Slade Sunderland Polytechnic Wearmouth Hall 21st February 1981
The “Live at Reading” EP reached number 44 in the UK singles chart; the band’s first chart placing since 1977. Polydor Records seized the opportunity to capitalise on Slade’s recent success and released a compilation “Slade Smashes!” in November 1980. The album was a big succees, turning a whole new audience onto Slade; it spent 15 weeks in the UK chart, was certified Gold, and sold over 200,000 copies. Success continued with the release of their new single “We’ll Bring the House Down” which was released in January 1981. 
Aimed at the new heavy metal audience who had picked up and them at, and after, Reading 1980, it was a bit heavier than their normal sound.”We’ll Bring the House Down” got to number 10 in the UK singles chart, and became Slade’s first top ten hit since 1976.
Slade were starting to fill concert halls again, and toured relentlessly throughout 1981. The next time I got to see them Live after Reading in August 1980, was 6 months later at a sold-out gig at Sunderland Polytechnic’s Students Union dance at Wearmouth Hall on 21st February 1981. The place was ram packed with students and heavy rock fans who gave Slade the returning heroes welcome that they deserved. It was great to see them back filling halls again, and you could tell how much Noddy, Dave, Jim and Don were enjoying their newly found stardom.
I saw Slade again that year, 6 months later at the Donington Monsters of Rock festival on 22nd August 1981 , where they shared the bill with Whitesnake, Blue Öyster Cult, Blackfoot, More, and headliners AC/DC. Slade were 4th on the bill, appearing after Blackfoot and before Blue Öyster Cult. By now they were well and truly accepted as bona fide members of the heavy metal fraternity. Denim jackets were starting to sport Slade patches alongside those of Motorhead, AC/DC, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. You couldn’t make it up 🙂
Slade’s setlist at the time was: Dizzy Mamma; When I’m Dancin’ I Ain’t Fightin’; Take Me Bak ‘Ome; Lock Up Your Daughters; Everyday; Somethin’ Else; Pistol Packin’ Mama; Gudbuy T’Jane; We’ll Bring the House Down; Get Down and Get With It; Mama Weer All Crazee Now; Cum on Feel the Noize; Born to Be Wild; Merry Xmas Everybody
Almost finished my coverage of Slade gigs. One more day to go 🙂
Posts Tagged ‘pop’
16 Aug
Slade Sunderland Polytechnic Wearmouth Hall 21st February 1981
14 Aug
Slade : The wilderness years & a night with skinheads at Middlesbrough Rock Garden 24th June 1980
Slade : The wilderness years & a night with skinheads at Middlesbrough Rock Garden 24th June 1980
The Rock Garden was a scary place. If the skins didn’t get you, then the rock garden burgers would almost certainly finish you off. A visit to the Rock Garden was an experience not to be forgotten; a fight or two was guaranteed as part of the evening’s entertainment, alongside performances by some of the finest punk or heavy rock bands around at the time.
Slade were on their never ending tour of clubs, pubs, cabaret and ballrooms in 1980. The years between 1977 and 1980 were their “wilderness years”; at the time Slade were down on their luck and receiving next to no money. Their records were no longer making the charts and they were forced to play small halls and clubs around the UK, their only income coming from royalties from the old hits, most of which will have gone to Noddy and Jim, as the band’s two songwriters. Their single releases from this period were not their best and included “Give Us A Goal” and “Okey Cokey”. Nuff said. But live in concert they were as great as ever, perhaps more so as they fought and played hard to win new fans and to win back their place in the charts.
The Rock Garden was packed with skinheads for Slade. My mate Norm has vague memories of the support act being pelted off stage, and having to hide behind the bar while the skins continued to throw handfuls of ice at them. But the skins loved Slade, and Noddy managed to keep them in order. When a scuffle broke out he would tell the hard guys to behave and they would listen to him and take notice. They saw him as one of their own. The Rock Garden stage was tiny, and Slade came with masses of amps, which they still had from the days when they would pack out big halls. So Nod, Dave, Jim and Don were limited to playing in a tiny area in front of a massive back line and surrounded by big PA speakers. And they were deafeningly LOUD. I swear my ears were ringing for days afterwards. The set was a mix of their hits, recent tracks and a few covers. The place went crazy. Slade were called back for several encores and finished with “Born to be Wild”, just like old times. Happy days.
