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July 06, 2008 - United Kingdom
Liverpool - Echo Arena

Setlist

Gumboots
The Boy In The Bubble
Outrageous
Mrs Robinson
How Can You Live In The North East
Slip Slidin´ Away
Spirit Voices
Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard
You´re The One
Duncan
Train In The Distance
The Teacher
The Sound Of Silence
The Cool Cool River
The Only Living Boy In New York
Graceland
Father And Daughter
Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes
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Still Crazy After All These Years
You Can Call Me Al
That was Your Mother
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The Boxer
Late In The Evening

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

Vincent Nguini - Guitar
Bakithi Kumalo - Bass
Mark Stewart - Guitars, Cello, Saxophone, selfmade instruments
Tony Cedras - Accordeon, Keyboard, Guitars
Andy Snitzer - Saxophone, Synthesizer
Jamey Haddad - Percussion
Charley Drayton - Drums

Fans who attended this show

- Not up to the normal high standards that we expect I´m afraid - he seemed distracted / not really up for it.
Worst sound / mix that I´ve heard at a PS show and I´ve been to plenty - we were sat 20 rows back in Block B so should have been good.
Opening lines to ´Outrageous´ were fluffed and some harmonies were badly out of sync. - I found myself waiting for the next mistake.
Sound of Silence was the highlight - get Steve Gadd back and drive it all on (he´s double booked though..).
Not a patch on the Liverpool 2002 show.

After waiting nearly 40 years this was the first ever Paul Simon concert I have attended.
The venue from the outside was very impressive and the staff seemed friendly enough. However, once inside I was slightly disappointed with the fact that were sat right at the back with no big screens available to see close-ups of what was happening on stage.Because we were at the back I thought what we might lack in vision would be made up by a good sound quality..not so, the sound seemed muffled and quite low in volume in comparison to other recent gigs I have attended.
Throughout the concert people were either still arriving or going to the bar/toilet or generally milling about. From our vantage point all we could see were bodies shuffling around the place which was quite annoying.
Prior to the show one of the lights above the audience exploded sending pieces of glass on peoples heads.I assume this caused a delay in the start of the concert by about 15mins.
The set list has been published here, the obvious highlight being ´Sound of Silence´ which was simply magical.
After about a third of the way through a voice from the audience shouted a comment similar to ´why do you keep playing the new songs, we have paid good money to hear the old ones´. Simon replied by saying ´ I cant hear you´ and then added ´are you the same person who called me a genious last time´ which I thought a bit disrespectful.
The band were tight but the songs seemed to be delivered without passion, soul or indeed fun. Just an old guy wanting to get his job done, grab the cash and run.
Thats what I did before the encore. I thought ´do I suffer a few more songs like this´, or be the first in the queue for the car park.
The reviews in the local press were totally wrong, they probably got all the freebies they could get their hands on before submitting a piece.
I apologise to those who may read this and be upset because their hero did not pull it off, but thats life. Hopefully it was just one off day.

After waiting nearly 40 years this was the first ever Paul Simon concert I have attended.
The venue from the outside was very impressive and the staff seemed friendly enough. However, once inside I was slightly disappointed with the fact that were sat right at the back with no big screens available to see close-ups of what was happening on stage.Because we were at the back I thought what we might lack in vision would be made up by a good sound quality..not so, the sound seemed muffled and quite low in volume in comparison to other recent gigs I have attended.
Throughout the concert people were either still arriving or going to the bar/toilet or generally milling about. From our vantage point all we could see were bodies shuffling around the place which was quite annoying.
Prior to the show one of the lights above the audience exploded sending pieces of glass on peoples heads.I assume this caused a delay in the start of the concert by about 15mins.
The set list has been published here, the obvious highlight being ´Sound of Silence´ which was simply magical.
After about a third of the way through a voice from the audience shouted a comment similar to ´why do you keep playing the new songs, we have paid good money to hear the old ones´. Simon replied by saying ´ I cant hear you´ and then added ´are you the same person who called me a genious last time´ which I thought a bit disrespectful.
The band were tight but the songs seemed to be delivered without passion, soul or indeed fun. Just an old guy wanting to get his job done, grab the cash and run.
Thats what I did before the encore. I thought ´do I suffer a few more songs like this´, or be the first in the queue for the car park.
The reviews in the local press were totally wrong, they probably got all the freebies they could get their hands on before submitting a piece.
I apologise to those who may read this and be upset because their hero did not pull it off, but thats life. Hopefully it was just one off day.

