A little Spontaneity ain't never hurt no one - Sting & Paul Simon - March 13th, 2014 - Verizon Center, DC

As many of you know, my pops and I have a wonderful relationship filled with baseball, music, travel and spontaneous adventures. So it is not uncommon for me to call up my pops and say, “hey wanna grab food/beers/live music after work? I’ll meet you at [insert DC restaurant/bar/music venue.” So last night’s spontaneous catch-up sesh was not out of the ordinary. We decided to meet up for food in Chinatown as a middle ground. As I walked to meet my dad, I kept noticing way more people in Chinatown than usual (and for anyone who knows DC’s Chinatown, that means full on claustrophobia). I also noticed that it wasn’t the usual adolescent Chinatown crowd hanging around the Chipotle – it was a very Eagles-esque crowd – you know the type. Older. Don’t seem to venture into DC much. Stand on the left side of the escalator. Not as awesome as my parents. THOSE people. I noticed a bunch of guys outside Verizon Center scalping tickets and just thought “whatevs, must be a Wizards game. Moving right along.”

I get to the restaurant where my dad is waiting and it is PACKED – like Saturday night packed. We were like “hmmm must have good happy hour – we’ll keep checking around.” Five bars later, we had come to the conclusion that something big was going on. And then it dawned on me. PAUL SIMON AND STING AT THE VERIZON CENTER! How could I forget?! I mentioned it to DT (my dad) and he was intrigued.

We decided that all the Sting and Paul Simon fans weren’t exactly going to be adventurous in the depths of DC’s Chinatown, so we decided that was the route to go for dinner. We were right – just us and a few Chinese regulars at Ming’s (I didn’t make up the name). We chatted over orange chicken about work, family and our general annoyance with the plethora of faith-based movies in Hollywood recently.

Dan the Man, for the past 6 years or so, has been taking the green route and taken the bus to work every day from Bowie. While inspiring, it does not bode well for urban spontaneity. Good thing this girl is a DC resident now! The deal was if we got tickets, not a big deal, I’ll take him home. If not, we’ll get him back to New Carrollton before the last bus. We walked to Verizon Center to scope out the ticket situation. Besides being quite green in the way of his transportation options, my dad is also an avid ticket scalper – yes, he buys the tickets from those sketchy guys outside arenas/stadiums yelling “GOT ONE!? NEED ONE!?” As long as I can remember going to concerts and baseball games with my old man, I can never remember him fretting over whether he had tickets or not – if we wanted to go to a show or a game, we were going. We would just have to look for the most unsavory individuals outside selling tickets and we were golden. 9 times out of 10, it was a success and we got some of the best seats in the house for 70% less than face value.

This Thursday night was no different. As he probably thought my younger, more urban disposition would produce more favorable results in the ticket department (and to see if he had passed along his scalping skills successfully), he handed me the cash and told me to GO. I went up to my first victim and said “how much” in the coolest way I could. The man hands me two tickets and explains the tickets are $150 each, club level. I had $100 in hand ready to go to my new friend Scalper McScalperson, but he wasn’t having it when he aptly explained “NOT FOR 2 BABY, NOT FOR 2!” I looked at him with my most serious “don’t mess with me” face and started to walk away. As soon as I took one step, he told me to hold up and we exchanged dollars for tickets. We were in business.

So this was definitely happening. In true Nora and Dan style. We got to the club level and were walking to our seats – as soon as we heard ‘Fields of Gold’ playing, we realized “oh shit. This is real.” We rushed to our seats and immediately realized our spontaneous gametime decision had paid off.

Sting and Paul Simon played the first few songs together and then Sting played solo for a while. Solo is hardly accurate though because each of these legends had a full ensemble of world class musicians with them. Every instrument in the spectrum of rock bands was represented, and then some – French horns, accordians, a Zydeco rubboard, recorders. It ran the gamut – and was glorious.

Paul Simon played a few songs made famous by his original duo, Simon & Garfunkel, but of course many of his solo hits. Paul Simon has had a unique and wide ranging career of music with his to-be-expected folksy sound, to a full on African chorus and drums ensemble, to a Cajun zydeco party on stage. All of these were exhibited on Thursday and executed flawlessly.

Sting had his signature worldly, somewhat psychedelic sound. There were times when I felt like I was at a Santana or Gipsy Kings show, and then Sting’s trademark voice would come through among the chanting, conga drums, and nylon-stringed guitars.

The encore performance was beautiful and brought tears to my eyes. One of my favorite songs, Bridge Over Troubled Water, was saved for a duet with Sting and Paul Simon and done beautifully. A very special moment for me and Dan to see that song done so well by its ever-so-talented songwriter. To end the show, put so eloquently by Paul Simon, “this whole thing started with 2 guys, 2 guitars and a microphone. We’ll end the show that way.” In true Simon & Garfunkel fashion, Sting and Paul Simon faced each other, almost singing to each other, finishing the show with the Everly Brothers’ “When Will I Be Loved”. Nicely done, gents.

Overall, a very successful night of spontaneity and live music, ending with Dan the Man experiencing the pleasure of riding the X2 bus back to my neighborhood from Chinatown. To say the least, it’s always an experience riding this particular bus.

If you couldn’t tell by this overly long post, my pops is one of my besties and I love anytime I can spend with him – especially when it involves hanging out with some musical legends on a weekday.