Set list: Dizzy Mamma; My Baby Left Me; Take Me Bak ‘Ome; When I’m Dancin’ I Ain’t Fightin’; Wheels Ain’t Coming Down; Lemme Love Into Ya; Everyday; Somethin’ Else (Eddie Cochran); Pistol Packin’ Mama; Keep a Rollin’; Night Starvation; Gudbuy T’Jane; Get Down and Get With It
Encore: Mama Weer All Crazee Now
Encore 2: Cum on Feel the Noize; Rock ‘n’ Roll Medley; Born to Be Wild
A couple of months later I was at the Reading Festival, when a lucky break gave Slade the chance to show everyone just how great a live band they still were, and put them back in the music public’s eye, this time as heroes of the heavy metal brigade. I’ll write about that tomorrow
13 Aug
Slade Carnage at Sunderland Empire 12th April 1978
“Rock fans wreak havoc in Empire”
(From The Sunderland Echo, 13th April 1978)
“Seats and brass rails were smashed and twisted at the Sunderland Empire last night, as rock group Slade worked a young audience to fever pitch.
House manager, Mr Ron Jameson said today that the cost of the damage had not yet been counted, but it was expected to run to hundreds of pounds.
“The youngsters tend to stand on the arms and backs of the seats which smashes the framework, and the sheer weight of numbers pressing up against the brass rails bent them easily”
He added that although there was an audience of only 800 – less than half the theatre’s capacity – they had been very involved in the performance, and at times some became carried away with the highly charged atmosphere.”
You can find a copy of the original article from the Echo on the Sladescrapbook website:
http://www.sladescrapbook.com/cuttings-1978.html
The next time I saw Slade was at Sunderland Empire, a gig which ended with serious damage to the first few rows of the seats. Support came from local rockers Geordie. I was quite close to the front, with a group of mates, and we watched the first few rows of seats collapse under the weight of fans pushing, shoving and generally going crazy. By the end of the concert all that was left of the first five or so rows was a pile of smashed up wood. The same thing happened at a Boomtown Rats gig around the same time.
The set list at the Empire will have been something like this: Hear Me Calling; Get on Up; Be; Take Me Bak ‘Ome; My Baby Left Me; Burning in the Heat of Love; Everyday; Far Far Away; Them Kinda Monkeys Can’t Swing; Gudbuy T’Jane; Give Us a Goal!; Get Down and Get With It; Mama Weer All Crazee Now; Cum on Feel the Noize; Keep on Rocking
My ticket for the gig looks a bit of a mess. I have written “Slade” on it (at the time the Empire tickets didn’t list the act who was playing) but the change of date was done by the Empire when we bought the tickets. It looks like they were reusing some tickets from another night!
Slade went further into the wilderness in 1979, playing cabaret and residencies at Baileys Nightspots up and down the country. The next time I saw them was another wild night, at Middlesbrough Rock Garden, which I’ll write about tomorrow.
12 Aug
Slade: Whatever Happened to Slade? (or the night I saw the old Slade return) Newcastle City Hall 8th May 1977
Slade: Whatever Happened to Slade? (or the night I saw the old Slade return) Newcastle City Hall 8th May 1977
Slade had been away too long. They’d been over in America working the US market, and had taken their eye off the ball in terms of their home fans. As a result their popularity was waning. They realised this, and in early 1977 Slade came back home to England and recorded their sixth album “Whatever Happened to Slade?” The album was a return to their rock’n’roll roots, and received positive critical reviews, but failed to make the UK album charts. Musical tastes were changing in the UK, the glam craze had passed, “dinosaur” or “old fart” bands were being passed over for new bands, and the fashion of the day was “punk rock”. Some of us could see the similarities between the rawness of punk, early Slade, and their original skinhead image; however to the majority of the music public Slade were a forgotten band; a thing of the past.
