This is a retro-post. I put this online 24 December 2005 using the date it was originally sent out.
12-17 @ American Airlines Arena (Miami)
12-18 @ Office Depot Center (Sunrise)
Musically the concerts were pretty much identical. The set list was the same except for one song early on in the show. The show at ODC, however was a good 20 minutes longer. We’ll get to that momentarily.
The show begins with a video montage with a musical (no lyrics) soundtrack. Then as the video ends and the lights come up, Paul Simon is standing there strumming his guitar and you realize the last bit of the soundtrack wasn’t a recording.
There’s only one thing you really need to know: the music was incomparable. Sure, Paul and Art are older, sure they can’t hit quite all the notes they used to, but they still have more talent than most other people. You can bank on that.
The show started with about four songs, then they introduced the Everly Brothers who came out and sang three solo numbers. Then the four of them sang a song together. Then the rest of the concert went on without intermission. After the main number, there were two encores each with two songs.
All the songs are good, many receiving wild applause and ovations. But, one song brought down the house: Bridge Over Troubled Waters. Art was fantastic in this song, and it was an amazing tour-de-force. The mix of songs is pretty varied from their various albums, though the order of the songs could have been done a bit better in terms of slow songs and fast songs. They had a second video montage which had a clip from The Graduate which led into Mrs. Robinson. They also each did one solo number. There is a lot of scripted banter as well throughout the show.
The Miami concert was uncomfortable to watch because the two clearly are back to disliking each other again. Whatever amicability they found that prompted the tour was gone. They didn’t even talk to each other for the first half of the concert. They didn’t smile. They stood far apart. Art even took a snipe at Paul for changing a chord on a song. I thought it was part of the script, but it didn’t happen the second night.
The Sunrise concert was a better atmosphere, though musically a bit more ragged. Art’s mother was there as well, and she was introduced early on in the show. Paul and Art made a great effort to play nice and they smiled and joked with each other. It was like they were Old Friends again.
I’m so glad I went to these shows. It was really amazing. I also bought concert clothing, something I very rarely do.