194 -- Paul Simon -- Thursday, June 30, 2016 -- Forest Hills Stadium -- Forest Hills, NY

The best part of this Paul Simon show, potentially the final one of his career: getting to see it with my dad, a lifelong Paul Simon fan.  The intermittent, at-times-torrential downpours that came with the concert were another plus – it made it more intense.  I wish he played more old-school Simon and Garfunkel songs, shared more stories, stayed away from so many calypso remixes, and shared but overall, I’m glad my dad and I got to share it.   

--- I wonder if there was rain like this at Forest Hills Stadium in 1970, the last time Paul Simon performed here, the last time Simon and Garfunkel performed together…

--- “The Boy in the Bubble” is an odd song to start with.  The titles strikes me as the state of Virginia’s male education plan…  The song is improved by the prompt clap and the “cry-y-y” section.

--- 50 [lackluster] “Ways to Leave Your Lover.”  [Not so] “Dazzling Blue.”

--- Yay, “That Was Your Mother” is upbeat!  Heh, “a little less conversation, a little more red wine.”

--- “Hello, my rain-soaked friends.  I think because of that delay, we should play a few more songs.  I think we're going to have a good time.”  We exist!

--- Heh, “Slip Sliding Away” is funny in these conditions.  “My Hometown” lyrics elicit woos.  The constant lightning in the background creates suspense. Coo-y falsetto ending!

--- “Mother and Child Reunion.”  Meh.

--- “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”!  Ha, nice “Queen of Corona” shoutout.  “Is anyone actually from Corona? Get out as soon as you can.”  The crowd’s loving the upbeat vibe.  Heh, nice scat section.  

--- “Spirit Voices” apparently about a trip up the Amazon where he met a mystic native. Midtempo = meh.

--- “The Obvious Child” comes from a Brazilian band.  Tepid, then a really cool drum section.

--- Gah, “Stranger to Stranger.”  How is this the song he chooses off the new album?!

--- “Homeward Bound”!  I could do without the calypso tempo, but still cool to hear.  Takes me back to runs home from the Malverne train station, Francis' Pledge CD, and Adam Eckstein in Paris… 

--- “Diamonds” into “You Can Call Me Al” amidst a downpour!!!  If these are our last moments, considering all the lightning, at least we’ll have had fun.

--- Encore: “Wristband.”  “Graceland.”  “Still Crazy After All These Years.”  Elvis’ “That's Alright Mama.”  “Late in the Evening” [like that it’s upbeat and lyrically, well-placed.]

--- “The Boxer”!!!  Haunting, worthy finale.

--- “The Sound of Silence”!!!!!  A genuine, flashbulb moment.  That’s Art Garfunkel’s song, not his, so I can’t believe he played it.  Chills the entire time.  

“Bridge Over [Tropical] Water”...  Sigh.  Why throw a genre at something that does not remotely fit it?  As your last song?!  The concert goes down half a grade for that, but “Boxer” and “Sound of Silence” were gorgeous, so it still ends well above the C range it started in. 

Grade: B