Not deterred, however, Slade decided to go out on a national tour, returning to the theatres and concert halls which they were selling out just two or three years earlier. The tour called at Newcastle City Hall and I went along with a few mates to renew our acquaintance with Slade. Support for the tour came from Liar, a rock band formed by a former member of Edison Lighthouse and featuring Clive Brooks, who was previously in Egg and the Groundhogs. The City Hall was far from full, which was a shame, as Slade were on fire, working so hard to regain their fans, and demonstrating just how great a rock band they were. The stage was set with the one of the biggest backlines of stacks that I’d ever seen. I knew this was going to be LOUD 🙂 The lights went down, and Slade walked on stage. The first I noticed was the appearance of guitarist Dave Hill. Dave’s hair was gone; he was completely bald with a shaved head and the biggest dangly earring that I’d ever seen. He was wearing a leather jacket and jeans, and looked amazing!! Noddy was wearing a Napolean hat and jacket! Now what was all that about? Then I heard the opening chords of “Hear Me Calling’ and everyone was up on their feet. And away we went. For an hour or so Slade showed us exactly how and why they made it big the first time. By playing LOUD, good honest raucous rock, like only Slade could. They even finished with “Born to be Wild”. It was just like old times, as if the last five years had never happened. The loud, heavy rock band that was early Slade was back 🙂
From a review of the time: “But poor old Slade have blown it, have they? Oh no…..The music suggested havoc. It was sensational: a riff as pile driving as anything Quo have produced with the distinctive fuzzed, rough texture of the Slade guitars and a hint of American funkiness working through. Compulsion……I could hardly believe it….Dynamics, dynamite….The crowd……were on their feet and singing ‘The Blaydon Races’ while Noddy in total friendly rapport squawked away like a cross between Mr Punch and schnozzle Durante….. I expect Slade will be the Status Quo of 1987.” (Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, May 1977).
Setlist: Hear Me Calling; Get on Up; Be; Take Me Bak ‘Ome; Gypsy Roadhog; Everyday; Gudbuy T’Jane; Coz I Luv You; The Bangin’ Man; Lightning Never Strikes Twice; The Soul, the Roll and the Motion; Mama Weer All Crazee Now; Cum on Feel the Noize; Born to Be Wild
Yes, Slade were playing excellently, but it was a few years before they would rebuild their fan base and return to the charts. During the period between 1977 and 1980 Slade entered their “wilderness years” playing up and down the country in clubs, dives and cabaret. I attended a couple more great Slade gigs during those wilderness years, and will reflect on them over the next couple of days.
11 Aug
Slade Newcastle City Hall 30th April 1975
Slade Newcastle City Hall 30th April 1975
In April 1975 I finally relented, saw sense, put “cool” aside, and went along to see Slade again. This was my one and only experience of Slade and their audience full-on during their glamrock megapop teen sensation period. Support came from Bunny (not sure what happened to them). The City Hall was packed full of teenage girls. When sold-out, as it was for Slade that night, the City Hall holds 2,400 people; I swear there were 2,200 screaming girls there, me, and 199 other guys. The guys that were present were either with their girlfriends, feeling very out of place (like me) and looking around sheepishly (also like me), skinheads who had followed the band from the start, or full-on Slade fans (you could tell which ones they were; they were the guys dressed as Nod or Dave). I swear every single girl was wearing a Slade scarf, tartan trousers or top (or both), Slade badges, or even better a Slade rosette (the rosettes were often home-made with pictures of Noddy cut out of Jackie or Fab208). And of the 2,200 girls, I reckon 1,500 of them were wearing top hats (or bowlers) with mirrors stuck around them. Well maybe all of that’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but you get the general picture. I was seated upstairs on a side balcony, looking down on the stage. Not the best position in the house, and it only added to me not feeling fully part of the event. I felt sooooo…. out of place, and self conscious; but what the hell; I was at a Slade concert again, and I knew how hard these guys could rock on a good night 🙂
“We Want Slade…Slade…SLADE…SLADE ….SLADE..”. Slade arrived on stage and the place went crazy. Mad. Totally.
The truth was that Slade’s popularity was starting to decline and their last single “How Does It Feel” (which was also the theme for “Slade in Flame”) had only made (shock horror) No 15 in the UK charts. But as a live act, and in Newcastle City Hall that night, Slade remained massive.
Noddy was on top form. No-one could work a crowd like him. And some of his banter with the crowd was pretty filthy in those days; “Hands up all those girls with red knickers on….Hands up all those girls with blue knickers on..Hands up all those girls with NO knickers on!” The girls lapped it up and they screamed and screamed and screamed. They waved their scarves in the air, and everyone sang “Everyday”. I stood watching, taking it all in. Sometimes I felt I was part of it, but mostly it was as if I was outside looking in. I couldn’t quite relate to the madness and craziness of it all. The set had changed completely from the early days, which surprised me, but I guess it shouldn’t have. Slade no longer started with “Hear Me Callin'” or finished with “Born to be Wild”. However, elements of the old Slade did come through now and then; those old rockers were hidden behind the glam pop teen swagger. After all, deep down I knew that Nod was still the cheeky raucous rock singer, Dave was still the big kid who wanted to show off, Jim had always been a real musician, and Don just remained unphased by it all, the solid rock rhythm holding it all together at the back. But I left with a strange feeling; it was as if I’d been to a kid’s party where I didn’t know anyone, no-one spoke to me, and the party went on in full swing, completely ignoring me.
