Concerts you have attended?

[Madison]

At this morning Saturday Farmers Market, I bought a super energy tea from a vendor. I was telling him about my e-bike tour in the city and he said to drink some before and after the bike route. It is a Lemongrass ginger Kombucherit.

The band that was playing was called Two Hearted River Band. A little country, a little folk and folk rock. The highlight song was the cover of the Anna Vaus cover of Nell Young's "Harvest Moon"

And I kept my wallet in my pocket this time.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

• Penn & Teller: 50 Years of Magic [06/06 Meridian Hall, Toronto, ON]

This show was this afternoon. We have been to Meridian Hall before under several different names (O'Keefe Centre, The Sony Centre). I think for the last couple I went with my wife and we were in the accessible areas so we didn't notice the coziness of the seats. This time we were in regular seats second last row of the balcony basically at the top. The seats were very cramped. This was partially caused by the addition of cup holders which is a nice gesture but it takes up real estate. But they need to give you a place to put your $4 cans of coke. We actually went to the top row. It said row J so we went up 10 rows. Turns out they skipped row I for some reason so we had to move. The real row J seats were actually a bit less cramped. We likely won't do this venue again.

Before the show they had a jazz musician playing the piano (he played background during the show too). They also played videos of Penn telling you to fill out guesses for the number of jelly beans in a jar and your dream. They also had a card they wanted you to sign. We of course did neither. They did tricks with these dreams and the jelly beans during the show.

It was a good and funny show. I don't pretend to know how they did most of the stuff. They say it is all misdirection and tricks. They said they don't do illusions. They had plenty of audience participation and the sheer number would indicate they were not stooges.

They had one trick where they basically had people randomly pick chapter verse and number from the bible. They then had a guy read it from the bible (or something posing as a bible) and then grabbed a banner from the envelope everybody had signed which matched the verse. It was an interesting trick until I looked up the bible verse and it was something completely different. So it wasn't a real bible which reduces the odds and makes the deception and the trick easier.

The coolest thing started out rather weird. They said they were trying a new trick and it would seem weird. They did a whole bunch of weird stuff and it didn't really make much sense and there wasn't much of a trick. But then as a finale they played the video back backwards and added live narration. It had Teller solving a rubics cube in 3 spins, taking a shuffled deck of cards and laying them out in order and Penn catching ping pong balls in his mouth.

We had a good time. It was 2 hours of fun and entertainment.

Upcoming Shows:

2026:

• Paul Simon: A Quiet Celebration [06/26 RBC Amphitheatre, Toronto, ON]
• Journey [11/04 Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON]

 

[Madison]

We had a nice time this morning with the music at the Farmer's Market. It was dress 80's theme. The performer, Marta, only used either an organ or guitar. She played two Cyndi Lauper's, Tom Petty, Sinead O Connor, Whitesnake, Poison, Paula Abdul and finished with Simple Minds. We only heard the last 45 minutes.

 

[Madison]

Boo!
The rain spoiled the first outdoor stage concert at the library, it would have been nice to go but just watching the NBA Finals

 

[Madison]

Today worked out much better than Monday. I saw the first City Park District Concert of the year. No rain. They had the food trucks of which I ordered a soft tamale and a bottle of Coke. The group playing was called "Bad Hombres". The first set was Latino Jazz like the music on Luna. The second set was cover songs in English "I Can See Clearly Now", "I Shot the Sheriff" and such. It was a nice evening with all the trees to shade the area, and we got back for me to see the rest of the Vegas Golden Knights Stanley Cup hockey

 

[Madison]

Our city was celebrating the international "Make Music Day" today. I messed with my guitar, at 6am, on the porch to an audience of rabbits and birds.
We then went to the downtown square. I got the two young ladies singing, to play Momma Cass "Make Your Own Kind of Music" for me as a closing song.
Then the Ukulele seniors played for an hour. We then went to the outdoor music stage at the library with a young man playing his acoustic guitar (best for me of the day). Then a bluegrass trio came next but we didn't stay very long.

Plus, I rode out Saturday morning to the Strawberry Fest with a folk music duo playing. I had s strawberry shortcake sundae. Sadly, when I go back to the senior center on Monday for the Classic musical movie, I will be returning the Strawberry Fest sign I had in front of my porch for the last month. I really liked looking at that sign.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

• Paul Simon: A Quiet Celebration [06/26 RBC Amphitheatre, Toronto, ON]

This show was tonight. It was a cold night with rain threatening but it did not rain until we got home. The show was rain or shine and we were in a section that was not covered. The show was at RBC Amphitheatre which was Budweiser Stage until this year. Took a bit longer to get there as the parking lot we usually go through was blocked off for stupid FIFA crap.

He started at 8:15 (supposed to start at 8) and had no opening act. Here is the setlist:

Set 1:
1. The Lord
2. Love Is Like a Braid
3. My Professional Opinion
4. Your Forgiveness
5. Trail of Volcanoes
6. The Sacred Harp (with Edie Brickell)
7. Wait (with Edie Brickell)
Set 2:
8. Graceland
9. Slip Slidin' Away
10. Train in the Distance
11. Homeward Bound (Simon & Garfunkel song)
12. The Late Great Johnny Ace
13. Father and Daughter
14. Under African Skies (with Edie Brickell)
15. Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War
16. Rewrite
17. Spirit Voices
18. The Cool, Cool River
(Piano Solo)
19. Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
Encore:
20. Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard (with Edie Brickell)
21. 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
22. Something So Right
23. The Boxer (Simon & Garfunkel song)
24. The Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel song) (Solo acoustic)

The first set was some songs he worked on / released about 4 years ago (according to his intro of them). In my opinion they were mostly crap. This was the prevailing opinions of the people around us too. The subject was discussed at length while the songs were playing.

The second set and the encore was better. A lot of songs were unfamiliar. A lot of people started leaving after the first couple songs of the second set. I think the cold had something to do with it but also the unfamiliarity of the songs. He did not do: "Mrs. Robinson", "Kodachrome", "You Can Call Me Al" (my son was pissed about that -- his favourite), "Late In The Evening", or "Bridge Over Troubled Waters". All of these would have been better choices than some of the selected songs.

If you are wondering who Edie Brickell is (we were), she is a songwriter and singer. And she is Paul's wife since 1992. He did not introduce her as such and only used her first name once in the show. He didn't introduce any of his band except for one guy. He did wave at them and they bowed a couple of times.

Paul is old. He was having trouble keeping up with the pace of the lyrics and/or forgetting some of the lyrics. He hummed through several lines of "Slip, Slidin' Away" and "Graceland" and messed up the lyrics on a couple of occasions in "The Sounds of Silence". It was still an enjoyable show but we won't see him again.

Upcoming Shows:

2026:

• Journey [11/04 Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON]

 

[Aaron]

Yep this is his wife, she had this hit song

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I remember that one. I did not connect the name to it. I may have partially remembered the New Bohemians.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Yep this is his wife, she had this hit song

I have this album and the next one they released. Their relationship and his promotion of her was pretty high-profile at the time. I think she may have done music with Steve Martin (on banjo) as well.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I have this album and the next one they released. Their relationship and his promotion of her was pretty high-profile at the time. I think she may have done music with Steve Martin (on banjo) as well.

I also own this song. A forgotten favourite. From 1989 though so I don't have to update my 90s list.