40 years, why the wait? Your probably another S and G fan masquarading as a Paul Simon fan. Your type of people probably wish PS stopped writing when S and G broke up. As the man himself would say ´I am tired, tired, anybody care what i say. No´
Its like this my friend.
You went to a concert where from the start things went against you, you didnt like this and that. ( By the way are you there to see Paul Simon or the venue and its staff ) As for the volume and exploding lights and abusive ´fans´, is PS responsible for all the technical issues of the venue aswell as the ignorance of some of its patrons ´milling around´ and hurling comments in his direction. If that person wants what they want all the time they should sit in the car park with you and listen to old tapes in the comfort of your car with the ´suitable´ sound levels.
On any level, the ´fan´ was the disrespectful one, aNd you should really reserve your cash and old man comments for someone who has given nothing to the world. PS is too decent a human being never mind a musician to have that terrible abuse written about him on a computer screen. Please see sense and take it back and remove the negativity from your heart.
No need to reply to me because i know deep down you know i am right and being fair. I also know that if Paul came to your house and sang in your living room by the fireplace you would be eternally happy.
Lastly i want you to go and see him again somewhere and i hope you have a better memory of a PAUL SIMON concert and then you can ´ Preserve your memories, there all thats left you´. Best wishes.

- ´that´s your opinion...and I respect that´ - Paul Simon 2003.
A review is a summary of the event as seen by the reviewer.
We should be able to say what we honestly think - good or bad and not get castigated for it.
PS has a fabulous back catalogue - he should be incredibly proud of his body of work and songs such as BOTW, Homeward Bound and American Tune should always be on the set list ahead of The Teacher / Outrageous / You´re The One on what might be his last European Tour.
Also if time was limited to 11pm at Chalbury there´s a simple answer - start earlier...

I went to this concert and thought the audience was a bit restless - there was a lot of movement - probably because some people in the audience bought 4 or 5 beers with them and then found their eyes were bigger than their bladders! That was not Paul Simon´s fault.

I am always happy to hear the songs that he wishes to play. The above comment about him taking the money and running is ridiculous. It is quite clear to anyone that has followed his career that Paul Simon does not make decisions on a commercial basis, but instead for artistic reasons. This is why he made One-Trick Pony and The Capeman and stood by those artistic decisions even if they were not commercially successful.

Paul Simon made many millions of dollars in the 1960s and his income from albums such as Graceland and Bridge Over Troubled Water and all the film sountracks that feature his songs cannot be underestimated. So if he chooses to tour it is because he wants to perform and therefore he should be free to choose which songs he will play.

If he simply rested on his laurels and played the songs he wrote 30+ years ago, he would not be the groundbreaking artist that he has remained. The reason Paul Simon is such a big draw is because he has continued to stay relevant whilst his peers have become anachronistic. On the whole - apart from the requests between songs and trips to the toilets, people sang along to the familiar songs and then listened to the new ones even dancing during the coda of How Can You Live In The Northeast? - ´I have been given all I wanted...´

I am 32 and I have been to eight Paul Simon concerts. I would be a bit upset if he was playing the same set he played back in 1991. I want to hear him perform songs that I have not heard him play live before.

I enjoyed the concerts at Cornbury and Liverpool so much that I have just bought tickets (and flights) so I can see him in Milan.

Long live Paul Simon and lets hope he continues to remaim innovative and relevant.