Setlist: Them Kinda Monkeys Can’t Swing; The Bangin’ Man; Gudbuy T’Jane; Far Far Away; Thanks for the Memory (Wham Bam Thank You Mam); How Does It Feel?; Just a Little Bit; Everyday; O.K. Yesterday Was Yesterday; Raining in My Champagne; Let the Good Times Roll; Mama Weer All Crazee Now
But my Slade experiences didn’t end in the City Hall that night; amid the scarves, the glitter and the teenage girls. The old Slade, the rock’n’roll band I loved from the day I first saw them in 1971, returned a few years later. Slade then got lost in a cabaret wilderness, but were to return again; this time as heavy metal heroes. And once again, it was a festival appearance that transformed their career, just as their appearance at the Lincoln festival did in 1972. But this time it was in a field at Reading in 1980, when they appeared at short notice as a replacement for Ozzy. But more of that later..I experienced all of those ups and downs of Slade’s crazy career, and was lucky enough to live through a few more LOUD crazy Slade rock nights.
I’m on a roll with Slade memories now; things are starting to come back to me quite clearly. I’ll work my way the rest of those happy memories during the remainder of this week.
10 Aug
Slade in Flame Sometime in early 1975 A personal appearance at Studio 1 Cinema Sunderland
Slade in Flame Sometime in early 1975 A personal appearance at Studio 1 Cinema Sunderland
I lost faith in Slade during 1973 and 1974. I thought they had become too much of a teen pop band, and didn’t feel it was “cool” to go and see them live at the time. I felt that I’d lost that fine loud raucous rock band to the teenage girls who would scream at Noddy and Dave, and go the concerts sporting top hats with silver circles stuck to them, Slade scarves and tartan baggies. So while all the girls at school were going to see them at the City Hall, and telling me how great they were, I resisted the urge to go along. I didn’t fancy standing in a hall full of screaming girls. And anyway, I told myself, I’ve seen them before they “sold out” to celebrity status, when they were a proper rock band. Looking back that was a mistake; its funny how important it was to appear “cool” at the time. And all along I secretly wanted to go and see them again. Still, I consoled myself by spending my time going to see Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, The Groundhogs, Uriah Heep and lots of other “proper” rock and “underground” bands. My pop side did win through a few times, however, when I went to see T Rex and the Bay City Rollers…..
Anyway, the next time I (sort of) saw Slade was when they made a personal appearance at a local cinema to promote their film “Slade in Flame”. “Slade in Flame” tells the story of “Flame” a fictitious late 1960s beat group who make it to the top, only to break up at their peak of success. The film begins with the future members of Flame playing in two rival bands, one fronted by a singer named Jack Daniels 🙂 (played by Alan Lake), and the other, The Undertakers, fronted by a singer known as Stoker (played by Noddy Holder). Flame formed from remnants of the two bands, and have the same line-up as Slade do in real life. The rest of the film tells the story of Flame’s rise to fame, disillusionment and eventual and inevitable break-up. It is quite entertaining and pretty funny in places, with some great songs.
One moment which sticks in my mind is when Stoker is brought on stage in a coffin (the band is called The Undertakers after all; the idea was nicked straight from Screaming Lord Sutch, who, of course also nicked it from Screaming Jay Hawkins). Anyway, the lid of the coffin gets stuck and Stoker can’t get out (now I never saw that happen to Screaming Lord Sutch 🙂 ). The album of the same name, “Flame”, was released at the same time and features the two classic hit singles “How Does It Feel” and “Far Far Away”.
I went with a group of mates to see Slade introduce the film. We were cutting it fine time-wise and as we arrived at the cinema, we saw a big silver Rolls Royce pull up outside. Noddy, Dave, Jim and Don jumped out of the Rolls, ran straight past us, and made their way into the cinema. We quickly paid our money to the cashier (probably £1 or so) and followed them in, just in time to hear them say a few words to introduce the film, and then run out just as quickly as they came in. I think they told us that they were off to another cinema in the region to do the same thing. Strangely, given the band were making a personal appearance, the cinema was nowhere near full. Or maybe their popularity was already starting to wane.
