You give us the greens of summer
I saw Paul Simon solo twice before I started this LiveJournal: in a double bill with Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden in, I think, 1999; and at SPAC (with Brian Wilson opening!) in 2001. My mom got us second-row seats for that show. It was the same day that Marisa and Amanda visited Saratoga for the first time, and a few days after my uncle's funeral. It was a strange weekend. I also saw Simon & Garfunkel when they played MSG in 2003; I was still relatively new to New York, and poor, but my parents got tickets for Marisa and me.
I've thought about trying to get Paul Simon tickets the times he's played the Beacon Theater since I've moved here but they always seemed too expensive or difficult or the timing wouldn't work. But then he announced a Webster Hall show just a few weeks ago, and I tried on a lark to get tickets, and succeeded unexpectedly. So Marisa and I got to see Paul Simon play a mid-sized rock club rather than an "intimate" theatre or, you know, MSG. (Though actually, we weren't as close as that SPAC show. I wind up with seated concert tickets that good about once every four years.) File it with Bob Dylan at Terminal 5, under "it's possible I won't get another shot at this."
Not that Simon appears unhealthy. He's not full of crazy electric energy the way I've heard Bruce Springsteen is (remaining on my old-guy concert to-see list: Springsteen, David Bowie), but he's relaxed and confident. I've always seen him with a sizable band, and on this tour he's backed by eight guys or so, but the effect isn't Wall of Sound but rather, as on So Beautiful or So What and many of his other records, intertwined musical intracies. The instrumentation is varied and precise, but mostly quite controlled. Some of the re-arrangements and re-phrasings reminded me of Dylan; most of them aren't as drastic, but "Boy in the Bubble" got a noticable overhaul -- even with an eight-piece band, it felt pared down, and fresh. It's also one of my favorite songs ever, along with "The Obvious Child," so it was a thrill to hear both.
For the most part, the set drew heavily on the new record, the agreed-upon masterpiece record (Graceland), and the first record that the new one has been compared to a few times (Paul Simon). I liked that the set was light on Simon & Garfunkel tunes -- probably the lightest of any time I've seen him, with only two, including a lovely mostly-solo "Sounds of Silence." He also did a surprising, almost strange number of covers for an artist drawing upon a solid half-century of material, although I can't argue with hearing Paul Simon do "Here Comes the Sun." I would've, though, liked to hear a little more late-period Simon that wasn't from the new album, like "How Can You Live in the Northeast?" or "You're the One" (though I occasionally bemoan his constant references to God and angels on his later work, "You're the One" has an angel-related lyric that's one of my favorites ever: "May twelve angels guard you while you sleep. Maybe that's a waste of angels; I don't know"). But then, something else I couldn't argue with: David Byrne coming on stage, and the band doing a full cover of "Road to Nowhere," and then going into "You Can Call Me Al." That was as awesome as it sounds.
The song that seemed to elicit the strongest, most vocal audience response, at least in the first half or so before there were many Graceland songs to get excited about, was "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," which I guess makes sense, it's a very well-known song, but it's never been one of my top favorites. Also, people totally started smoking pot during it, which struck me as kind of funny... maybe next those people can go drop acid during a James Taylor show?
But general Webster Hall tomfoolery aside, and the lack of the song "Graceland," it was a pretty great 140 minutes of music.
No need to be coy, Roy:
The Boy in the Bubble
Dazzling Blue
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
So Beautiful or So What
Vietnam (Jimmy Cliff cover)
Mother and Child Reunion
That Was Your Mother
Hearts and Bones
Mystery Train/Wheels (more covers)
Slip Slidin' Away
Rewrite
Peace Like a River
The Obvious Child
Only Living Boy in New York
The Afterlife
Questions for the Angels
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
Gumboots
---
The Sounds of Silence
Kodachrome
Gone at Last
Here Comes the Sun (Beatles cover!)
