Paul Simon playing his home town is always a momentous occasion so what else can I say about it? But here goes. People think I’m crazy for going to see the same artist multiple times, like in 2007 when I saw Jimmy Buffett four times. The reason I do this is besides going to the concert, you are going in the possibility that something else will happen that didn’t happen last time. The phrase “what a difference a day makes” comes to mind. The show on Tuesday was very good, but Wednesday blew my socks off. But this review is about Tuesday’s show.
I met up with Austin, who is my usual concert accomplice. I turned him onto Paul Simon in early 2006. I remember the first time I took him to see the master at Radio City in October of 2006. On a side note, Paul Simon has a brother named Eddie, who looks amazingly like him, or if your Eddie, he has a brother that looks amazingly like him. Eddie is Paul’s manager and a really nice decent guy. We were sitting in our orchestra seats waiting for the show to begin, and Austin turns to me with a cold stare on his face and whispers to me that “Paul Simon is right behind us.” Being the usual skeptic that I am, I turned around and see it was Eddie, smile at him and turn around to Austin and explain that it’s the brother. So from then on, each time we see Paul in the city, we look for Eddie. I will always cause a stir pretending to freak out that I think its Paul Simon. I’m a vindictive friend, but he keeps coming back for more, so he must be a glutton for punishment or he sees something in me that no one else sees.
I got scalped tickets, and only had to pay 750% over face value for each ticket! That’s a real bargain let me tell you (sarcasm alert). It’s not like I didn’t try to get tickets the legitimate way, far from it, the problem is Paul Simon is from New York, and he’s playing the smallest place he could find, yes it creates an intimate experience blah blah blah, but it makes the tickets extremely hard to get. It was me against the other twenty-five thousand fans that wanted tickets. I had 3 people in addition to myself on Ticketmaster™ right at 10am on the on sale day. I missed the Amex pre-sale - there just wasn’t a single ticket to be found. I used Razorgator to buy my tickets. I found tickets in row J of the orchestra. I found they were in the left center and they were decent seats, not worth what I had to pay, but its Paul Simon, so it was worth it!
As I approached the platform and waited for the 4:07 train, Austin announced/asked if it was ok that he invited his friend to dinner. He also announced (like most of his friends) that she had blue hair. His friends don’t faze me anymore, and I said it was fine. I told him to find a place he can eat in the upper west side. He couldn’t find one. It seemed his vegan restaurant app failed him, because I found two very good places with a simple Google search. I sent the places to him and we decided on Blossom, a famous vegan restaurant in the city. He said he had enough for the “bacon cheeseburger” and a tip. Poor kid, he’s in the process of moving, so I didn’t even bring up the fact that these tickets cost a month’s rent. I put the quotes around the burger because, I don’t have a problem with vegans or vegetarians, but I do have a problem when they want to eat things that taste and look like meat and still call them meat. Don’t even get me started on “tofurkey!”
We got to Grand Central and we spotted Nikki, a girl with blueish/purple hair. We did the standard introductions and then went on an Easter egg hunt looking for the “C” train. I saw parts of New York that I didn’t know existed. Judging by the piquant odor in the subway, one might have thought we were in New Jersey. We took the “C” a few stops up to Columbus Avenue. I am not used to being on the upper west side, it was very nice and relaxing there. There was not a homeless person for a 12 block radius.
I must say that I’m sick of having to eat before going out to eat with Austin. This is partly because of the portion size that’s usually dished out at vegan places. I was impressed with the portion sizes at Blossom. The burger was big and the fries were plentiful. The burger was served on a focaccia roll with homemade ketchup on the side. I’m a ketchup konnoisseur, so it is very hard to please me, but this ketchup was very good. The vegan soy cheese was creamy and looked like melted cheddar. The burger had a bit of a soy taste, but what would you expect from a soy burger? The bacon tasted like bacon and in case you’re wondering, yes, the snozberries tasted like snozberries! My only complaint was that there was no ice in the water. The excuse I was given was that warm water is healthier than water with ice; to which I replied that if I want to drink warm liquids, I’ll drink piss!