I still enjoy watching “Slade in Flame” and “How Does It Feel” is a classic song.
I’ve added a picture of a Slade programme that I have from the period. I’m not sure at which gig I bought this one; it could even have been sold at the cinema.
I finally relented from my Slade abstinence and went to see them in concert a few months after seeing the film. I’ll write about that concert, in April 1975, tomorrow,
6 Aug
Steps The Steptacular Tour Newcastle Arena 11th May 2000
Steps Newcastle Arena 11th May 2000
Now my entry today is definitely a guilty pleasure. I even hesitated abut including it. But, being the completist I am, here we go….Although I must share in some of the guilt for admitting to seeing popsters Steps in concert, I will also lay some of it on Laura, who was a big fan at the time. The Steptacular tour was Steps third tour and came off the back of their second album of the same name, and was actually a pretty spectacular event, and good fun too. It was an amazingly successful tour, including three nights at Newcastle Arena, seven nights at Wembley Arena, and similar runs in Glasgow, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham and Belfast. Demand to see Steps was so high, that five open air show were added to the tour, including one in London’s Hyde Park.
The show started with our five heroes flying down from the roof of the arena, and continued in an outrageously choreographed manner throughout the entire evening. Highlights were H singing a solo suspended from the ceiling in front of a huge letter “H”, lots of explosions, a multitude of dancers, and of course the finale with “Tradegy”, that crazy dance, and lots of confetti coming down from the ceiling and covering us all. 
The programme promised us the “tippermost, toppermost show you’ve ever seen” and it wasn’t far wrong. Back to serious rock tomorrow 🙂
Setlist: Deeper Shade of Blue; One for Sorrow; Say You’ll Be Mine; I Know Him So Well; Come on Get Together; After the Love Has Gone/Last Thing on My Mind; 5,6,7,8; R Dancing; Lay All Your Love on Me; Heartbeat; When I Said Goodbye; I Surrender; Things Can Only Get Better; Never Get Over You; Better the Devil You Know; Summer of Love; Love’s Got a Hold on My Heart; Tragedy.
Steps were: Claire, Faye, Lisa, “H” and Lee.
5 Aug
Sailor Newcastle City Hall 26th February 1976
Sailor Newcastle City Hall 26th February 1976
I was about to categorise Sailor under “Guilty Pleasures”. Then I thought a little more. It would be easy to dismiss Sailor as a 1970s teen pop band, but actually, there was much more to them than their two UK singles charts hits “A Glass of Champagne” (which reached No 2), and “Girls, Girls, Girls” (No 7). Sailor were a serious band, grounded within a solid concept, and received many positive reviews and considerable critical acclaim at the time.
I first saw Sailor when they supported Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel on tour. Their show was pure theatre, exploring concepts of the sea, and telling stories of the docks, voyages and sailors. Sailor’s songs were based upon a narrative of life on the sea, drinking, frequenting taverns and visiting shady red light areas. Their influences came from European music of the 1940s and 1950s and they played authentic, unusual instruments including a charango (what is one of those 🙂 ?), and a nickelodeon. “If you can imagine Jaques Brel leading Edison Lighthouse through the score of ‘On the town’ or one of those other sailor-suited Gene Kelly musicals, then you’re half the way there” (New Musical Express, September, 1974).
Sailor’s line-up and instrumentation was Georg Kajanus (12 string guitar, charango, Veracruzana harp and lead vocals), Phil Pickett (bass nickelodeon, guitarron, piano and vocals), Henry Marsh (nickelodeon, accordion, piano, marimbas), and Grant Serpell (drums, percussion).
Their music was quite different from anything else around at the time, they were definitely an acquired taste, and their two hits singles were not typical of their music or of their theatrical stage show. Their 1976 tour came shortly after the release of their second, and most successful, album “Trouble”. The concert was an attempt to take us down to the dockland, setting the scene for their seaport stories, and it all worked quite well. Those in the audience who were only familiar with Sailor’s hits probably found it quite strange. Support came from three piece Alfalpha, featuring a young Nick Laird-Clowes, later to be a presenter on the Tube and lead singer and one of the principal songwriters in Dream Academy (“Life in a Northern Town”).
