The problem with atheists when it comes to nostalgia is that since they don't believe in the springy infiniteness of souls, they see the pass as unreachable at all, and therefore over rate it.
Alyson Camus's review of Paul Simon -the same set I caught Tuesday but a month earlier and on the West Coast was so good it frees me to be sloppy here, but it overrates enormously.
The two hour plus set wasn't bad, but it wasn't great at all. Indeed, I saw a very similar set, with Old replacing So Beautiful, So What eleven years earlier and had the identical response.
It is 45 minutes before he hits one out of the park, a breathtaking zydeco N'leans "That Was Your Mother", and an hour 20 before he starts rolling with the first Simon And Garfunkle song "The Only Living Boy In New York".
Sure, the band is fancy shmnacy world music, sure Simon sings pretty good though he has no top to his voice anymore. And sure, I was happy I went. But there were moment s that were as bad as any I've seen Simon perform. The "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" replete with Oscar Petersony piano argeppagos simply didn't work. Except for "Rewrite" all of the new album was vastly better recorded, the "Mystery Train/Wheels" split down the middle with a taste of "Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend" thrown in and thrown in well but the Presley cover, like the Jimmy Cliff cover, was not that hot.
Some deep cuts, some new stuff, some fan faves, Simon claiming "It's always slightly unnerving and exhilarating to play in your exact neighborhood", all good, a little boring in places, but all good. The guy is growing old, his voice was sketchy, he looked his age…
I've seen him better, may see him better again. But I am not a nostalgist. What you did before won't get you far with him or me.
Here is Alyson's review.
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