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The neck of my Guitar

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July 29, 2006 - USA / California
Paso Robles - California Mid State Fair

Setlist


Gumboots
The Boy in the Bubble
Outrageous
Slip Sliding Away
You´re the One
Me & Julio Down By the Schoolyard
How Can You Live In The Northeast?
Mrs. Robinson
Loves Me Like a Rock
That Was Your Mother
Duncan
Graceland
Father and Daughter
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
Still Crazy After All These Years
Cecilia

Encore 1:
You Can Call Me Al
The Only Living Boy in New York
The Boxer

Encore 2:
Wartime Prayers
Bridge Over Troubled Water

Encore 3:
Late In The Evening



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

Vincent Nguini - Guitar
Bakithi Kumalo - Bass
Steve Gadd - Drums
Mark Stewart - Guitars, Cello, Saxophone, selfmade instruments
Robin diMaggio - Drums, percussion
Tony Cedras - Accordeon, Keyboard, Guitars
Andy Snitzer - Saxophone, Synthesizer
Harper Simon - Guitar
Adrian Simon - Keyboards




Fans who attended this show

 
Choku





Review by:
Linda

Playlist: same as previous shows:

Gumboots
Boy in the Bubble
Outrageous
Slip Slidin´ Away
You´re the One
Me & Julio Down by the Schoolyard
How Can You Live in the Northeast
Mrs Robinson
Love Me Like a Rock
That Was Your Mother
Duncan
Graceland
Father and Daughter
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
Still Crazy After All These Years
Cecilia
E1:You Can Call Me Al
The Only Living Boy in New York
The Boxer
E2:Wartime Prayers
Bridge Over Troubled Water
E3: Late in the Evening

What a great night!! Thank you Paul, your band, your crew, the audience´¦.

The opening band was Amos Lee, who, according to Web info, was the opener for Paul in Costa Mesa the night before (don´t know why he didn´t identify themselves that night, as he did here). And Stateline, you´ll have someone else tonight, as Lee is playing in San Francisco.

Mother Nature could not have been nicer, as the weather last evening was absolutely PERFECT!!! I´ m guessing it was around 68, with just a nice mild breeze. Paso Robles is notoriously hot at Fair time; but the worst heat spell in 40+ years abated this week; and even the uncharacteristic humidity of the day before (that was also present down in Costa Mesa) was absent. Amos got the setting sun, and it was dark by the time Paul began, with a beautiful crescent moon hanging in front of him to the west ´“ and Paul made a nice comment about that, along with the colorful Ferris wheel visible off to his left.

The grandstand holds about 14,000. Security guys told me about 6,000 seats had sold by that day. Don´t know how many ´walk-ins´ added to it; it was definitely not a sell-out, but it still looked like a pretty good turnout, at least from what I could see from my 10th row center seat. The various bleachers were only partly occupied; I did find myself in a small bit of envy of the folks in the bleachers immediately to stage left: even though they had a very angled view, of not only the stage but also the 2 video screens now installed at the fair, those folks could and DID stay standing and boogying the entire show.

But many others of us were on our feet a lot of the time, too, from early into the show. As I´ve followed the other reports on Paul´s tour here, I was a little worried about being hassled for standing and dancing (at least I can boogie pretty well in my seat, too, as needed ´“ ´˜cause I sure can´t keep still to great music like this!) I sat for only the slower/quieter numbers. There was obvious good feeling in the audience, and nobody seemed particularly bothered by those of us up and dancing.

As on his other stops, Paul didn´t talk much, but he did seem to enjoy this show and audience. Again from reading these posts, I was prepared for the different arrangements of these classic songs; but they weren´t quite as far removed as I thought they might be, and I loved all of them.

The friend who went with me has a musician background, so he enjoyed the concert on additional levels beyond my level of knowledge and appreciation. He particularly phrased the band as ´tasty,´ in terms of not only each member being a really good musician (and with a neat variety of instruments), but also the fact that they were each restrained enough to make every song just right and a beautiful, cohesive group effort, without any excessive ´showing off´ by anybody.

I knew the playlist from following the tour here; and I was surprised at how quickly we were already down to Cecilia -- boy, the time flew by! I was hoping he would ´reward´ us with the 3rd encore-which he did; and for that number I ended up boogieing down to the very front.

I remembered after getting these tickets that one of the very first concerts I ever saw was during my freshman year at UC Davis, when Simon & Garfunkel played there in spring of ´67. So this concert sort of brought things ´full circle´ for me. Low fixed income has pretty much killed concert-going for me for many years now (big bummer); so last night will stay large in my memory for a long time to come. As I said at the beginning: What a great night!!!!!