From the tour publicity: “It’s extremely unlikely you’ve ever heard anything quite like Sailor before in your life, because they are, quite simply, unique. An over-worked word…..but you can apply it to Sailor, not only for their repertoire, with its echoes of waterfronts, bars and bordellos, but to the sounds they use to colour the stories they tell. That monstrous machine on stage is the Nickelodeon — a custom-built bank of keyboards played by two musicians and something you won’t hear from any other band…..The Sailor sound has already resulted in the group having had Top Ten hits in Europe (with their first single Traffic Jam’) and becoming, in an incredibly short time, one of the most feted and popular outfits in Holland, Belgium and Scandinavia.”
If my memory is correct (and it often isn’t) after the Sailor concert at the City Hall we went down to the Guildhall and caught the end of a Big Jim Sullivan show, which was organised as a guitar clinic/exhibition in collaboration with a local guitar shop.
The set list is likely to have been something like this: Blame It On The Soft Spot; The Street; Let’s Go To Town; The Old Nickelodeon Sound; Veracruz; Blue Desert; Jacaranda; Girls Girls Girls; Panama; Traffic Jam; A Glass Of Champagne.
“I’ve got the money, I’ve got the place
You’ve got the figure, you’ve got the face
Let’s get together, the two of us
Over a glass of champagne.”
(Sailor, A Glass Of Champagne, 1975)
3 Aug
Squeeze and Wreckless Eric Newcastle Mayfair 28th February 1980
Squeeze and Wreckless Eric Newcastle Mayfair 28th February 1980
I’d seen Squeeze supporting Eddie and the Hot Rods, The Tubes, Dr Feelgood, and at Reading, but this was the first time, and only time, I saw them as a headline act. This was the classic Squeeze line-up featuring Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook and Jools Holland. Squeeze had just released their third album “Argybargy” and had already made the UK top 20 four times, with their first single “Take Me, I’m Yours” which reached No 19 in 1978, the excellent “Cool for Cats” and “Up the Junction”, both of which reached No. 2 in 1979 and their most recent release at the time, “Another Nail in My Heart”, which made No. 17 in January 1980. Support came from the crazy Wreckless Eric, whose most well-known song is the wonderful “Whole Wide World”. Squeeze were a great live act who produced a clutch of perfect pop songs; my favourite is “Up The Junction” which is just pure class. The setlist for the concert at the Mayfair is likely to have been something like this: Slap and Tickle; Touching Me, Touching You; Slightly Drunk; Pulling Mussels (From the Shell); Hop Skip & Jump; Another Nail in My Heart; Cool for Cats; Messed Around; I Think I’m Go Go; Take Me I’m Yours; If I Didn’t Love You; Misadventure; It’s So Dirty; Goodbye Girl; Up the Junction; There at the Top. Encore: Going Crazy
31 Jul
Paul Simon London Palladium 12th December 1975
Paul Simon London Palladium 12th December 1975
I first saw Paul Simon in the historic surroundings of the London Palladium in December 1975. He had just released his fourth solo album “Still Crazy After All These Years” and I went with my friend Ian. We bought day returns and went down to London by train, catching the midnight train home after the concert. Paul had just released a single from the album, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”. “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” was a No 1 hit in the US, but only reached No 23 in the UK singles charts. The concert was the second of four nights at the Palladium. He also played a concert in Birmingham and in Manchester. Simon played songs from “Still Crazy After All These Years”, plus several Simon and Garfunkel classics. I remember that we both really enjoyed the concert, and that he finished with “Sound of Silence”, which has always been my favourite of his songs.
Penny Valentine reviewed the concert for Street Life at the time and described Paul Simon as “immaculate”, commenting on how the audience “checked their coats neatly and queued neatly afterwards to get them. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d ordered interval tea like a matinee crowd. They had come to pay homage. They did it through three encores then they quietly left. It was a very polite evening.”
Based on published setlists from the period, it is likely that the set was something like this:
Set 1: America. Duncan, Something So Right, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Loves Me Like a Rock, Some Folks´ Lives Roll Easy, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Me & Julio Down By the Schoolyard, Homeward Bound, Mother & Child Reunion, I Do It For Your Love, You´re Kind, Bluesette
Set 2: Have A Good Time, Still Crazy After All These Years, My Little Town, The Boxer, Mrs. Robinson, Gone at Last, American Tune, The Sound of Silence
Paul Simon’s band: Steve Gadd (drums), Randy Brecker (trumpet), Richard Tee (piano), Tony Levin (bass), Michael Brecker (sax), Hugh McCracken (guitar), Toots Thielemans (harmonica), Jessy Dixon and possibly Phoebe Snow (vocals).
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