Ben Folds may not have been “rocking the suburbs” when he performed at Blackman Auditorium March 16, but his performance brought down the house. As he played “Narcolepsy,” Folds’ synthesizer – used to play both very high and very low notes – caused parts of the stage’s ceiling to collapse.

Folds, a pop-pianist who made a name for himself in the ’90s as frontman for the band Ben Folds Five, was brought to Northeastern by the Kappa Sigma fraternity. He played a number of crowd-pleasers, like “Kate,” “Army,” “Rocking the Suburbs” and “Underground,” and kept the excited crowd on their feet for most of the two-hour show.

Sharing the stage with his drummer and bass player, Folds was able to keep fans enthusiastic with his rock ‘n’ roll sound, but he didn’t let his setlist stay too focused o`n any one genre.

A crowd favorite was a cover of Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit,” and the audience sang along with the chorus (“Bitches can’t hang with the streets”) as he and his band performed the song’s saltier lyrics – the kind even an edgy college paper might hesitate to print. The cover, which stretched for nearly 10 minutes, was already a Folds favorite: it has gained popularity after being posted on YouTube and released as a single on iTunes.

Fans almost universally loved the show, as one student told The News after the concert that those who missed the show should only be feeling one thing: regret.

– Matt Collette, News Staff