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| Tuesday 18 November |
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[12:59 am] Looking for America
Simon and Garfunkel were lovely. If you are planning on seeing them at some point later in their Old Friends tour, don't read the rest of this -- I have a feeling all the shows are going to be the same, and I wouldn't want to spoil any surprises for you.
The crowd was full of aged hippies. I was sitting in the "sell-outs" section, the area populated by people who Simon and Garfunkel probably wouldn't have trusted when they were my age. It's a weird thing. People stood up and clapped when Simon and Garfunkel came onstage, then sat back down. I know these people had to have been more energetic when they first heard of these guys, but it's hard to imagine now. These are not the same kinds of people as those who are losing their hearing in Metallica's mosh pits. Not anymore, anyway. A part of me thought, "Gee, it's a good thing the Peak Show is having a party this weekend: I'm going to lose some major Rawk points by being here." I could almost feel the squareness coming on when I overheard a woman in front of me tell a friend that she sat very close to these seats when she came and saw Barbara Streisand.
I felt better when the show started. After all, I was there for the music.
The show overall was very good. Art Garfunkel earned a B+, Paul Simon an A (I'd have given him an A-, but I have a hunch he wasn't feeling well), and their backup band gets an A+. They were amazing -- spot on with every cue, every solo was clean, every moment appropriate.
The tech was tastefully done, and included the backlighting effects I love so much. Whoever designed the set also gets mad props for a great use of scrim. (I've yet to see a scrim effect that I didn't like, but this was exceptionally good. There were light towers shaped into something resembling a tree, all covered over with brown scrim, so it *looked* like a tree until the towers were lit up and shiny, then the tree glowed from within. Nice.)
The set list was:
Video package over "America" instrumental
Old Friends / Bookends Theme
A Hazy Shade of Winter (verily, that song doth rock, and they rocked well tonight)
I Am A Rock
America
At the Zoo / Baby Driver
Kathy's Song
Art told the story about Kathy's Song, talking about being 22 and poor and making a living in London and Paris by singing on the streets. Their friend Kathy collected the money and looked for cops. He said it was his favourite love song by them, and I had to smile. I like "For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her" too, but I'd argue that they're different songs for different types of relationships.
Hey Schoolgirl in the Second Row (first song they recorded together)
They segued into the next act by saying that the sound they were trying to emulate was that of their heroes, the Everly Brothers.
Then the Everly Brothers themselves came on and sang:
Wake up Little Suzy
Dream
Let it be Me
Then all of 'em sang:
Bye-Bye, Love
The Everly Brothers left, and Simon and Garfunkel continued with:
Scarborough Fair
There was no "Canticle" in the back, which is fine 'cause it would have taken three voices to do properly, really. (And was put there to make a political statement that I'm not sure they wanted to be making in the present day.) Scarborough Fair was well-lit, well-sung, and beautifully ethereal, just as it should be.
Homeward Bound
Sounds of Silence
Paul Simon did an extended solo beginning "Sounds of Silence" that was stunning. If there's a CD made of this tour, I might buy it just so I can have this solo. The rest of the song was similarly amazing, probably the best performance of the evening.
There was another video package over "Feelin' Groovy," and featured a lot of scenes from "The Graduate," which segued (of course) into:
Mrs. Robinson
Slip Slidin' Away
El Condor Pasa
Keep the Customer Satisfied
The Only Living Boy in New York
American Tune
My Little Town
Bridge over Troubled Water
They left. We clapped. I knew they couldn't leave without playing at least two more specific songs. They came back and played the exact songs I was thinking about:
Cecelia
The Boxer
They left again. We clapped again. They came back. "We haven't sung this in concert since 1967," Paul said, and sang:
Leaves that are Green
Feelin' Groovy
Then it was really over.
I've listened to a lot of music. I can't remember a time when I didn't know this music, but I remember the times that I first heard most of the important songs. With a few notable exceptions, it seems like the perfect Simon and Garfunkel song has come into my life at exactly the right time every time. (One of those exceptions is Kathy's Song, which has never been as appropriate as it has been over the past two and a half years, but I first heard when I was wee.)
This is Good Stuff. This is solid melody and echoing harmony and peerless guitar work and lyrics that both tell a story of the time in which they were written ("A Simple Desultory Philippic") and reach beyond it ("Sounds of Silence"). I listen to a lot of music from a lot of wildly different genres, but there are a few things I go back to year after year. This is one of them. Sitting in the dark and doing nothing but listening to it for two hours reminded me of this.
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Uber: Give up chemistry!
become
Gonzo Music Journalist Dixie...
I want you to go to Las Vegas and cover the Mint 500! |
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| (Posted on 18-11-03 at 5:34 am Pacific) |
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| Mountain Goat: Simon and Garfunkel are on the list of music that I listen to when I need to be reminded that I really do want to be a music major. :) (Although I think change-your-major-day is on Friday... big project due) |
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| (Posted on 18-11-03 at 8:47 am Pacific) |
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| Dixie: Don't tempt me, Uber. ;) |
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| (Posted on 18-11-03 at 3:38 pm Pacific) |
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| Rizwan Kassim: I'm impressed! I was so busy being enraptured (and enraged at the $45 shirts) that it hadn't occured to me to write down the song list... thankfully, I've got you for that :) |
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| (Posted on 19-11-03 at 2:47 pm Pacific) |
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