On Wednesday night two prolific singer/songwriters graced the sold-out Levin Ballroom. Dar Williams and Ben Folds each played a set for the Brandeis community and were welcomed enthusiastically. Student Events brought the two musicians to Brandeis and the evening went off almost perfectly.Williams started off the night. A kind of folksy guitarist, she began by telling the crowd, "You can't bang heads to this one." She then played "Traveling Again," which displayed her beautifully cracking, but smooth voice. Her high vocal range was displayed again in "Spring Street" and "Iowa," especially. Williams has the ability to sing "blood and guts" and make it sound beautiful.

Many of her songs had the audience giggling at several instances. "The Babysitter's Here," which describes her babysitter when she was little as the coolest person ever, was something to which many people could probably relate. Most of her songs are very human and down to earth.

A crowd favorite, "Pointless, Yet Poignant, Crisis of a Co-Ed," told the tale of an old college boyfriend, something to which most students could also easily relate. She sang about being a radical liberal in college — she went to Wesleyan — and she uncannily made life seem less serious and more fun.

She dedicated the song "Are You Out There" to WBRS, for whom she played in 1993. This was a faster tune and brought up the vibe a bit. She then went into "Alleluia," another upbeat and cheerful song.

Williams played other favorites, such as "As Cool As I Am," her first big hit, and "Christians and the Pagans," a funny song about Christmas dinner with people of different faiths. She encouraged the audience to sing along with her, especially the males. Williams also played songs requested by the audience, like "Iowa," a stunning song that seemed to move a palpable energy into the room. She ended her set with "When I Was a Boy," which she dedicated to "peace in all forms."

Folds came out after a short break and opened with "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces," off of "Whatever and Ever Amen," originally done with his old band, Ben Folds Five. Folds' superior piano skills were amply displayed in a drawn out instrumental. He then went into "Zack and Sara," from his debut solo album, "Rockin' The Suburbs." He did not play very many other songs from that album, mostly sticking to his material written with the Five, although putting a new twist on it.

Without the big sound of a backing band, Folds was able to get more intimate with the crowd, although he was still able to rock out. This was most evident in songs like "Kate" and "Army," which he prefaced by saying that he never actually had a mullet, nor did he work at Chick Filet, two things he claims in the song.

Folds busted out some old classics like "Philosophy," "Emaline" and "Jackson Cannery" and "Last Polka," both by request. Before most songs he gave a short, or sometimes long, explanation or story about the song that gave the concert a kind of "Storytellers" feel.

After playing some tunes from "The Autobiography of Reinhold Messner," like "Don't Change Your Plans," and "Mess," it seemed the piano was broken. He tried to fix it himself, but to no avail. After someone yelled out that it was a "piece of shit," Folds proceeded to play a song using those words about the piano - he often does this kind of improvisational songwriting with the crowd's input at concerts.

Because the piano was still broken, he began to play a song that he claimed was the only one he could play on the piano — "Chopsticks," a Liz Phair cover that was beautiful. After that he took a short break while the piano was fixed, which thankfully was doable because Folds still had lots in store. He came back with a crazy instrumental and kept playing for a couple more hours.

He played "Narcolepsy," a climactic and loud song from "Reinhold Messner," as well as "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head," a song he used to play live often, but hasn't in a while. He also played his song from the "I Am Sam" soundtrack, which was a cover of the Beatles' "Golden Slumbers," a short but passionate song. He explained how he was at first opposed to doing the soundtrack, which features artists all doing Beatles covers, because he thought they would "all sound like jackasses," but Folds actually did a commendable job.

Folds then went into "Rockin' The Suburbs," his first single from the album of the same name. He dragged out the ending and turned it into a slow, Whitney Houston-style finish. His last song of the set was "Morgan Davis," by request from an audience member, which is a song written about a guy who took acid, climbed a tree and came down a born-again Christian.

The crowd loved him, cheering madly for his encore, even though it was already after 11 p.m. He returned and played "Brick," the song that made Ben Folds Five famous. He said he doesn't like to play it very much because the radio ruined it, but he sang beautifully and it truly was a heartfelt version.

Folds then played "Evaporated," also off "Whatever and Ever Amen," which is one of my personal favorites, featuring the lines "Here I stand, sad and free / I can't cry, and I can't see what I've done / Oh God what have I done?" He ended the show with "Song for the Dumped," truly a Ben Folds Five classic. Normally a hard rocking song, Folds slowed it down into a ballad, plaintively wailing, "Give me my money back, you bitch."

Although Williams and Folds play two very different types of music, and one got the sense that many audience members were only there to see one of the two musicians, the evening worked as a night of solo artists and hopefully opened people's ears up to a new sound. Levin was filled to the brim and the audience seemed to be enjoying themselves thoroughly throughout both sets.