirky lines about suburban life, love and the army echoing around the Cobb Great Hall like an in-tune blanket.

Besides his musical genius, Folds even found time to warn the audience about the dangers of electric sockets.

He mentioned that sticking a fork in one could seriously jeopardize a person's health, to which someone in the crowd yelled out, "Is this going to be on the test?" Folds responded that it would and jokingly commented that what the fan should really remember is "spooning leads to forking."

Overall, Folds had the audience in the palm of his piano-playing hands with quick wit, fantastic musical skill and catchy tunes.