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June 27, 2004 - USA / Nebraska
Omaha - Qwest Center

Setlist

Old Friends/Bookends
Hazy Shade Of Winter
I Am A Rock
America
At The Zoo/Baby Driver
Kathy’s Song
Hey School Girl

Everlys:
Wake Up Little Susie
Dream
Let It Be Me
Bye Bye Love (w/ Simon & Garfunkel)

Scarborough Fair
Homeward Bound
Sounds of Silence
Mrs. Robinson
Slip Slidin’ Away
El Condor Pasa
Keep The Customer Satisfied
Only Living Boy in New York
American Tune
My Little Town
Bridge Over Troubled Water
1st Encore:
Cecilia
The Boxer
2nd encore:
Leaves That Are Green
59th Street Bridge Song

The band (not all members are present at all shows)

Mark Stewart - Guitars, Cello, Saxophone, selfmade instruments
Jamey Haddad - Percussion
Rob Schwimmer - Keyboards, Theremin
Jim Keltner - Drums
Larry Saltzman - Guitar
Warren Bernhardt - Piano
Freddie Washington - Bass

Fans who attended this show

Setlist same as rest as stops. Art wore purple shirt and was jovial, Paul red shirt and black leather jacket and seamed disinterested. Hightlights were when a fat, burly road crew guy bullied a woman behind me and took away her camera during ´America´ and ruined the enjoyment of that song. Art did a moving rendition of ´Kathy´s Song´ along with a tale of the song´s orgin. The Everly Brothers came out and killed and brought tears to more than one eye and everybody to their feet. ´Scarbrough Fair´ was as lovely live as on record and also brought many a tear. There was an extended jam on ´Homeward Bound´ that really cooked, great piano. Paul did a great guitar solo at the beginning of ´Sounds of Silence´ that was really cool, he shed his leather jacket and did an Elvis pose on ´Mrs Robinson´. The vocal interplay between Art and Paul on ´El Condor Pasa´ was smooth, the lighters came out during ´Bridge Over Troubled Water´. Everybody sang along to ´Cecelia´ and ´The Boxer´ and sat quietly during ´Leaves That Are Green´ and capped the night joyfully to ´The 59th Street Bridge Song´. Thank You Art and Paul and Band for visiting our little city and to the cute blonde girl who I gave my phone number and email address to on my way out of the concert , please call me, I´d like to get the chance to know you!!!

I´ve seen two S & G concerts this tour, within seven months of each other. This is the second one I saw, and I believe it had the exact same setlist as the first one I saw (then again, don´t they all?). Nevertheless, I enjoyed it even more because I brought to this concert a more thorough knowledge of the history of their music as well as their lyrics. My favorite moment, maybe because it was a unique one, was when Paul forgot his ´lines´ in their speech about how they met and started talking about how he had done Death of a Salesman the year before Alice in Wonderland and was looking for an easier role (he was joking, of course) and then said, ´A great deal of the ´70s also seems to have escaped me.´ It was an enjoyable experience even though Old Friends started off shaky, but I heard it usually does, and the music drowned out some of the voices on Baby Driver. They never failed to disappoint.

Taking my wife and three kids to this show was really cool. None of us had ever seen either Simon or Garfunkel in person, so it was first for all of us. My wife, a veteran of many concerts, called it ´a pinnacle.´

The set list was the same as it had been for the last several shows, apparently. That´s Ok, though I am the kind of person who doesn´t mind the oddity every now and again. Hearing, for instance, ´Richard Cory´ would´ve been great. Maybe ´At The Zoo´ for some people, is that kind of song.

Anyway, Art acted as the host for most of the time. Some banter with Paul about their meeting at age 12 appeared glib and unrehearsed. They do have a penchant for comedy. (We all remember the ´Still Crazy´ bit in a turkey suit for a Thanksgiving SNL show, but how many people remember the bit where Art parachuted behind the hall of a Kiss concert as ´Paul Stanley´s brother.´ Belushi was the door-guarding roadie. Or the bit where Paul remembers a person who sat in the last row of a show in ´74, but couldn´t remember Art.)

I digress. Back to the show.

At times, Paul seemed tired or disinterested, but the playing was top notch. Art´s voice was in great command, though did sound once or twice like he needed a drink of water. It was a long show, and it was great to see the Everlys. They were enjoyable, energetic, and looked like they were very grateful to be playing. Props to S&G for having them along.

The crowd, though not a sell-out (tix were a bit pricey for this market) was quite responsive. It seemed that S&G were taken aback sometimes, as there were 4-5 standing ovations (most of them full) throughout the show. After the main set, someone threw a single rose up to Paul. I kept
looking for one to be tossed Art´s way, but it didn´t happen.

Now, I´m not a huge Art fan (it may appear otherwise), but if you read this and have close seats to a future show´¦ buy a rose for Art. I felt really bad for him.

Only one non-S&G tune was played, and Paul said that it should have been. He was right. They both sounded great on it.

The opening montage is neat, especially at the end. The show started about 20-25 minutes late, too. Don´t know why.. maybe waiting for more seats to fill. Overall, we left very satisfied and glad to experience two American musical treasures.