A Bit of a Gush, Really.

I love Paul Simon. I think his music is beautifully written, the lyrics are poetry, and the harmonies sublime. I love him. Elizabeth's due date was April 15, and he and Art Garfunkel were touring through Edmonton on May 7 and I bought tickets with full intentions of going - unfortunately, they cancelled their tour, and so I had to wait two years, but I finally saw him perform!!

And I still totally love him.

He was one of the headliners of the Hard Rock Calling music festival in Hyde Park, London - along with Bruce Springsteen on Saturday night and Soundgarden on Friday night. Matthew saw an ad for the show back in May (I think?) and we bought tickets immediately. My friend Helen agreed to babysit and  sleep over, which meant we didn't have to worry about getting back to Cambreej in a rush. That turned out to be a semi-moot point, since our good friends Alex & Nikki went as well, and gave us a lift home afterwards. All of these things boil down to a few solid facts:
(1) Elizabeth got to play with some of her favourite people, so I didn't have to worry about her all day & night
(2) Our great friends were driving us home, which meant I didn't have to worry about catching the last train out of London
(3) I got to spend a whole day  with just Matthew
(4) We got to see Paul Simon perform!!!

It was one of the best days ever.

We started by not going into the concert grounds immediately - I was so excited I was literally bouncing around (anyone surprised?) so Matthew took me to a pub in the area and we sat down for a pint and a bit of a relax. Well, the guy next to us started chatting to us, and next thing you know, he's buying us a drink, so then we have to buy him a drink, and before we knew it, it was time to get to the show. Back to bouncing around with excitement!

Here I am, even before the concert started - poor Matthew.

And here is Matthew - he looked like this the whole day/evening:

Unless he was playing his washboard (abs), in which case, he looked like this:

And here's what Paul Simon looked like!!!

Matthew had asked me what songs I wanted him to play, and among this obvious choices (Boy In the Bubble, Call Me Al, Graceland, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, etc etc etc), I said, "Hearts & Bones, but I don't think he'll play it." It's kind of a b-side song, about his relationship with Carrie Fisher, but I totally love the lyrics, and it's a beautiful song. And he totally played it. And I was the only person in our little area that knew the song, and yes, everyone, I do think he played it just for me.

Here's what he looked like while he played one of my favourite songs, just for me:

 Here is his whole set list, and each song has a link to the song - some of them have links to concert-goers' video of him on Sunday night.And, if you can handle it, here is my shaky Blackberry video of his final encore, Sound of Silence:

It was such a fantastic day. I enjoyed every single minute. I love days like that.