Having been to the 2002 Livepool concert, I was expecting a lot from Paul & the band in the new Echo Arena, and upon arrival I was immediately impressed with the building, athough inside, it is just another MEN arena in a pretty dress.

From where we sat in the Lower tier of the gold circle, the sound was fantastic. Clear and punchy. The ambience was there when required (Sounds of Silence) but had power too (Late in the Evening) making for a thoroughly enjoyable 2 and a bit hours. I could see Paul and the band were enjoying themselves, and lets face it, PS is hardly renowned for his on-stage persona. Let the music do the talking... Train in the Distance was a real treat for me, as was Duncan, but the icing on the cake was indeed ´The Sound Of Silence´. Beautifully executed.

The audience was as enthusiastic as ever, and although a few defective individuals behave like morons by screaming at the stage from the back of the area, dedicated fans (like me) and respectful admirers applauded with equal enthusiasm. by the end of the encores, most of the audience were up and dancing. Not bad for a 66 year-old folk singer.

If you want studio quality sound, and to personally dictate the set list, stick with your LP´s, CD´s and i-Pods. Don´t spoil everyone elses enjoyment by yelling at the stage. The performer can´t hear you in any case, as PS said on the night ´it´s not that I don´t want to hear you, I just can´t up here´.

If you want live music and the ´Surprises´ that such performances sometimes throw up, you can get no better than Paul Simon live on stage. In my opinion this show was not ´quite´ as good as the 2002 Liverpool Pop´s show, but I had the most magical evening in the company of a ´genius´. B+

P.S. I do feel sorry for the people who´s eyes were stabbed by the flash of an ´exploding´ light... I hope no-one was injured.

We travelled all the way from Dorset to Liverpool for the show and were not disappointed. It was a good blend of S&G, Graceland and some newer stuff played by an excellent band. The newer songs were for me what made it fresh and interesting, along with the re-arrangements of Slip Sliding Away and other old favourites. Sounds as if some of the other reviewers were expecting it to sound exactly like the records, which is not what I go to a live show for. I enjoyed the variations in tempo in the songs but some of the audience obviously just wanted to clap and sing along
It was not quite as overpowering an experience as the show at the Bournemouth International Centre in 2006, partly because where we sat on the floor of the arena we had to keep straining to see over the heads of the people in front. We could still see the way Paul was conducting the band, and it looked to me as if he was enjoying himself.
The sound was alright in alright sort of way, better than some arenas I´ve been to but not as warm as the BIC. We were just behind the row that was showered by the exploding light bulb and thought the staff handled it well without too much fuss.
Where the venue does score is the location - at the end of the show we came out onto the waterfront to catch the last of the sunset over the Wirral across the Mersey.
So well worth the trip, for one of my favourite artists in one of my favourite cities. As they are supposed to say up there, ´Sound!´.

I don´t think that anyone was advocating that ´the sound should be like the albums´ - infact I expect it to be better and bigger (e.g. 1991 Born at The Right Time Tour) - or that we should be dictating the entire set list -as PS says ´I´ll play what I want´ - so that answers that one. I was also at the BIC show in 2006 and it was described in the Bournemouth Echo as ´one of the best shows ever played there´ - and I should imagine it probably was.
I thought (my opinion) that of the 17 PS / S&G shows that I´ve been to that the sound at this one was the worst - obviously where you sit will have an effect - I paid for top price seats and expected good sound - in 1987 (Graceland) in The Royal Albert Hall I had one of the cheapest seats at the back / obscured view yet it was an amazing show and sound.
I´ve heard ´You´re The One´ and ´The Teacher´ now in 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008 so to me and others they´re ´old songs´ and not a patch on some of his other ´old songs´ - and I´m not talking about reeling off all of the S&G hits.
The last thing I wanted to do is to be negative - I didn´t do a round trip of 480 miles with the intention of being critical.
After all, isn´t the name of the game ´Keep The Customer Satisfied?´.........