Paul Simon: Moody Theatre: May 12, 2016

I try relatively hard to keep profanity off of this blog.  Not because I'm some holier-than-thou puritan or something, but just because I generally believe that there are almost always words that will better describe what has happened or a level of excitement without resorting to potentially offensive words. But, HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!  I finally got to see Paul Simon and it was even better than I thought it would be.

The mother of one of my best friends growing up first played Paul Simon for me.  She was kind of an awesome musical teacher, in that she didn't care about what was appropriate, or what was current, and so she is the one who first introduced me to the White Album, the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, and Paul Simon's Graceland.  I know Graceland has become a touchstone for hipsters everywhere since Vampire Weekend co-opted the sound a few years back, but it is seriously one of my favorite albums ever.  We spent many a road trip hour in my friend's suburban jamming along to Graceland, and later Rhythm of the Saints.  For a kid growing up on the mean streets of Austin, both gave me a sweet taste of the flavors of cajun, zydeco, and African music.

So, I heard about Simon coming to do a taping and had put out feelers to every single hookup I could think of, but I think this was a pretty hot ticket, and I couldn't get a sniff anywhere.  I had resigned myself to the fact that I would have to miss out on the taping, when a friend came to me yesterday afternoon with an extra ticket.  Hallelujah!

The show did not disappoint.  First off, his band is absolutely amazing.  They had about 397 drums on stage to go with about 48 other instruments, and they played the living hell out of them.  Funky, soulful, energetic - the drummer who donned a washboard thing for "That Was Your Mother" was shredding his chest like a crazy man.  More importantly, Simon's voice is still absolutely beautiful. He didn't all hit the high notes that he used to make, but his voice still has that smooth, warm, gentleness that has made it classic for 50 years.

The highlights of the show, for me, were "Obvious Child" and "Sounds of Silence."  "Obvious Child" is one of my favorite songs anyway, I've always found the middle section about Sonny and his high school yearbook to be terrifically sad, but they absolutely killed the performance.  The huge drum break in the middle was awesome, and the whole place was just grooving right along.  And "Sounds of Silence" was like the 3rd encore song, and he did it all by himself on the stage.  You seriously could have heard a pin drop in there as people stopped everything to hear every note.  So amazing.

Other good songs, "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover," "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes," "That Was Your Mother," "Graceland," "You Can Call me Al," the instrumental section of "Gumboots." And I didn't know the third song [edit, it is that video above, "Dazzling Blue," from So Beautiful, So What], but it was flipping gorgeous.  I wish he would have played "Only Living Boy in New York," "Cecilia," and "America," but I'll let it slide.

I just can't get over how great that show was.  I woke up happy and satisfied feeling this morning, and it is a rare occurrence for a concert to stick with me that way so that I'm still feeling it hours later. When this taping shows on PBS, you should definitely watch it.  I'd go watch it again immediately if I could.