Welcome back Paul Simon! I have been neglecting my blogging duties and skipped the Foxwoods show in order to get the Webster Hall post up. MGM Grand at Foxwoods is a lush beautifully tuned theatre that seats a little over 4,000 people. The seats are comfortable and the staff is accommodating and friendly. It’s quickly becoming my favorite venue.
I got my tickets through an American Express pre-sale. I got row M, house left. I got the last seat in the aisle. The seat was close enough, but I could also see the screens. The theatre has robotic cameras (as Peter Frampton quipped, “it’s like CNN, there’s no one working that thing!”). I guess Paul is not used to having video for these intimate theatre shows because they had large black flags hanging in front of the screen so you could not see the video screens from the stage, but the house could see it. I guess Paul didn’t think he was so beautiful, but so what!
Earlier in the day, I took my mother shopping at the mall near Foxwoods that she enjoys and let her buy me lunch at Longhorn. We had fantastic burgers and sub par iced tea, with extra lemon. We made it to the casino at around 5:30 with plenty of time to valet park and also had plenty of time to gamble. I found my 2 penny slots and was losing, so I just watched as my mother was actually winning, but her problem is that if she hits for a few bucks (like 20 or so) she puts it right back in and loses it again. My mother detests Paul Simon (although she loves S&G) so I left her gambling and I made my way to the theatre at about 7:15. I purchased an overpriced bottle of water ($4.50) and made my way to my seat. A few minutes later after my row started to fill up, I was chatting with the people next to me and I told them that this is my third of four concerts for this tour and 13th concert total. I don’t think they believed me since they said, I was so young. The man told me that he tried to get tickets for the 1991 tour, and had bought scalped tickets, but was refused admittance at the gate. I told him that this tour is much better than that one and we made idle chatter until the show began.
The guitar tech brought out a freshly tuned Martin OM-42 with no capo. I turned to the guy next to me and said, I bet he’s going to open with Boy in the Bubble. I was surprised because his usual opener until this concert was Crazy Love, Vol. II. Paul and the band came out and settled, then Tony started Boy in the Bubble, I love it when I’m right. That was the only shake-up. Everything else was the same. For the Boy in the Bubble, Paul is not strumming, he’s picking alternating A’s and it really punchy. The sound was clear and his voice was impeccable. They shook up the arrangement a bit and Bathiki had a new solo in the middle. I noticed that Mark was playing slide guitar a bit which surprised me, but it really helped double the bass rolls on the fretless bass for “these are the days of miracle…”
Dazzling Blue was next. After that was 50 Ways, the crowd really got excited about this number. Paul was in a great mood and I could tell he was relaxed and in total control. It was a home state show and he was ready to rock. He screwed up the words for the chorus the second time round and laughed a bit at himself. The band was so tight and well rehearsed and everyone at the top of their game. After 50 Ways, he said “I’m back in my home state of Connecticut.” There was a lot of feedback from the semi-hollow electric red 12-string he put on for the next song. The feedback cut through “Connecticut.” Paul backed the guitar away from the mic and the feedback went away. This is not the first time this guitar has done this either. He then did So Beautiful or So What. After this song when they launched into Vietnam/Mother & Child Reunion I thought we were getting a “casino” show (a casino show is where the artists modify the set list to do the minimum amount of show to accommodate the casino and get people back out on the gambling floor, Peter Frampton, CSN and John Fogerty have all done this. Mark Knopfler did not do this). Usually Slip Sliding Away would come next, so I was a bit disappointed. But don’t worry, because as I would find out, it was not a “casino show.”
Andy got a longer sax solo during That Was Your Mother. Paul was in very good spirits and good voice this evening. I noticed this especially during Hearts & Bones that can go either way vocally. I was able to see Jim more clearly and see how much guitar work he put into Mystery Train and Wheels. This medley shouldn’t work, but it does. Jim is just as good at guitar as he at the drums. Next up was Slip Slidin’ Away which Paul opted to play on his red Gibson (not the one for So Beautiful). I am not the biggest fan of this song being played on an electric because I think nothing sounds better than the sound Paul gets from his signature Martins, but I like when he changes things up. Rewrite is one of those songs that grows on you, at first I did not like it (take a look at the album blog review). The live version is amazing and it shows off the musicianship of all the members of his band. I read an interview with Mark Stewart where he said that the band will rehearse two bars of music for two hours sometimes until it’s perfect. Two bars could be like 10 seconds of music depending on the song. Could you imagine working for Paul Simon? It has to be the worst, hardest but most rewarding job in the world. Peace Like a River is a weird song to do, but I really like it, although I would have preferred Duncan because it gives Mark a chance to play his penny whistle, but Tony really shines on his muted trumpet work. Once again Jim plays guitar on this song. I have not actually tried to figure out if this is down a few steps, but I know that it is much slower, maybe half tempo of the original. Paul can still sing beautifully. It’s good go see he’s still choosing songs that challenge him vocally. Paul really nailed the guitar solo on this song, but I still don’t attempt to understand the piano solo at the end.