After dinner we parted ways with Nikki and walked the few blocks over to the Beacon. There was such a powerful vibe about seeing Paul Simon at the Beacon. I remember what it was like two years ago when he re-opened the place. We had row J on house left which is two rows in front of the VIP door. There were not that many celebrities there like last time, but there were a lot of VIPs going in and out of the backstage door all night long. I saw Rob Schwimmer, the keyboard player (from the Simon & Garfunkel tours) and friend of Mark Stewart. I guess some VIPs don’t get tickets, but can stand by the door and watch the show. It was funny to watch them come out for the popular songs, but then retreat backstage for the new stuff. There was not a dud in the set list, all the songs were enjoyable. I crunched the numbers and I was 67% correct with my set list prediction.
Since I like to get to concerts early and just sit and chill and hot have to worry about missing a song, we had about thirty minutes to kill. We were in our seats, and saw Eddie about 5 feet away chatting with some VIPs. Austin and I made up a little game where we counted how many times people came up to him thinking he was Paul. It happens the same way each time; they do a double take, followed by the bug eyed stare, then by the approach. Eddie handles it like a pro, he says he’s “the brother but they have the same mother.” While I was running to the bathroom, Austin relayed a story that happened where Eddie was sitting on the steps because of a hip problem, and the dick head security guard (that was there for both nights), gave him a hard time about sitting until the supervisor told him it was OK for him to sit. The security guard gave Paul’s son a hard time too (not Harper, but Adrian, the oldest of the new batch). It was a family affair, the whole family was there that night. I saw Edie (Brickell, his wife, along with the younger children too). Edie had just played NOLA Jazz Fest a few days prior. The security guard gave her a hard time and checked her credentials as she was wearing a baseball cap and had her head down, I guess she didn’t want to be noticed or recognized.
The show started about ten minutes late. What I like about Paul Simon is there is no fan fare with the start of the show; the band comes on the stage, followed by Paul. The place erupted in volcanic applause. The band launched into Crazy Love, Vol II. His voice sounded just like the record. The arrangement had room for embellishments to be added to the song. There was an extended guitar solo from Vincent (in case you’re wondering he wore the dress and the baseball cap) and Mark Stewart was playing some sort of mouth instrument (most likely homemade) to Andy Snitzer’s alto sax solo. Paul’s voice was loud and clear and had no trouble hitting the higher octave towards the end of the song. Standing victorious and shining like a beacon at the Beacon, Paul and the band went right into Dazzling Blue. This is a favorite cut off the new album. The live version is only enhanced with Mark Stewart’s harmony and Vincent’s booming lower register. Paul’s voice was a bit challenged on this song. This might be caused by too much fluctuation of pitch throughout the song. He also started to sing the wrong verse during the guitar break, but covered nicely. Jamey Haddad replicated the percussion and the intro chanting rather nicely. Jamey really is a “master” as Paul put it when he introduced him later in the evening. Seamlessly, Jim started the rather well known intro for 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. I was so happy that Paul stuck with the album phrasing here, because in 2006 I was very disappointed with his phrasing and general arrangement of the song. Sometimes opting to play electric guitar on this song, he used his Martin OM42 signature guitar. His voice effortlessly hit the “no need to discuss much” part. This version was very jazzy and punchy with the added baritone sax work from Mark Stewart. Someone in the band was singing a high pitched “Garfunkel” part along with Paul, but I couldn’t tell who it was.
Paul greeted us with “hello my friends” and then commented how it seemed like just two years ago that he played the Beacon. He also said “there’s something unnerving and exhilarating about playing your exact neighborhood.” Then he introduced So Beautiful or So What. Paul put on a red 12 string electric Epiphone guitar, that was prone to feedback because it was a semi-hollow body. Mark was playing the main riff on what looked like a Danelectro (see the Mark Knopfler post) and Vincent was playing the acoustic riffs on his Takamine. Unfortunately, there was a stack of subs blocking my view of Tony and Andy, so I could not really see what was going on during these songs. There was a slight few seconds of feedback during this song, caused by the Paul’s guitar.
