I wish to comment on the comparison of Paul Simon with Leonard Cohen as older artists having a resurgence in appreciation and performance.
I attended a Leonard Cohen concert in 2010 - which was my favourite concert that year. The show was fantastic, the band was great, Cohen in good form and it was show of over 2 hours with a half time. And reviews very favourable, and deserving. The secret ingredient a great band of musicians and very good backing singers in the Webb Sisters (We got full cartwheels at one point, and they are easy on the eye which doesn´t hurt).
Cohen on stage had a great presence and a bit of showmanship, but is no match for a Paul Simon concert. The differences - Cohen is largely performings songs from the 1970´s vs Paul Simon who is writing and performing songs spanning 1960-2010 including new songs just as vital and relevant as his best years; Cohen doesn´t have the musicianship of Paul Simon or perform solo songs (ie just his voice & guitar); they both have great bands but again the range and versatility of Paul´s band is superior.
What I would Love is for Paul to again include backing singers (preferably female) like he did with Jessy Dixon singers in 1970´s and The Waters in 1990´s. It would add a nice colour and vocal variety to the performance.
I can´t say that I agree on everything you write there, Gerard. I am a HUGE Cohen fan, though Simon is my number one, and I attended three concerts in 2008-2009.
Of course you are right that Cohen is not quite the musician that Paul Simon is. But still, his guitar playing is actually a bit underrated and when it comes to songwriting and performance he is on the level of Paul Simon IMO.
The majority of songs in the Cohen concerts of 2008-2010 was from his three albums from the 80s and 90s (Various Positions, I´m Your Man and The Future) and there were even a few from his 2000 album (Ten New Songs). He played a lot of songs from his first two albums, from the 60s, and then actually relatively few from his four albums from the 70s.
So even though the songs from his last album (Dear Heather, from 2006 - I think) wasn´t really suitable for live performance, I do think he too showed a remarkebly spanning career (it did not cover 50 years, but 35 does it for me too :-) ).
That being said I agree that the Paul Simon band is superior (probably to anything I have ever seen or heard), and the performance and arrangements of the Cohen songs at these concerts I actually found a bit conservative if not even a bit borring.
About songs spanning the whole career, I am a little bit dissapointed that Paul Simon plays so much from Graceland (6 songs), and that he stopped playing anything from Capeman (1997), YTO (2000) and Surprise (2006)...and even ROTS got only 1 song.
So one could argue Paul Simon is playing too much from his 1970 - 1986 time :-)
Anyway, most of the audience do not care. They want to hear the big hits, and thats why Cohen is playing the very Old songs, and Paul is playing the Graceland songs. Paul found a good way to wove in some of his new songs...but he learned that most people are not interested by Capeman, YTO or Surprise songs, you will never hear them on the radio anyway.
Well, I see your point, but as I pointed out on my blog yesterday in my summary of the tour, it is true that the albums you mentionned have been neglected this time. On the other hand, I am noting that all of them (except SFTC) have received their share of exposure in the past tours since 1999 (although the ´Surprise´ tour was more about Graceland :-)).
Bob Dylan Tour in 99 relied heavily on ROTS.
YTO tour in 2000, 01, 02 had no problem putting forward the songs from YTO.
Surprise Tour offered us usually 4 songs from it at shows.
And this time around, the pretext was SBOSW album, and Paul had no problem putting it in our face.
As for the predominance of Graceland...well, what to say ? This album is so much loved and well-known that...
1. I like a comment I read about the non-release of the 1991 Concert In The Park being like keeing a Rembrant painting in the garage.
2. I too think Graceland is a bit over represented this tour, although I enjoyed hearing Gumboots & Crazy Love. ROTS is my favourite so also agree it is under-represented this tour. It is dissapointing that YTO and Surprise have been neglected this time - could have easily slotted in atlease one from each.
3. However, there have been too many positives this tour to be too upset - mainly, new songs, and Old non-radio classics like Gone At Last, Obvious Child, Hearts & Bones, & Peace Like A River.
4. All in al this has been a tour for the true Paul Simon solo fan.
Yes Marc-Olivier, that was another highlight I forgot to mention. Although I lost you after the Sound Academy concert. You were just a few rows in front of me in the pack, but you vanished immediately the concert finished and I missed seeing where you went. Did you get backstage?
I find it odd that when Simon talks about other songwriters/musicians from the 60s, he mentions Dylan, McCartney and the Stones (and sometimes Neil Young), but he never mentions Cohen. I read somewhere that he raved about Cohen´s concert (which is deserved-- Cohen put on a great concert), but Simon never discusses him.
