Last night Buff and I went to see two old friends. In an indoor stadium which has hosted basketball matches and is the home of the annual Hopman Cup tennis tournament.
Friends we never met in person but whose words and music inspired us during our formative years.
Friends who took us on a journey to Scarborough Fair across a Bridge Over Troubled Waters ending up in my bedroom with Cecelia. The world’s greatest song-writer and his friend from the sixth grade may be old, more wrinkled and have voices which are no longer at their best but they are true showmen and still know how to hold an audience.
Along the way we reminisced about Bright Eyes and the Boxer and so many other memories proving that we are all Still Crazy After all These Years. One of the things which amazed me was the number of young people who were not only in the audience but who were up and dancing and cheering. People who were the children of the original fans.
This was their last concert on their Australian tour and the first time they had ever been to Perth. The audience demanded, and got, three encores. Two and a half hours of continuous concert with no respite for an adoring crowd.
Having been about ten rows back for the show, as the second encore began, Buff took off in her wheelchair and headed for the side of the stage, along with a crowd of others, all dancing and applauding.
As they took their last bows, Paul Simon had tears running down his face. So did a large percentage of the audience.
Including Buff, whose head is in the foreground of this last image.
This was the first time I used my phone camera and I obviously still have a lot to learn.
Sincere thanks to the Bullfrog who made the night possible and gave us our birthday and Christmas presents for the next three years in one single memorable night.
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Magic! Wonderful! Provoking. I cried at many of the old songs, especially “Bright Eyes” (and I wasn’t the only one) and sang along with “Diamonds On The Soles of Her Shoes” (“nan nanaaa, nananaaaa aahh, nan nanaaa, nananaaaa aah, nan nanaaa, nananaaaa aahhhh … diamonds on the soles of her shoes, she got diamonds on the soles of her shoes!”). I wept with “Old Friends” and cheered with guitars, saxophones, keyboards and two frail-looking but the same sounding stars of my past. Memories and magic … yeah!
And for the first time in 45 years I ended up in a mosh pit with one hell of a lot of others who were just as moved as I was.
I’ve seen Paul Simon perform as a solo act, he didn’t talk to the audience much
Glad you two had a wonderful evening/experience! What a great gift!
I have friends, in NZ, who went and saw them in Auckland, I believe. They said that they were absoloutely magical….
Glad that the both of you enjoyed it…
What a wonderful experience for you both. A real night down memory lane with all that yanking at the heartstrings, the memories associated with the music. A great night to remember with the memory of lost youth.
Somehow it is not the quality of the photos but the emotions that go with them that really count.
thanks for sharing the adventure!
as a child of the original fans, i went months with nothing but simon and garfunkel playing on my CD player. how fantastic to have seen them in concert!
Envious of course …….. so glad you both had a ‘fab’ time ……
Ditto Daddy Papersurfer. So jealous. Glad you could go and have a good time.