Paul switched guitars again, this time he strapped on a white funky looking electric guitar. It sounds weird to have Slip Sliding Away played on an electric, but he did it and it sounded just like the 2009 arrangement but on electric guitar. The added trumpet and sax were a welcome addition. As much as I would have loved to hear The Afterlife, I’m glad it got dropped in favor of the next song(s). It’s was a Paul Simon medley, he started with the Jimmy Cliff song, Vietnam. This is the bonus internet only song he played on Jimmy Fallon for us. He explained that Vietnam was the song that made him go down to Jamaica to record Mother & Child Reunion. After a lively and energetically voiced version, they launched right into Mother & Child Reunion, which he has rarely ever done live. He was being a bit careful in the pitch department and rephrased the lyrics a bit so it wouldn’t sound weird that he didn’t put a lot of umph into it. There was a slight guitar solo (if you can call it that) by Mark Stewart towards the end. This song got a standing ovation. I’m glad that Paul is in a place where he plays what he wants to play, not necessarily the hits. The audience didn’t miss the Me & Julio’s, You Can Call Me Al’s if he plays songs like this that his public has been yearning for.
Tony strapped on his accordion and launched into the Zedyco laden That Was Your Mother. This is another case of the live version having more energy than the recording. Mark did his usual funky hillbilly-style guitar solo in the middle that was only topped by Andy’s great saxophone work. Too bad those speakers were in the way because it’s fun to watch Andy play because he makes funny faces kicks his legs when he plays. While were on the subject of funny gestures, it’s not a secret that Paul has been known to make whacky hand gestures when he’s not playing the guitar. Watch any concert DVD from like 2000 on and you will see what I’m talking about. It has only gotten worse with age. It’s actually kind of funny to watch. For the tail end of the song, Paul donned his Martin and after the volcanic applause, he quietly started Heart & Bones. I have been waiting a long time to hear this song live. It didn’t disappoint either. He played it on the 1991 Born at the Right Time world tour (I was 8 so missed out on that), and it was also done as a one off in 2001 in Boston, but that’s it. He has not played it in 10 years. The one little complaint I had was that the “fake” strings towards the end, sound fake and cheesy. I couldn’t tell if Tony or the new keyboard player, Mick was playing the part, but it just sounded bad and would have sounded better left off. Also because of the arrangement of the stacks and subs (the huge speakers that hang from the ceiling that amplify what is being played on stage) it caused us to get too much of the nylon stringed guitar Mark Stewart was playing, and it drowned out Paul’s playing. It was another medley, because they went right into Mystery Train (Paul Simon’s favorite Rock & Roll song ever). I wish I could have seen the drummer Jim, because he is really good at the guitar and plays a lot during the show. After Mystery Train, they went right into Chet Atkins’ Wheels. Chet was one of the best guitar players around, especially at finger picking/plucking, you should check him out. Paul, Mark and Jim were playing battling guitars during this song. Jim played the guitar and had the hi-hat at the same time. Jim also played lead on a telecaster during Wheels. It was quite impressive.
For the next song, the whole band played acoustic guitars. Rewrite, as you can see by the album review I wrote, grew on me. The problem is that no one in the band can whistle, and it sounded funny trying to hear three people whistle the same thing and none of them could really do it. Mick didn’t seem to play a lot of piano/organ, he seemed to be helping out in the percussion department a lot during the evening. Even for Still Crazy, Tony was playing the Rhodes part. The next song was actually better known by the audience that I thought it would be. Peace Like a River really showed off Paul’s high and really showed off Mark’s musicianship. That guy can really sing! Jim played guitar on this song as well because Mark had to switch to sax for the latter part of the song. I didn’t think Paul was going to play the intricate guitar picking part just because he doesn’t seem to push himself anymore. He’s a safe player these days, but let me tell you, he ripped that guitar a new on the fast finger picking during the percussion break down.
