Paul Simon 10/16/06 @ Rosemont Theatre

Simon strolls through his past
Slip-slidin' Rosemont show a laid-back tour of his music

By Greg Kot
Tribune music critic
Published October 18, 2006

Paul Simon strolled on stage Monday at the Rosemont Theatre like a guy preparing to rake his lawn in rolled-up sleeves, blue jeans and a baseball cap.

His two-hour concert was just as casual, a breezy tour of five decades spanning Simon and Garfunkel classics, solo hits and a few relative obscurities. Simon's not much for glamor, but his musical curiosity remains acute, and his willingness to explore and expand his repertoire makes him a true rarity: One of the few '60s icons who still consistently challenges himself and his audience.

That said, not all of Simon's detours have led to memorable music. His latest album, "Surprise," found him collaborating with avant-rock maestro Brian Eno with mixed results. Four songs from that work surfaced Monday, but only two made much of an impression: "How Can You Live in the Northeast," which built to the only big rock finish of the main set, and "Wartime Prayers," a poignant acoustic lament that shrouded a protest song.

Though backed by a versatile seven-piece multi-culti band, Simon explored a narrow sliver of textured pop. The rhythmic foundation was so understated that one wondered why the singer needed two drummers; master percussionist Steve Gadd would've sufficed on his own. Simon might've better invested in a couple of backup singers to buttress his thin vocals and bolster the undernourished vocal arrangements for "Cecilia," "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" and "Love Me Like a Rock."

Instead, he was far more enamored with building a delicate latticework of guitars with Vincent Nguini, Mark Stewart and bassist Bakithi Kumalo. On this front, he succeeded admirably, and the interplay among them provided the concert's focal point. Nguini in particular has been key to opening up Simon's sound since the Cameroonian guitarist joined the singer 20 years ago. His airy chord structures and open-ended harmonics have taken Simon into a more exotic brand of folk-pop, as exemplified by the night's finest performances. Nguini embroidered "Slip Slidin' Away," first with washes of notes, then with low-level feedback. On "You're the One," Nguini's strumming reflected the melancholy and guarded expectation in Simon's voice. Here was the emotional core of the show, that sense of drifting through the years with the nagging doubt that "life could be better," as Simon sang in "Train in the Distance." It's not the stuff of dance parties or chest-thumping anthems, and Simon didn't strive for those heights. Even the more ebullient tunes from "Graceland" sounded muted, and the normally sure-fire "Mrs. Robinson" came off dreamy and distant. On the latter, Simon flirted with a Bo Diddley beat, but it never quite kicked into high gear. Almost nothing did on this night, and that seemed to be part of the plan.

For now, he's done with the polyrhythmic celebrations that characterized his post-"Graceland" tours, and that made for a night long on cerebral pop and subtle interplay, but short on rousing crescendos.

Click here to read the review on ChicagoTribune.com