Paul Simon Welcomes David Byrne to Stage @ Joyous Webster Hall Performance

Last night was the last U.S. gig for Simon and his band for a while after a solid three weeks on the road. You could tell immediately that this was a group that had plenty of shows under their belt as they played with confidence and swagger throughout the evening. With so many amazing musicians on stage, it was hard to take in all the little details they were adding. Did you ever see a movie and then want to see it again because you felt you missed something? That’s the feeling you get when watching this all-star ensemble, though unfortunately there aren’t any more U.S. performances on the current schedule so fans will have to settle for YouTube.

For the most part, Simon stuck to the familiar structure for his compositions. That wasn’t always the case as Slip Slidin’ Away was given a slower, ethereal arrangement that threw the spotlight on Paul’s voice and left more than one concert-goer in tears. On a night filled with highlights, Slip Slidin’ Away stood out as one of the very best. Speaking of the spotlight on Simon’s voice, the local boy done good put his heart and soul into his delivery of our first Simon & Garfunkel song of the evening – Only Living Boy in New York, and it blows the mind to ponder how little he’s lost of his powerful singing voice.

While there were plenty of “slow” tunes at Webster Hall, the show wasn’t light on high-energy romps such as The Obvious Child, That Was Your Mother and Kodachrome and as mentioned, Simon did a wonderful job of mixing tempos. Guitarist and musical director Mark Stewart starred on That Was Your Mother in particular as he dueled with Simon and accordion player Tony Cedras. To show off the versatility of the band, Stewart and Cedras were dueling on sax and trumpet respectively just a few songs later.

It felt like the group’s main set was building towards something and we reached that pinnacle with the set-closing sequence of Diamonds On The Soles of Her Shoes > drums > Gumboots. This pair of Graceland classics displayed the more rhythmic side of Paul’s band and gave Simon a chance to dance around the stage and rejoice as quite the successful tour was coming to a close. Bassist Bakithi Kumalo shined on the sequence laying down one intricate bass line after another replete with groove and verve.

Once the main set was finished the show was still far from over. All in all, Paul Simon and his backing band came out with a eight-song double encore highlighted by the two songs with Talking Heads’ front man, and fellow NYC resident, David Byrne. Byrne emerged at the start of the second encore and led Simon’s band through a Road To Nowhere that sounded so natural, it was hard to keep in mind that this group had never performed the song publicly before. Paul added harmonica and backing vocals as the crowd rejoiced at their luck.

Byrne and Simon last performed together at Paul’s BAM residency, Love in Hard Times, and the pair revived their marvelous rendition of You Can Call Me Al that was debuted at a concert I considered the best of 2008. Earlier in the evening an audience member bellowed a request for Al to which Simon responded “not tonight.” You can only imagine how excited that audience member was as Byrne lit into the tune as if it was his own. In fact, Byrne was so into his performance that he didn’t keep track of where he was going and tripped pretty hard over Kumalo’s monitor providing for a scary moment. Luckily Byrne was fine and went on to finish the tune with aplomb. Surprisingly, the show didn’t end when Byrne left the stage as Simon and his band went on to perform Still Crazy After All These Years and Crazy Love, Vol. II for the appreciative, yet chatty crowd.

When we were all entering Webster Hall you could feel something special in the air and that vibe held true not only for Byrne’s epic guest spot, but also from the way Paul Simon and his band held nothing back. I just hit 1,000 words and I didn’t even get to all the magical moments he throws into each performance this tour like the Vietnam/Mother & Child Reunion mashup, or his solo rendering of Sounds of Silence or even his killer cover of Mystery Train. The “last gig of tour” allowed the musicians to empty their tanks and the crowd ate up every moment of it. Let’s hope Simon adds another U.S. leg to the tour, as this is a must-see show for anyone who loves Paul’s music.