Late in the Evening
---
Road to Nowhere (Talking Heads cover with David Byrne!!)
You Can Call Me All (with David Byrne!)
Still Crazy After All These Years
Crazy Love, Vol. II
(Setlist courtesy of Marisa's Kodachromatic memory.)
I've thought about trying to get Paul Simon tickets the times he's played the Beacon Theater since I've moved here but they always seemed too expensive or difficult or the timing wouldn't work. But then he announced a Webster Hall show just a few weeks ago, and I tried on a lark to get tickets, and succeeded unexpectedly. So Marisa and I got to see Paul Simon play a mid-sized rock club rather than an "intimate" theatre or, you know, MSG. (Though actually, we weren't as close as that SPAC show. I wind up with seated concert tickets that good about once every four years.) File it with Bob Dylan at Terminal 5, under "it's possible I won't get another shot at this."
Not that Simon appears unhealthy. He's not full of crazy electric energy the way I've heard Bruce Springsteen is (remaining on my old-guy concert to-see list: Springsteen, David Bowie), but he's relaxed and confident. I've always seen him with a sizable band, and on this tour he's backed by eight guys or so, but the effect isn't Wall of Sound but rather, as on So Beautiful or So What and many of his other records, intertwined musical intracies. The instrumentation is varied and precise, but mostly quite controlled. Some of the re-arrangements and re-phrasings reminded me of Dylan; most of them aren't as drastic, but "Boy in the Bubble" got a noticable overhaul -- even with an eight-piece band, it felt pared down, and fresh. It's also one of my favorite songs ever, along with "The Obvious Child," so it was a thrill to hear both.
For the most part, the set drew heavily on the new record, the agreed-upon masterpiece record (Graceland), and the first record that the new one has been compared to a few times (Paul Simon). I liked that the set was light on Simon & Garfunkel tunes -- probably the lightest of any time I've seen him, with only two, including a lovely mostly-solo "Sounds of Silence." He also did a surprising, almost strange number of covers for an artist drawing upon a solid half-century of material, although I can't argue with hearing Paul Simon do "Here Comes the Sun." I would've, though, liked to hear a little more late-period Simon that wasn't from the new album, like "How Can You Live in the Northeast?" or "You're the One" (though I occasionally bemoan his constant references to God and angels on his later work, "You're the One" has an angel-related lyric that's one of my favorites ever: "May twelve angels guard you while you sleep. Maybe that's a waste of angels; I don't know"). But then, something else I couldn't argue with: David Byrne coming on stage, and the band doing a full cover of "Road to Nowhere," and then going into "You Can Call Me Al." That was as awesome as it sounds.
The song that seemed to elicit the strongest, most vocal audience response, at least in the first half or so before there were many Graceland songs to get excited about, was "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," which I guess makes sense, it's a very well-known song, but it's never been one of my top favorites. Also, people totally started smoking pot during it, which struck me as kind of funny... maybe next those people can go drop acid during a James Taylor show?
But general Webster Hall tomfoolery aside, and the lack of the song "Graceland," it was a pretty great 140 minutes of music.
No need to be coy, Roy:
The Boy in the Bubble
Dazzling Blue
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
So Beautiful or So What
Vietnam (Jimmy Cliff cover)
Mother and Child Reunion
That Was Your Mother
Hearts and Bones
Mystery Train/Wheels (more covers)
Slip Slidin' Away
Rewrite
Peace Like a River
The Obvious Child
Only Living Boy in New York
The Afterlife
Questions for the Angels
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
Gumboots
---
The Sounds of Silence
Kodachrome
Gone at Last
Here Comes the Sun (Beatles cover!)
Late in the Evening
---
Road to Nowhere (Talking Heads cover with David Byrne!!)
You Can Call Me All (with David Byrne!)
Still Crazy After All These Years
Crazy Love, Vol. II
(Setlist courtesy of Marisa's Kodachromatic memory.)