The Next Big Thing

My buddy in SF, Brother Don Ciccone's gig reports are a wonderful thing (babies!) and I'd like to share his Simon & Garfunkel number with y'all right here...
"just got back from san jose for simon and garfunkel. sold out arena. show was ruined by idiots behind us who talked from beginning to end despite our asking them repeatedly to shut up. even when they weren't talking i couldn't get into it because i kept waiting for them to start up again. i wanted to beat their heads in. anyways...the show started with a video collage...shots of young paul & artie and all kinds of americana (including reagan!) with an instrumental version of "america" (from bookends) playing. this ended with a map showing san jose. then they came on - at about 8:30PM. simon in red long sleeve t-shirt, baggy cords and brown suede shoes and no hat. art wore jeans and t-shirt under an open shirt. and his big hair. he looked the same as ever. right off the bat they scored points for dressing as simon and garfunkel. they opened with "old friends". acoustic. beautiful.
at least what i could hear of it over the chatter going on all around. at the mcartney shows nobody - i mean nobody - said a word the whole night. this crowd was stupid from the get go. okay, then they continued on with the bookends theme ("time it was...") and then the band was there -- 7 piece, including jim keltner on drums! they had 2 guitarists - one had a white falcon and the other had a new fender electric 12 going into a blackface fender amp -- a super reverb i think. there was also a guy on fender bass, sitting on his amp. and a percussionist and a keyboard guy. they kicked ass on "hazy shade of winter". then came "i am a rock". then simon took off his acoustic 12 string (i think he played mostly maritns all night but i'm not sure). and next came "america" which was really great. garfunkel was incredible. simon seemed to enjoy himself on "at the zoo" next. then "baby driver". then garfunkel talked about their busking days in london and their friend kathy and so they did "kathy's song" which art says is simon's "most beautiful love song ever". and it really is. i forgot to mention they stopped the show for a minute to say happy birthday to garfunkel (62 i think). okay, then garf talked about how they've been friends since they were 11 yrs old. "and we started arguing when we turned 12", said simon. and they did "hey schoolgirl", their tom and jerry song from the '50's. i'd never heard it before. very everly bros. and... then..... who comes out????? THE EVERLY BROTHERS!! S & G introduce them and then clear off. they were kinda unrecognizable. don looked different and phil's gotten rather portly. but there they were -- all in black - with their black j-200's. and from the second the strummed those things -- WOW!! i mean - unmistakable!! they did "wake up little suzie". and the guitarist now had a dano baritone!! it sounded sooo great. it's obviously the sound you hear on so many country records. next they did "all i have to do is dream" and "let it be me". it was just so stunning and exciting -- i couldn't really take it in. you just wanted to hit pause and get your bearings! then simon and garfunkel came back-- (oh yeah, that's right, it's a simon and garfunkel show) and they ALL sang "bye bye love" which was phenomenal because it really sounded like doubled tracked everlys. that was something. then phil and don were off. people went nuts.
now it quieted down nicely with "scarborough fair". then "homeward bound" - a jazzy version of it, with a vince guaraldi kind of piano solo. a half-acoustic version of "sound of silence" was next (starting out acoustic and then the band kicked in). after that the lights went down and they showed clips from the graduate on the video screens and you knew what was coming, they all stood for "mrs. robinson". simon really got into playing the main riff and also that little bend he does in the middle. this one was the show stopper.
simon introduced the next one by saying that some of his '70's stuff would've made great simon and garfunkel songs. and they did "slip sliding away". nice swingin' version of it. much better than simon's. just shows you how much better those songs would've been with garfunkel.
"el condor pasa" followed and the rhythm guitarist looked like he had a tiny little 12 string on this. i thought it was a mandolin but it looked like a 12 string ukelele! sounded great. also i think this is they one they had theremin on. wow. that was a blast. i don't think i've ever actually heard a theremin on stage before. "keep the customer satisfied" was next. i hadn't heard that one since i bought the album (on 8-track!). simon then told how he wrote "only living boy in new york" when art had left for mexico to act in "catch 22". and he did a nice version of that. then garfunkel was back and he said he wished he stayed with paul long enough to be on the next one "american tune" (?) -- that stupid song from rhymin' simon that sounds like a hymn. i used to call it the benediction song. i never liked that one - altho garfunkel's choir boy voice did match it perfectly.. then they did a sprited version of "in my little town" - another one that's never been one of my favorites. but people loved it. as of course they did the next one... they traded verses on "bridge over troubled water", joining up on the "sail on silvergirl" verse. garfunkel was not as awesome on this as he's been in the past. i think maybe they lost a little tonight because they added another show the night before. i hate when they do that. you know your show is going to suffer when that happens. but it was alright. then they went off. and for the encore: "cecilia" and "the boxer". they smiled as they backed off the microphones in the "lie la lie" parts as the crowd was singing it. they went off again. came back and did a superb rendition of one of my all time faves: "the leaves that are green" at the end of which simon sang, "that's all there is". but it wasn't...there was one more: "the 59th street bridge song". and that got everyone up and... well... feeling groovy! nice show. -- dc