matt
Apr-17-2011, 12:05 GMT
Austria
 | Paul Simon at WaMu ` one for the ages
Paul Simon, in the first salvo of his North American tour, delivered a show for the ages Friday, April 15, at Seattle´s WaMu Theater, mixing Old favorites such as ´The Sound of Silence´ with songs from his brilliant new album, ´So Beautiful or So What.´
By Paul de Barros
Seattle Times arts critic
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PAUL DE BARROS
The set list from Paul Simon´s concert at WaMu, April 15, 2011.
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Concert Review |
Paul Simon´s immaculate, inspiring, near-perfectly articulated two-hour concert at WaMu Theater on Friday, the opening salvo of his North American tour, was one for the ages.
At 69, Simon is still writing brilliant stuff ` per his new album, ´So Beautiful or So What´ ` even as he surveys a body of work that is the envy of any singer-songwriter.
Dressed in denim, green T and black overshirt with sleeves cut at the elbow, the diminutive, round-faced, silver-haired troubadour with the high, slightly melancholy voice coasted insouciantly over a delicious tangle of world rhythms created by a carefully-balanced eight-piece band.
The sold-out crowd greeted him with a standing ovation before he sang a note.
Simon projected the mood of an adult comfortable in his own shoes, enjoying the moment, looking back at life with sentiments both savory and skeptical and eagerly anticipating the future.
´Life is what you make of it,´ he sang with a shrug, in the title song of the new album. Its driving rhythm lifted the room to the first peak of many in an evening that began with a slightly cottony reserve but inexorably built to a climax with a slow burn.
Simon peppered the night with new work and old, dipping into ´The Sound of Silence´ (great Spanish guitar!) and ´Kodachrome,´ as well as Graceland favorite ´Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes,´ which got the boomer fans (some, with their kids) up on their feet and dancing.
But the new songs, such as the Blake-like vision ´Love is Eternal Sacred Light´ and the Hoagy Carmichael-inflected ´Love and Hard Times,´ with their Big Subjects (cosmology, God) were more than welcome. Simon handled them with a remarkably light touch.
When someone shouted, ´We love you!´ Simon responded, ´I used to love me, too,´ suggesting, perhaps, that humility is the key.
The concert celebrated the 20th anniversary of Seattle radio station KMTT 103.7 The Mountain, which the singer cordially congratulated, dedicating the touching ´Father and Daughter´ to Mountain program director Dave Benson.
The years have frayed Simon´s voice a tad. He carefully avoided some high notes and occasionally strayed off pitch, though his casual abandon was worth the trade-off.
Simon was pulled back for two encores, ending a sumptuous night with ´Late In The Evening,´ a sweetly unabashed foray in nostalgia ` for youth and young love.
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Charlie950
Apr-17-2011, 16:54 GMT
USA - United Staates America
 | Nailed it ... and thanks for filling in about Paul´s response to "We Love you". Many missed the "... I used to..." part. Mark Stewart was worth the price of admission alone! What treat to be part of the kick off of a tour. Everyone had a great time. Paul truly seemed appreciative of the reaction and response. People ... beg, borrow, steal your way to the show. Paul was on my "Bucket List" ... I tried to check it off but it won´t let me! Looks like I´ll be seeing him again! |
Scaaty
Apr-18-2011, 13:55 GMT
Ireland
 | It amazes me how in the "land of the free" not only are things not free but you have to pay well over the odds for them. One poster (US) objected to the existence of royalty in some European countries but in the US there is another type of royalty those with unlimited supply of money that who can get what ever they want.
In most European venues the tickets are expensive enough 70 - 80 Euro but not outlandish, and as far I am aware VIP tickets don´t seem to exist, If you want to be at the front just be there early/ or leave your seat halfway through the show and go to the front. |
Bodo
Apr-18-2011, 15:20 GMT
Austria
| Well hey, paying unbelieveable prices for a concert ticket might be okay, as you do not need that. Paying high prices for doctors or medicine, thats no fun.
Some might not believe me, but Pauls applaused charity project would be the most useless thing you can imagine in most other western countries....(and even non-western countries)
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