Legendary singer/songwriter Paul Simon played the Idaho Botanical Garden Monday night to a sold out crowd. While his voice strained at times, no one seemed to mind. They were there to hear him sing the songs that made him a 2-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I will admit I wasn’t familiar with a few songs. I was there to hear the early Paul Simon songs, and those recorded with Simon and Garfunkel. I instantly recognized the opening drum beats to “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” Simon gave me a taste of what I came for with songs like “Slip Slidin’ Away” and “Still Crazy After All These Years.” My 18 year old son put it best when he heard the memorable bass line from “You Can Call Me Al.” He said, “He got rid of Garfunkel, but kept the funk!”
Simon’s sound had a reggae or zydeco flair to it much of the night. His band, who’s average age was older than his audience, featured a horn section and even an accordion. At one point, a song I didn’t recognize, took on a Yakety Sax kind of sound.
Simon left out a few of my favorites. I would have loved to hear him sing “The Sound of Silence.” Maybe certain songs need the accompaniment of Art Garfunkel. Perhaps, his 74 year old voice couldn’t hit the notes like it once did. It wouldn’t have mattered. I just wanted to hear the classic line “And the sign said the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls.” No one writes lyrics like that anymore. It’s a lost art (no Garfunkel pun intended).
Not many artists can get away with closing a show with a ballad like “The Boxer,” but Simon did. The audience ate it up. Like any great artist, he left us wanting a little bit more. With no opening act, the show ran two hours and finished just after sundown.
This was the first concert I had attended at the Idaho Botanical Gardens and it was a learning experience. Traffic into the venue was a nightmare with little direction as to where to park. Yes, I would have arrived earlier given the chance.
I didn’t know the best place to find a spot in the sold-out venue. At first my son and I sat towards the back of the venue, but the concert wasn’t loud enough. In the end, I took the advice of Mike Prater and watched the last few songs from the left side of the stage. He deemed it the “Prater Hole.”
In the future I will take my own refreshments to avoid the massive lines at the food trucks. Out of necessity I had to eat at the show. A word of advice to the food vendors; be prepared! No one wants to wait in line for an hour for overpriced food. It’s a good thing I had my able-bodied son to do it for me.
