Peter, Paul & Mary — polish remains in a rich, warm reunion

by Eric Freedman, The Knickerbocker News, August 15, 1978

True. Peter Yarrow’s and Paul Stookey’s hairlines have receded, and Mary Travers face is showing wrinkles. Even so, their sound, their style and their well-polished stage presence are the same as they were before the trio broke up in 1971.

To many of the more than 9,000 fans gathered at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Peter, Paul and Mary’s Monday night performance was as much an emotional event as a concert.

It was a reminder that those who learned “Blowin’ in the Wind” or “The Great Mandala” in the era of bloodshed in Southeast Asia are in touch with their past.

The first set was marred somewhat by trouble in the sound mix. As a result, it was often difficult to hear Mary Travers’ rich voice. Even so, and even with a number of new songs such as “The Best of Friends” which were added to the trio’s repertoire for their national reunion concert tour, the style was there as the singers clustered in their familiar way around the microphones – Peter facing Paul and Mary looking at the audience.

It was the second set, however, that sent the crowd into cheers and a series of standing ovations.

For the past seven years, each member of the trio has gone his or her own way musically and personally. They have written, sung and performed as individuals. In recognition of that fact, the set opened with individual performances by each. Paul, for example, soloed with a number he wrote himself, “Every Flower,” and Mary sang “Follow Me.”

After their individual moments in the spotlight, they were together for the rest of the concert.

There was the Peter, Paul and Mary sing-along and clap-along trademark.

Peter’s rendition of the classic “Stewball,” the story of a racehorse which never drank water and always drank wine — appropriate for Saratoga — was as much a group sing as a solo.

And Paul taught a bebop song he wrote one day as he stood in front of a four-story brick henhouse he converted to a home in Maine.

There were, of course, the obligatory oldies which helped the trio collect a series of gold albums and Grammy awards: “Puff the Magic Dragon,” “Too Much of Nothing,” and “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane.”

Throughout the evening, the performers resumed their interrupted communing with faithful flock – joking, bantering, talking about their separate and collective pasts with the polish which has always made their fans feel like personal friends.

There were even more of Mary’s familiar remarks about the length of time it takes Paul and Peter to tune their guitars.

Some things have changed.

There now is a three-member instrumental back-up including a jazzed-up keyboard and imposing array of drums which seem psychologically out of place on the same stage as singers.

Many of the new songs are no longer a true part of the folk tradition, but an offshoot – semi-folksy love songs.

Some things haven’t changed at all. Audience devotion, for one. And the black-and-white saddle shoes which Paul wore.

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