The Location Shoulda Been a Giveaway

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I scored a couple of tickets to see Paul Simon in Seattle. He’s been a musical hero of mine since the late sixties and I was stoked. I’ve seen him three other times over the years but he’s 83 and I’m pretty sure this tour will be his last. The concert more than lived up to my hopes. The entire first half was a set devoted to his new compositions, which seem to me to be more about the poetry of his lyrics than music. I was actually anticipating that because I read an interview where he said he was essentially all about being a poet and to him, music was secondary. He could’ve fooled me, listening to “Late in the Evening” at full volume over the years but I loved his new music. It was mesmerizing, almost hypnotic or meditative. Different from anything I’ve heard. The second half of the concert had everyone’s favorites: “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”, “Graceland”, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”, and so many more songs that had the audience singing and clapping in time. He ended the evening all alone on the stage without backup or drums, performing an acoustic “Sounds of Silence”. A perfect evening. To avoid parking and traffic, we had taken the light rail downtown. We hadn’t been to Benaroya Hall but knew the train took us close. We got off and stood on the street corner for a minute to decide which way to go for the concert. It only took a second to figure out all we needed to do was just follow the steady stream of gray-haired people in Birkenstocks.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com

Follow the line of gray haired people