The Farewell Tour may be over, but Paul Simon is taking the stage again

Boston Globe

a day ago

'I love you!' someone shouted from the back of the orchestra seating.
'I love you more!' another fan responded.
Simon's 'quiet celebration' was aptly named in more ways than one. He opened with a complete, 33-minute run-through of the 'Seven Psalms' record, with hushed, pristine songs that reckoned with age, spirituality, and meaning. Black and white title cards displayed the names of each song in the movement. At one point a sound like the sanctus bells of the Catholic church glistened.
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'Are we all just trial and error?' Simon sang on 'Sacred Harp.' At this point in his life, his voice is wispy, yet it's still somehow boyish. On Tuesday, he hit all the notes he reached for.
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Paul Simon performs at the Boch Center Wang Theatre.
Ben Stas for The Boston Globe/The Boston Globe
If Simon's opening appearance with
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The band featured several multi-instrumentalists, adding flute, cello, various percussive effects and more to the arrangements. Guitarists Mark Stewart and Gyan Riley embellished on Simon's foundations.
After a brief intermission, the band returned with two more members, including the South African bassist Bakithi Kumalo, who played on Simon's groundbreaking 'Graceland' album (1986). The title track kicked off the second set, with Simon's voice decidedly forward in the mix. Later, the band played that album's 'Under African Skies' (dedicated to Joseph Shabalala,the founder of
That song featured a special guest appearance from the singer Edie Brickell, Simon's wife. 'She'll undoubtedly vastly improve the performance,' he said by way of introduction.
Some fans who showed up hoping to hear the greatest hits of Simon & Garfunkel may have left quietly disappointed, but for anyone attuned to Simon's long solo career, the show was a small miracle of precision and fidelity. On 'Slip Slidin' Away' (the lyrics of which – 'the nearer your destination…' – seemed especially poignant), the drum brushes were distinctly audible.
The set included a couple of songs from 'The Rhythm of the Saints' (1990) the Brazil-centered follow-up to 'Graceland,' and several 'deep cuts,' as Simon said. Three were from his 1983 album 'Hearts and Bones,' including 'Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War' ('This will be my first Surrealist Number One Hit,' he recalled joking to himself) and 'The Late Great Johnny Ace.' The latter ended with a photographic triptych of the icons that inspired it – John Lennon, JFK, and the tragic singer named in the title.
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Midway through, Simon teased the crowd with the familiar guitar motifs he wrote for several Simon & Garfunkel songs, such as 'I Am a Rock,' before actually leading the band into a thoroughly reinvented version of 'Homeward Bound,' set to a shuffling beat.
The band went out on a high note with the festive 'Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard,' punctuated by the 'laughing' sound of the Brazilian cuica and Brickell materializing onstage to nail the whistling part.
After carrying off the flowers he accepted from a fan in the front row, Simon returned to lead the musicians on a lightly jazzy/funky '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,' so very much of its 1975 vintage, and a vaguely Mexican-flavored version of 'The Boxer,' which featured a wonderful solo from Riley (son of the minimalist composer Terry Riley).' On that song's 'lie-la-lie' melody, the audience heartily joined in.
Then Simon wrapped up the evening with a solo rendition of 'The Sound of Silence.'
'And the vision that was planted in my brain,' he sang softly, 'still remains.'
PAUL SIMON
At the Wang Theatre, June 10
James Sullivan can be reached at
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