The Obvious Child blows me away each time I hear it. I really like the sound of his Olson guitar (I verified on Olson’s website, they were surprised to hear he was playing one too). Paul plays the song on his 12 string and Vincent doubles him on his big Gibson. Tony has written an accordion part that wasn’t on the original track. Andy plays bells and Bathiki plays a big ol’ bass drum. They don’t even mic it because it’s so boomy and loud. I really had reservations on how this was going to sound without a five piece rhythm section like on previous tours, but I must say it sounded better than the Central Park ’91 version. Paul’s voice did crack a bit doing the bass vocal that Briz did on the album, but it was barely audible. Paul switched 12-strings back to his Martin and started The Only Living Boy in New York. His voice was silky and unchallenged by the 40 year old vocal line. He still does the high part of the “echo chamber” part of the song. Vincent does a bass vocal, even Mark can’t go as high as Paul. His range is just amazing. Yes his voice is gotten deeper with age, but he can still hit a lot of notes that artists of his generation don’t even attempt anymore.
The last few times I’ve been to Foxwoods for shows, they let the first five or so rows rush the stage towards the end of the show. During the opening lines of Diamonds, a few “hot to trot” twenty something females did this, followed by their older rounder mother. Paul laughed and looked down and said, “you’re the rich girl?” He laughed through the rest of the intro, it was funny and unrehearsed and shows that he is still having a good time doing the job he’s been doing for 50 years now. Diamonds was amazing, although he doesn’t do the high pitched wailing anymore, the fact that they went back to doing the standard arrangement of the song is wonderful. The interplay between Jamey and Jim at the end if great too, Paul goes off to the side of the stage just to watch them. It shows that he doesn’t have to be the center of attention all the time, he can let his amazing band shine too. After this song, he put the capo up two frets and they started Gumboots. I love Gumboots, but I think it would still work better if they closed the main show with Diamonds. Gumboots is double tempo from the Beacon in 2009. It sounds better faster, but the guitar work has to be double time too, Vincent and Mark really get a finger workout playing this song. After this song, Paul and the band left that stage.
Paul came back out to a dark stage to sing a pitch perfect version of Sound of Silence. Kodachrome® followed and was spectacular and the fact that the played it like the record made it even better. I would have never thought that Kodachrome® and Gone at Last would fit together, but both of these songs deserve more air time than they have gotten in the past. After this there was another encore break. Paul came back out with Mark and Tony to play Here Comes the Sun. This version was spot on as well. I think they should have recorded this show for a DVD instead of Webster Hall, the overall performance was better.
Late in the Evening was rocking as usual and he didn’t say the “smoke myself a ‘J’” line. Maybe he had family in the audience, but I do know that his family was not at the Beacon on the second night so he actually said the full line that time.
After Late in the Evening, they did another encore break. After a bit, the stage went dark, the techs were running around setting things up. The guitar tech came out with a Martin with a capo on the 5th fret and put it in the stand by Paul’s mic. I really thought we were getting Crazy Love. Paul came out and did Still Crazy. Andy did a killer solo as usual. There was a weird pause where he was contemplating doing another song, but then opted to grab the mic and introduce the members of the band. After the show as everyone was filing out I was filled a sense of amazement. I am still in awe of how he can still be so good at his age.
After the show I treated my mother to Junior’s for some iced coffee and a piece of cheesecake. I saw this twenty something kid with a set list, I guess he waited by the stage for it. I was going to ask to see it, I was really curious to see if Crazy Love was on the list of potential extra songs to be played, but I couldn’t catch him. So if you’re reading this, let me know, ok?
Boy in the Bubble
Dazzling Blue
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
So Beautiful or So What
Vietnam
Mother & Child Reunion
That Was Your Mother
Hearts & Bones
Mystery Train/Wheels
Slip Slidin' Away
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
Late in the Evening
Still Crazy
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