I'm not one for facebook, but since Paul Simon has been back at Sony, they have done a great job of updating his website and facebook page regularly. So I was checking out his facebook page on Friday and noticed there was a post about getting band bench tickets to either of the two nights Paul is doing on Jimmy Fallon. For those who don’t know, band bench is where they bring a select number of fans down to the stage to stand behind the artist while they perform on the show. I read the rules and it said you can enter up to 4 times. So I entered 2 times for each night. I wasn’t expecting to win, since I usually never win that kind of stuff, but low and behold, Tuesday (the day before) I got an e-mail confirming me and a friend for the band bench. After the initial shock of winning, I then called my best friend (we’ll call him Austin J.). It was going to be tricky getting him out of work and into the city for 3pm, but everything was working out. Took a half day and hit the 1:13 train and after a swift 10 block walk, we were at the infamous 30 Rock, not the show, but the place.
We found where we were supposed to go get the tickets and of course it was unorganized, and we found we were in the general audience line, not the band bench tickets line. I met this crazed fan, when asked what her favorite song was spouting off Graceland songs. While I enjoy Graceland as an album, I think he’s done other things, just as good that deserve some recognition. So when people ask me what my favorite song is, I say “Stranded in a Limousine” but I digress. We got lucky #3 which meant we would be the third group of people to go in, right? Maybe. The NBC pages can be sickeningly polite, sort of like flight attendants. They think as long as they say ‘no’ with a smile on their face, you won’t want to punch them in said face. They also get a little defensive when you say you’re here to see Jimmy Kimmel instead of Jimmy Fallon, I got half of it right, I don’t see why they get all upset. I would never want to be a page, plus I can’t be sickeningly polite, ask my friends and family.
We were to meet at the ‘up’ escalator at 4:30. But we could not stand there until 4:30 on the dot. It was a sight to see with this one page escorting people out of the way and asking them to go “window shop” and telling them they can’t be standing still, they have to be moving, ushering them away with a smile. So 4:30 finally arrives, Austin and I go to the designated area. After an escalator, stairs and elevator ride, we finally had to wait in the official line until 5:00 when the pages came to get us. We had to line up by numbers, and I had to stand there and listen to this portly kid in his twenties listening to “Graceland” in his headphones, with which only one headphone was on his head. “The Myth of Fingerprints” (one of my favs, but Paul’s least favorites from the Graceland album) was blasting, and he was reading this kindle completely ignoring the girl friend or friend who is a girl, he had with him. Also, the only way he got to be #1 was because he checked a girl out of the way with his body, I saw it all, and if you’re reading this, you should be ashamed. After another escalator and a pass through metal detectors we found another elevator ride, this time to the studio.
The band bench people were seated last, and just as I figured, we were seated in the back last two rows of the audience. You may see this as me complaining about everything, but these are just my observations of the event. At about 5:15 a guy wearing a tee shirt with a blazer came out and did a quick warm up. I was sitting next to a sound engineer. I wasn’t sure if he was house sound or broadcast sound, but since I am technical guy, I liked watching the meters go up on all the audience mics, there were about 22 hung over our heads. He was mixing and adjusting faders through out the show. Five minutes before the show started, the warm up guy introduced The Roots, who were wonderful. They came out and did a song and the warm up guy was sort of break dancing, it was fun and got us all warmed up. The warm up comic practiced what we should do when the audience lights came on and what to do when Jimmy came out. The portly gentleman who ended up sitting in front of me (and completely blocking my view) was a little obnoxious with his laughter trying to be loud etc. At around 5:30 the show started. As the opening credits came on, the place went wild. We were all clapping and cheering and trying to be a good audience. Then Jimmy came out and started to head butt the camera, kind of funny. He did his monologue, which actually was humorous. He introduced the guests and when he came to Paul Simon’s name, everyone was clearly cheering louder for him. Jimmy went to the desk and did some banter for a bit, then went to a break.