I didn’t want to be a buzz kill, so I didn’t tell Austin what was going to be played, but before the next song started, I leaned over and said “get ready.” I knew that The Obvious Child was one of his favorites. He asked me early on if I thought he was going to play it, to wit I said “not a chance in hell”, just to throw him off the track. Had I known this was going to be the “no standards” tour (meaning no Graceland, Julio or Al etc), I probably really could have nailed the set list prediction. This tour, Paul is playing a lot of different guitars, gone are the days where he would play two guitars for the entire show (I miss the signature black Yamahas). For this song he strapped on a 12 string (I’m not sure if it was recorded with one, but when he played it live in 1991, he played his Yamaha strung with high strings). This was an odd looking guitar, it wasn’t a Martin, and it had a white wood top, it actually looked like an Oslon. Were any guitar junkies closer than I was and can verify this? James Taylor is one of the most famous Olson players. Check him out (Olson, not Taylor, although if you go to James’ website now, he has videos of him making a snowman, cooking Thanksgiving dinner, giving guitar lessons and applying his fake guitar playing finger nails, it’s humbling). When he opened with this song on 1991 tour, he had four full time percussionists and Steve Gadd on drums. For having half the band this time round, it really sounded good. Bakithi was playing a huge bass drum during this song, since there is no bass guitar. During the high pitched whaling bit which sounded breathtaking, everyone stood up and after the song finished, the place went nuts with applause.
Paul switched 12 strings and started the intro to The Only Living Boy in New York. His voice screwed up the opening line when he goes high on “fly down to Mexico” but other than that, it was flawless. Mark Stewart added some cool guitar part to it, it is a bit slower than the recording and there are drums throughout, which I’m not crazy about. This song has a great organ part that Rob Schwimmer (see above) used to play, but I wasn’t sure who was playing it tonight, Tony or Mick (I could hardly see Tony at all so that’s why I wasn’t sure). The stage was too small for the musicians, their equipment, and the baby grand piano that was used on like 3 songs, we couldn’t have used a keyboard set to “baby grand”? But I digress. I love listening for Vincent’s big booming bottom end during the chorus of this song. After this song, someone yelled, rather loudly, Baby Driver. I leaned over to Austin and said, “what?” I don’t think he knew what Baby Driver was, but I thought it was funny.
I should mention that my row only had four seats in it. The two guys next to us were older but very nice. One of the guys kept trying to take pictures with his camera, but they weren’t coming out. I leaned over and told him to turn off the flash (they will come out better and also because the security guy was hawking him, because they were giving people a hard time for using the flash). He showed me a picture on the camera of him and Paul Simon. I told him he was lucky he got that because Paul can be a mother fucker sometimes. Paul seemed to be in a decent enough mood that night.
Right before this song, his guitar tech brought him out a guitar, but he refused it, sending him back to get another guitar. I don’t know if he changed the set up a bit, but at Jazz Fest, Paul was shouting out songs to play while Artie was taking a break, it was like stump the band. Love is Eternal is not one of my favorite songs off the new album, but I can listen to it for five minutes.
Paul put on his little nylon strung guitar that he usually plays on Father & Daughter (am I good or am I good?) He played that song, and was motioning out to the crowd (probably to his daughter) during the “there could never be a father” part. After this song, I saw Edie and the kids went back stage. One of the kids slipped on the stairs going backstage. Adrian stayed and watched the next few songs with a man with a full access pass that I’ve seen before (he might have been the EPA I always hear about, but I’m not sure, I saw the same man at Foxwoods, but could not get to him to investigate).
Paul Simon being Paul Simon went to start Diamonds, but then out of nowhere, he started to complain about a lip in the stage. He said “I wish that wasn’t there, but…there it is” and then started the “She’s a rich girl…”. The place went nuts and everyone was clapping because they knew what was coming. Tony added a bit where he rolled the “R’s” on rich girl, it sounded Ladysmith Black Mambazo-esk. Paul is playing this song on the natural wood Fender Strat with the electrics taken out (most likely the guitar used at the Central Park 1981 concert) the guitar that was featured heavily on the 2000-01 tour, but we really don’t care what he plays it on as long as he never goes back to the 2006 tour arrangement of this song. Try to find it on youtube, you will crap your pants, I still can’t that he would actually do it that way. Bakithi added a new bass solo in the middle, it doesn’t sound like the recording, it sounds better, he is so freaking good on that fretless bass. He has been playing (as Paul would later mention during the band intros) with Paul since 1985, when they met and they recorded Boy in the Bubble in Johannesburg, South Africa. This song got the relatively lazy orchestra section on their feet. Everyone was clapping and Paul was really into it, and forgot to come back to the mic to sing the “people think she’s crazy” part and nearly missed it. The percussion break down at the end was very short, I’ve seen it go for upwards of 5 minutes sometimes, but it was good. Paul actually steeped to the side of the stage to just watch the Jim and Jamey play.
