Well, it’s official. At a press conference in New York City yesterday,
Simon and Garfunkel announced that they will embark on a tour of America
as a duo. The tour, appropriately named Old Friends, will begin in
Michigan on October 8 and stop at more than 30 cities throughout the
country. This is terribly exciting news for me, having never had the
opportunity to see them perform together live before, and for countless
other fans across the country. Just as exciting is the fact that the two
musicians whom I admire so much and whose friendship was such an
integral part of the music they made seem to have abandoned whatever
animosity they may have harbored for one another in recent years. From
what I heard in the press conference, they’ve got the groove back in
their music, and their spoken words are laced with affection.
It’s appropriate then, that this DVD just came out, allowing fans to
watch the two in action as preparation before they go to see them live –
or, if they can’t make it, as some small consolation. One of the press
conference’s most tender moments came when the duo were asked about
their reaction to the Concert in Central Park. Art admitted he hadn’t
been pleased with his performance; Paul went on to say, something to the
effect of “Let me tell you what happened. We went backstage and I asked
Artie, ‘So how do you think it went?’ He just looked at me and said, ‘Disaster.’”
They both laughed. "Five hundred thousand people! ‘Disaster,’ he says!”
Then Art went on to say what a trip the whole thing was. “We knew that
we’d done something right in the sixties, but we didn’t know it was this
right.” He said that if you watch the concert, you can tell they are
“blissed out.” Indeed you can, particularly Artie. I recall watching
VH-1’s 2000 program 100 Greatest Rock and Roll Moments on TV. The
Concert in the Park came in, I believe, at 93, and when asked what he
felt when he was standing there on the stage in front of 500,000 people,
Artie replied, “Love.” I feel the love, and you can too.
I’m not going to give a track-by-track listing here; for that, check out my review of the album.
This review is more about getting a general feel for the event in
itself. When I got this DVD, I was particularly excited because I had
only seen snippets of their performances together before, plus the one
on the Grammys. It was, for me, like actually having seen a concert. And
I imagine I got a much better view of them than most of the folks in
the audience!
The event is introduced by then-mayor Ed Koch,
and Paul and Artie take the stage, visibly impressed by the size of the
audience. Artie throws his arms out and utters a silent “wow.” Later, he
addresses the audience with a huge grin and some nervous rubbing
together of his hands: “What a night! I thought it might be
somewhat crowded, but we seem to have filled the place.” It’s a lot of
fun to watch him in this concert. At 40, his face is still as boyish as
ever, framed by that halo of curly blond hair. He’s never looked more
angelic. His bliss level is off the charts, but he also seems to be
nervous. He seems a little unsure of what to do with his hands,
particularly when he is not singing. He also frequently bites his lip
with a nervous half-smile, an adorable gesture that Clay Aiken shares,
though Clay usually exhibits it in speech rather than while singing. The
lip bite adds to his boyish appearance, as does his charming manner of
mouthing the words off to the side when he is not singing. This appears
to convey not only a love of singing but a deep respect and affection
for the lyrics. Accompanying his lip-synching are movements and
gestures, most humorously in the reprise of Late in the Evening
when he mimes “smoking himself a ‘j.’” Paul doesn’t lip-synch when
Artie’s singing, but he also rarely is sitting on the sidelines; when
he’s not singing, he’s usually still playing his guitar.
The
guys don’t attempt much banter with the massive audience, but when they
do it’s great. Early in the show, Paul says, “It’s great to do a
neighborhood concert” and indicates, much to Art’s amusement, that the
guys rolling loose joints will be donating half their profits to the
city. Paul gets a couple of credited solos - Still Crazy After All These Years and Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover - and Art gets three - April Come She Will, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and A Heart in New York
(the only tune in the set from Art’s solo career, to the eight of
Paul’s). Interestingly, Paul has another which is not listed in the
table of contents: The Late Great Johnny Ace, a song I’d heard
about but never heard. I was thrilled to find that it was on the DVD
after all; it’s not on the CD. The performance is infamous because of
what occurred during the singing of it. The minor, melancholy tune
chronicles the shooting deaths of three Johns: sixties rocker Johnny
Ace, JFK, and John Lennon. Eerily, during the verse about Lennon, who
had died the previous year, a man leaps on the stage, shouting; you see
Paul jump back, clearly disturbed, but security soon hustles the man
offstage and he continues with the song as though nothing had happened. I
read in an interview that Paul feared in that moment that he would be
killed, right then and there, like Lennon. A very unsettling experience.
Those songs from Simon’s solo career that the duo tackle work very well. They both get really into the energetic Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard, Kodachrome, and Late in the Evening
and seem to be having a great time. But it’s the slower songs that are
especially well suited to the Simon and Garfunkel treatment. Art lends a
special wistfulness to Slip Slidin’ Away, and the voices work
together very well despite some apparent confusion prior to the song as
to who was supposed to take what verse. To me, though, the high point of
the concert is American Tune, exceeding even Bridge (a
silky smooth rendition in which, unfortunately, Artie flubs the last
line of the second verse, though he doesn’t flinch with his mistake).
Beforehand, Art proclaims that he is “in the mood.” That much is clear
as pitch-perfect, soaring vocals are perfectly placed here to complement
the loneliness in Paul’s voice. Art gets the first verse, while the two
take the rest of the verses together. Paul starts on the chorus,
sounding alone and vulnerable for the first half. When Art joins him for
the slightly more hopeful second half, it’s like a whisper of
encouragement. A song that clearly should have been Simon and Garfunkel
all along. These latter two, incidentally, will most likely be
incorporated into their current tour.
Of the duo songs, probably the highlight is The Boxer,
featuring their perfect harmonies and an extra verse not included in
the original recording. Though this verse was written years earlier and
they sometimes performed it in concert in the sixties, it seemed as
though it was written especially for the event. The lyrics are
particularly appropriate for this aging duo: “Now the years are rolling
by me, they are rocking easily, and I am older than I once was and
younger than I’ll be. That’s not unusual. Ah, but isn’t it strange?
After changes upon changes, we are more or less the same. After changes,
we are more or less the same.” As I watch this track now, it is
particularly affecting, recalling Paul’s statement at the press
conference that this would probably be the last time that he and Artie
embark on a tour like this, implying that time was about to catch up
with them. I think he’s being a bit premature here, but it’s a very
sobering thought nonetheless.
Then, of course, there is the
audience. This is a huge crowd, and they’re clearly loving every minute
of the show. They can often be seen dancing or swaying, and they let
loose torrents of applause after each song while maintaining a
respectful silence during the songs aside from occasional outbursts of
cheers (“counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike,” “lookin’ down on
Central Park, where they say you should not wander after dark,” "ten
thousand people, maybe more”). I found it rather amusing that they chose
to start a clap along with The Sound of Silence; not exactly a
clap-along song, and they eventually abandon it. But if the guys were
“blissed out,” the audience clearly was too. And the band is having a
great time as well, and doing a great job. While the some of the songs
seem a bit overproduced (just two guys and a guitar would’ve been rather
nice, though very impractical for Paul’s hand and for projection), the
musicians do a wonderful job with their parts and add depth to the
instrumentation.
All in all, this is a very worthwhile
investment for any Simon and Garfunkel fan or fan-to-be. If you’ve never
seen them perform, this is your chance, and at $15 or less, it’s quite
affordable even if concert tickets are not. If you have seen them, this
will bring back beautiful memories. And if you’re lucky enough to be
going to see them (I fully intend to be!), this exuberant reunion will
get you in the mood.
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