Paul Simon

I saw Paul Simon last night. Right, that one. That was fun. It was his "Farewell Tour" although he admitted it wasn't necessarily. He just said that to boost ticket sales. He sings and does comedy too! Awesome. His back-up band was exceptionally good. I was surprised at how many brass instruments he had, but hearing his songs again, he really was into that. Simon and Garfunkel were mostly just a couple guitars seems like, but Paul must have discovered other instruments when he went out on his own. Speaking of Garfunkel. It seems like with an almost three hour concert, he might have gotten a mention. Nope. Nothing. There was a picture on the big screen in which you could get a glimpse of him on an album cover. That was it. So they must not care for each other that much. They have gotten together for concerts occasionally, but maybe they just put up with each other for those times. Art has the better voice, although Paul still sounds just like Paul. Paul is the better musician in pretty much every other way.

I've now seen Simon and Garfunkel - just not at the same time. I guess I can see how they might not get along. Between songs Paul told stories or said funny things. At his concert, Art recited poetry. Poetry! They both are kind of hippie types I guess, but Paul is like a working class hippie, and Art is a flower power hippie.

He did set a record for me with greatest number of encores - 4. Seriously, four encores. He would stop, everyone left the stage, then they would come back out. His most memorable songs were in the encores, but he ended up doing pretty much all his big songs throughout. He did only do one of my three favorites - Gone at last, Loves Me Like a Rock got omitted, sadly. But he did Mother and Child Reunion.

He did Feelin' Groovy which he said was his least favorite song. Sad. Everyone loves it but him. Maybe arguments over Feelin' Groovy is what caused Art and Paul to break up. I'll admit "Hello Lampost, Whatcha knowin" is not the greatest lyric of all time, and any song with the word Groovy in it is going to be a little suspect, but still. Its a happy song.

He didn't do Bridge Over Troubled Waters, but that was pretty much an Art solo song. Most everything else got covered. Anyway, nice job, Paul. Thanks for the concert.