After this, in case it wasn’t good enough, they closed the main show with Gumboots. I might have done it the other way around, because everyone knows Diamonds, but I love Gumboots and I’m glad he is still playing it. He cocked up the intro and came in way too early, probably no one else but me would have noticed. This version was almost double time than the last time it was played at the Beacon (Gumboots was the first song played at the new Beacon Theatre in 2009). Jim adds a lot of energy to the drumming (something that Steve Gadd was lacking on the 2006 tour, which was maybe why I disliked those shows so much). Mark led the band how to end the song and Paul was detuning his gutar towards the end of the song, a nice effect, but lost in the rest of the mix. Everyone gave them a standing ovation as the band left the stage.
After a few minutes of clapping, Paul came out to a blue stage by himself and started the opening of The Sound of Silence. Since Artie wasn’t there, it had the capo at fret three instead of seven which is how he does it with Artie. He thanked us before he played this song. I was watching Youtube videos of various concerts and a few times, his voice cracked during one part of this song. His voice was not cooperating during this song, he had a bit of a frog in his throat. He actually pulled away from the mic a bit. Now you’re reading this, and thinking that Paul Simon can’t sing anymore. Far from it, it’s not like a Paul McCartney fuck up, it’s only for a few lines here and there. He still has the voice of an angel for a mortal pushing 70. After this, he said “you’re too kind” and thanked us again.
The band came back on stage and Paul started to play the infamous opening to Kodachrome®. I was so happy that this was the recorded version, and not like previous tours when he butchered the song. Vincent added a Cameroon sounding guitar part under the classic arrangement. This song seamlessly went right into Gone at Last. Paul really sang his heart out for this song. These two songs showed off Mick’s fantastic piano licks. During this song, me and a few other people put our arms in the air and were trying to be “saved” during the “praying it was gone at last” part. Austin got a chuckle out of that. My only complaint with my concert buddy is that he just sits there, he doesn’t clap along, and it’s like taking a corpse to the show. He says he has a good time, but he is way too reserved.
After a rousing applause, the band left the stage leaving only Paul, Mark and Tony. Mark started the opening of Here Comes the Sun. This was a surprise to many people. His voice was impeccable during this song. Mark Stewart joined him on back up. The rest of the band came back out and Tony started The Boy in the Bubble. I much prefer this arrangement to the recording. Mark added a rocking distorted guitar riff to the song. Bakithi once again changed the solo up a bit.
Paul and the band left the stage after The Boy in the Bubble. They came back out to play Still Crazy After All These Years. I have never been crazy about this song. The only bright part is that Andy really plays his heart out during the sax solo. Paul’s voice just sounds tired (maybe he’s tired of playing this song). This song got the standard standing ovation.
Paul announced that it was “Late in the Evening”. The band started playing the intro, Paul had his weird white electric guitar on again. He changed the words and did not say “smoke myself a J.” This might have been because his kids were in the audience. I much prefer the more recent arrangements of this song. There is more guitar and has a guitar solo. Mark keeps switching between guitar and sax. He really is very talented. After this song, the show was really over. You can tell because once Paul starts to introduce the band members, the show’s over. He introduced them individually and said something nice about each member. It was Bakithi’s birthday (happy belated birthday B!). He thanked us again very much and then left stage, the house lights came up and it was over. What a wonderful night.
We missed the 10:22 by about 5 minutes so we had a lot of time to kill. We took the subway and the shuttle and got back to Grand Central with about 30 minutes to kill. We got some food, headed to the train, and found it was a nice new one and sat until the train left at 11:22 on the dot. After giving Austin a ride home, I was home at 1:30 and sleeping at 1:31 with visions of getting to do it all over again the next day in my head!
Crazy Love, Vol. II
Dazzling Blue
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
So Beautiful or So What
Slip Slidin Away
Vietnam
Mother & Child Reunion
That Was Your Mother
Hearts & Bones
Mystery Train/Wheels
Rewrite
Peace Like a River
The Obvious Child
The Only Living Boy in New York
Love is Eternal Sacred Light
Father & Daughter
Diamonds
Gumboots
Sound of Silence
Kodachrome®
Gone at Last
Here Comes the Sun
The Boy in the Bubble
Still Crazy
Late in the Evening
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