During break, the crew was setting up black flats of varying heights. Then two mics were placed in front of the flats, and at first I thought they were doing a Simon & Garfunkel skit or something. While still on break, I heard the sound guy next to me ask if Paul could strum his guitar for a sound check. He had him do it like three times, so then I knew that Paul was going to be part of the bit. When they came back from break, Jimmy introduced the cast of Stomp. I guessed since they had the Stomp cast that Cecilia would be the proper choice and sure enough, Paul came out from behind the curtain and started the opening line of Cecilia on his signature Martin like he does for when he and Artie sing the song. Then Jimmy came over with his guitar and sang the harmony part, and did an admirable job, if I can add. That song was monstrous, all the Stomp cast and audience was clapping in time and gave it a nice beat. During the song, they had a rack of bottles filled with various amounts of water, and during the bridge, a Stomp cast member played the middle solo on them and it sounded really awesome. That got quite a round of applause.
Then Jennifer Garner who is married to Ben Affleck, go figure, came out and did her segment. The highlight was when Jen beat Jimmy at beer pong. After that segment, Jimmy and Jen did 4 promos. Donald Glover (no relation to Danny) came out and was absolutely hysterical. He did some rapping because he does that on the side too. He rapped with The Roots for a bit.
After this break, the band set up for Paul’s bit. I saw the 12 string, so I immediately knew he was going to do “The Afterlife” cut #2 off the new album, which is amazing. After they were set up, they brought the band bench people down, and since Jamie Haddad took over one of the three band benches for his percussion rig (which he didn’t really use, maybe for the second show, because half the mics weren’t even plugged in) they fit 3 benches of people into 2 benches, it was tight, but well worth the discomfort. They did a few quick sound checks, most notably on the leslie cabinet. My mind working the way it does, thought to myself, what song has an organ in it, and I leaned over to Austin and said, ‘I bet you he’s going to do Mother & Child. After they sound checked everything, like 2 minutes later, the band started to come out followed by Paul. The usual band was there, Mark, Vincent, Tony, Andy, Jamie, but they had a new drummer Jim and a keyboard player Mick. Paul checked his balance and guitar and while they were waiting to come back from break, he looked up at us and said, “you guys got bad seats.” Paul and the band sang “The Afterlife.” After the song, Jimmy came over and closed the show. The credits rolled and it was over. But then without warning, Paul took off the 12 string and donned the 6 string Martin again. They were setting up to do the website bonus song. Jimmy made a comment something to the effect of “how cool is it to have Paul here, he should be out on the street for singing Cecilia as badly as he did…” Then Paul launched back with “Arties out there waiting for you.” That got a huge laugh.
They launched into a Jimmy Cliff song “Vietnam.” I couldn’t hear this when it was going on, but Paul said this was the song that inspired Mother & Child Reunion. After that song, they launched into Mother & Child. Some the phrasing was a bit off and he wasn’t trying to reach for the higher register, but it sounded really good, since he rarely ever does that song, I think it was done on the Rhymin’ Simon tour and a few other times, but not a lot. It was actually on the dream set list I made, so let’s hope to hear it in a few weeks on tour. After that song, the show was really over, I guess they wanted to get Paul out of the way before we were brought back (Paul seemed to be in good spirits because like most creative people, he can be in a mood sometimes). Paul was taking his time and wasn’t really leaving, talking to the guests and band etc. So we were brought down and walked right by him and we were brought back to our seats and then told we could go. There was a mob of people trying to get out.
When we got out and were on the street, it was raining lightly and was colder than it was before. It was supposed to be 57 degrees and sunny today, but it was cloudy and cold. Austin and I walked to le Pain Quotidian by Radio City and enjoyed a French inspired bistro meal. Hit the 8:35 train and was back home by 10:00. What a day and what an experience. Please go to www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com to watch the bonus video of Mother & Child Reunion.
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