Kate's Point of View

Is it horrible that Wonder Boy and I try to see some concerts with the stated reasoning that we want to see the person play while they’re still alive? I think it’s a little morbid, but if I had applied that logic to Michael Jackson I would be a much happier woman!

So last night I saw Paul Simon play and it was pretty awesome. I forget sometimes how cool arena shows can be. I’m used to seeing concerts that cost only a few bucks and where the crowd can range in size from under 10 people to a few hundred. Seeing these small acts has risks associated with it. I may see a band that is great and they might disappear from the music scene a minute later. I may see an act in some intimate setting and have them get huge and their shows get overblown and glitzy soon after. (Please, Features, stay cool after your Twilight fame blows up!) The benefits of seeing smaller acts perform is that you are truly supporting someone in the most basic way, the costs are much less you get to act like a total hipster. (Oh Kings of Leon? I liked them after their first album and saw them on their first tour. I am so over them.)

Big, arena-type shows are generally expensive and tend to be aggressively slick. But that slickness has been earned with years of hits and experience. I’ve seen a lot of big shows in my day – Beach Boys, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, Jimmy Buffet, Dave Matthews Band, Def Leppard, Justin Timberlake – and I still get the same thrill out of having thousands upon thousands of people all caught up in a moment. I remember the first time I saw Billy Joel play how magical I thought it was when the entire crowd was singing Piano Man to him while he just played the piano and smiled at everyone. (My older, more cynical version thinks of this as a sort of masturbatory use of fame.)

Last night Paul Simon walked out onstage and people went nuts. Being surrounded by so many people who are all pumped just to see a person, not even hear him, is crazy. And then when he started singing, even greater excitement. I like Paul Simon but I’m not driven apeshit by the site of him. I was much more enthralled by the nine people and 100+ instruments on the stage. There were seven keyboards or pianos! At one point, four different people were playing drums! It was just amazing.

I left last night with a greater respect for Paul Simon and a definite respect for the guys who play with him. Someone else in the crowed obviously felt the same when she said, “His voice is definitely better than Bob Seger’s.” (Seriously?)

I can’t help thinking about the small versus big show. The big show last night was fabulous, but good God, can you imagine what it would have been like to have seen Paul Simon in a small show after his self-titled album in 1972?