Simon and Garfunkel Through the Years Festival Theatre Edinburgh 2nd June 2024 Review
Simon & Garfunkel Through the Years at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh tonight was an obviously very welcome return for Pete Richards and Dan Haynes (aka Bookends) who have come by many people to be regarded as the finest contemporary interpreters of these classic songs as they somehow re-capture the very essence of the originals on stage.
I have had the pleasure of reviewing Dan and Pete over many Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows, and watching them grow both in confidence as performers and in the number of people attending their shows over many years now, and although this show has expanded from the simple line-up of just the two of them on stage, they have never lost their love of these songs, or that honesty that they require when performing them live.
Although this is a tribbute show to the music, this is not your typical show of this genre. To start with, neither look nor attempt to look anything like the original Simon & Garfunkel. Instead, both concentrate on the songs and the music and this is what they are really paying a very personal tribute to in their shows. For me they show, by their very success over the last 12 years of performing these songs, and the growing numbers who come to see them (tonight was a best attendance yet we were told by Dan), Dan and Pete prove that if you have the talent, then there is no reason to hide behind silly costumes and take on pretend personas on-stage. Audiences have, I think, simply grown out of the need for visual pretence from a show like this and just want to hear their favourite music performed by very talented musicians.
This show is for the most part based on the live performances of the original duo, or on arrangements that allow that often over-produced (for me anyhow) studio sound of many of these classic songs to be stripped back to their original beauty of wonderful harmonies, words and music. All too often Paul Simon’s genius at songwriting seems to overshadow his skills as a guitarist, and in these arrangements tonight the fine guitar skills of Dan Haynes always let that element of these songs shine through. Dan and Pete have also known each other since they were at school (more than a few years ago now), and vocal harmonies like these only come from people who have spent a lot of time together working on them. Pete Richards does take the vocal spotlight on many of these songs and somehow always makes them his own. This is not someone trying to sound like someone else, simply a talented vocalist who knows exactly how to give an audience his interpretation of these songs whilst always staying true to the spirit of the originals.
The expanded format of this big theatre show allows for the luxury of an expanded sound with Leos Strings making full use of the different ranges of violin, viola and cello, with Jonny Knight also putting in some impressive work on guitar.
There are just so many songs that people expect to be in this show and as always not enough time to put them all in, but opening the show with “Homeward Bound” was an obvious crowd pleaser, even with the sound tech gremlins coming out to wreak a little havoc. As to be expected, Dan and Pete took this in their stride, technical problems were quickly sorted and the show re-started to much applause.
There is something about how this duo performs these songs that makes you pay attention to the words of them and “Sound of Silence” is one such song. Is this perhaps the greatest protest song ever written? It is certainly one whose words are prophetic and perhaps more relevant now than they have ever been. This song would have made a perfect matching pair with another Simon & Garfunkel song that I rarely hear performed from the second half of the show “A Church is Burning”.
So many iconic songs in this show, and for many people, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is perhaps at the top of that list. Oddly for me though, this is one of the most often over-performed songs of all time with arrangements that are so often over the top. Tonight though, an arrangement by Dan and Pete brought this song back to its basics of great vocals, melody, music and words.
Both Pete Richards and Dan Haynes are far too modest to ever claim that they are the best at what they do out there performing at the moment. Their audiences, however, obviously have their own opinions and their loyal fan base keeps growing year after year.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
I have had the pleasure of reviewing Dan and Pete over many Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows, and watching them grow both in confidence as performers and in the number of people attending their shows over many years now, and although this show has expanded from the simple line-up of just the two of them on stage, they have never lost their love of these songs, or that honesty that they require when performing them live.
Although this is a tribbute show to the music, this is not your typical show of this genre. To start with, neither look nor attempt to look anything like the original Simon & Garfunkel. Instead, both concentrate on the songs and the music and this is what they are really paying a very personal tribute to in their shows. For me they show, by their very success over the last 12 years of performing these songs, and the growing numbers who come to see them (tonight was a best attendance yet we were told by Dan), Dan and Pete prove that if you have the talent, then there is no reason to hide behind silly costumes and take on pretend personas on-stage. Audiences have, I think, simply grown out of the need for visual pretence from a show like this and just want to hear their favourite music performed by very talented musicians.
This show is for the most part based on the live performances of the original duo, or on arrangements that allow that often over-produced (for me anyhow) studio sound of many of these classic songs to be stripped back to their original beauty of wonderful harmonies, words and music. All too often Paul Simon’s genius at songwriting seems to overshadow his skills as a guitarist, and in these arrangements tonight the fine guitar skills of Dan Haynes always let that element of these songs shine through. Dan and Pete have also known each other since they were at school (more than a few years ago now), and vocal harmonies like these only come from people who have spent a lot of time together working on them. Pete Richards does take the vocal spotlight on many of these songs and somehow always makes them his own. This is not someone trying to sound like someone else, simply a talented vocalist who knows exactly how to give an audience his interpretation of these songs whilst always staying true to the spirit of the originals.
The expanded format of this big theatre show allows for the luxury of an expanded sound with Leos Strings making full use of the different ranges of violin, viola and cello, with Jonny Knight also putting in some impressive work on guitar.
There are just so many songs that people expect to be in this show and as always not enough time to put them all in, but opening the show with “Homeward Bound” was an obvious crowd pleaser, even with the sound tech gremlins coming out to wreak a little havoc. As to be expected, Dan and Pete took this in their stride, technical problems were quickly sorted and the show re-started to much applause.
There is something about how this duo performs these songs that makes you pay attention to the words of them and “Sound of Silence” is one such song. Is this perhaps the greatest protest song ever written? It is certainly one whose words are prophetic and perhaps more relevant now than they have ever been. This song would have made a perfect matching pair with another Simon & Garfunkel song that I rarely hear performed from the second half of the show “A Church is Burning”.
So many iconic songs in this show, and for many people, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is perhaps at the top of that list. Oddly for me though, this is one of the most often over-performed songs of all time with arrangements that are so often over the top. Tonight though, an arrangement by Dan and Pete brought this song back to its basics of great vocals, melody, music and words.
Both Pete Richards and Dan Haynes are far too modest to ever claim that they are the best at what they do out there performing at the moment. Their audiences, however, obviously have their own opinions and their loyal fan base keeps growing year after year.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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