Latest news with #SevenPsalms
San Francisco Chronicle
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
A fan paid Paul Simon $20 to play this song — and it worked
Paul Simon may not take requests, but for $20, he'll make an exception. During the final night of his five-show run at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Wednesday, July 16, the legendary singer-songwriter paused his acoustic set when a fan shouted out a request for 'Kodachrome,' the beloved 1973 track he hadn't performed live since 2019. 'I don't take requests,' Simon quipped from the stage. 'But I'll do some of it for 20 bucks.' The fan, unfettered, produced a $20 bill and offered it up. Simon, 83, walked over, took the cash, and delivered on his promise — strumming through the first verse and chorus of the nostalgic tune to cheers and laughter from the audience. The spontaneous moment was captured by concertgoers and quickly spread across social media. One fan posted, 'Holy smokes I can't believe that just happened,' alongside video of the interaction. The performance marked a lighthearted interlude in a series of otherwise intimate and contemplative shows. Simon's current tour — his first major outing in seven years — follows recent surgery for severe back pain and comes amid ongoing struggles with hearing loss. According to a Los Angeles Times review, his voice, guitar work and lyrical precision remain striking, particularly in performances of material from his 2023 album 'Seven Psalms.' Simon is scheduled to bring his 'A Quiet Celebration' tour to San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall on July 19 and 21-22, before wrapping the tour in Vancouver and Seattle. The singer rose to fame in the 1960s as co-founder of the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, with hits such as 'Mrs. Robinson' and 'The Sound of Silence,' before launching his solo career in the '70s. Simon's recent tour came as a surprise to many, after the musician indicated in 2018 that he was retiring from touring due to hearing loss. A year later, however, he performed a headlining set at San Francisco's Outside Lands festival. To assist with live performances, Simon has worked with his production team and Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss to adapt his stage setup with moving monitors to ensure optimal acoustics. For those hoping to hear a favorite deep cut, it seems a $20 bill might help. July 16, 2025 Set 1 'The Lord' 'Love Is Like a Braid' 'My Professional Opinion' 'Your Forgiveness' 'Trail of Volcanoes' 'The Sacred Harp' (with Edie Brickell) 'Wait' (with Edie Brickell) Set 2 'Graceland' 'Slip Slidin' Away' 'Train in the Distance' 'Homeward Bound' (Simon & Garfunkel) 'The Late Great Johnny Ace' 'St. Judy's Comet' 'Under African Skies' (with Edie Brickell) 'Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War' 'Rewrite' 'Spirit Voices' 'The Cool, Cool River' 'Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard' (with Edie Brickell) Encore 'Kodachrome' (abridged) 'Father and Daughter' '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover' 'The Boxer' (Simon & Garfunkel)
Los Angeles Times
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Paul Simon delivers a commanding incantation at Disney Hall
In 2018, Paul Simon walked onto the Hollywood Bowl stage for what most in the crowd believed to be his last tour stop in Los Angeles, ever. Simon expected that too — he'd billed the event as his 'Homeward Bound — Farewell Tour.' After 50 years of performing, a then-record three Grammy wins for album, a catalog of some of the most sophisticated and inquisitive American songwriting ever put to paper — he'd go out in full garlands. So what a shock and delight when Simon, now 83, announced a few years later that he was not quite done yet. In 2023, he released a new album, 'Seven Psalms,' an elliptical, gracious invocation for the arc of his life, drawing on biblical imagery and intertwined guitar fugues. But even better, Simon would also return to the stage for a new tour, including a five-night run at Disney Concert Hall. For L.A. fans, these shows were one last chance to reconnect with Simon, who now had a profound late-career album to bookend his catalog. Those songs spanned from his years in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the '60s and '70s to a Sabrina Carpenter duet on 'Saturday Night Live's' 50th anniversary special. Wednesday's show — the last of the Disney hall stand — got to all of it, with Simon still in exquisite form in the last light of his performing career. If Simon, seven years ago, had any doubts about his interest or ability to perform live at this exacting level, they must have disappeared the second he got a guitar in his hand at Disney Hall. The set opened with a full run of 'Seven Psalms,' a short yet profound song cycle in which a dense, ornamental acoustic guitar figure recurs over several songs in an intimate valediction. 'Seven Pslams' belongs alongside David Bowie's 'Blackstar' or Johnny Cash's 'American Recordings' albums in the canon of wide-lens looks at the mystery of late life. Simon's music was wise before its time even when he was a young man. But the perspective he has at this vantage, on the backside of 80 with a rejuvenated muse, was especially moving. 'I lived a life of pleasant sorrows, until the real deal came,' he sang on 'Love Is Like a Braid.' 'And in that time of prayer and waiting, where doubt and reason dwell / A jury sat, deliberating. All is lost or all is well.' Simon's band members for this stint — a dozen or so strong, spanning percussion, woodwinds and guitars — were mostly impressionists during this portion, adding distant bells and chamber flourishes to the patina of these songs. While he kicked up his heels a bit on the bluesy 'My Professional Opinion,' there was a trembling power in 'Trail of Volcanoes' and, especially, 'Your Forgiveness,' in which Simon took stock of his time on Earth and whatever lies next. 'Two billion heart beats and out / Waving the flag in the last parade / I have my reasons to doubt,' he sang, followed by a gracious incantation: 'Dip your hand in heaven's waters, god's imagination … All of life's abundance in a drop of condensation.' The hit-heavy back half of the show was a little rowdier. One fan even made a bit of history when he tossed a $20 bill onstage, which was enough for Simon to gamely oblige his request to play a verse of 'Kodachrome.' Simon and his band had looser reins here. 'Graceland' and 'Under African Skies' still radiated curiosity for the world's musical bounty, with the fraught complexity of that album nonetheless paving a stone on the road for African music's current global ascent. (He introduced his bassist, Bakithi Kumalo, as the last surviving member of the original 'Graceland' band.) An elegant 'Slip Slidin' Away' led up to a poignant 'The Late Great Johnny Ace,' which took a tale of rock 'n' roll self-destruction and pinned it to a generational sense of cultural collapse. Simon didn't reference any current events beyond the John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and John Lennon assassinations, but you could feel a contemporary gravity in the song. Veteran drummer Steve Gadd reprised his jazzy breaks for '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,' and the fatherhood ballad 'St. Judy's Comet' was a sweet, deep-cut flourish. (That mood continued when Edie Brickell, Simon's wife and vocalist, slipped in from the side stage to whistle the hook on 'Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard.) But the band hit full velocity on a pair of songs from 'The Rhythm of the Saints.' 'Spirit Voices' conjured an ayahuasca reverie with its thicket of guitars and hand percussion, while the sprawling and time-signature-bending 'The Cool, Cool River' showed Simon the musician — not just the poet — still in absolute command. Simon's set never got to 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' or 'You Can Call Me Al,' but the final encore wrapped with just him and a guitar and the eternal hymn of 'The Sound of Silence.' His guitar work retained all its original power in the opening instrumental runs, and Simon looked genuinely grateful that, perhaps even to his own surprise, the stage hadn't lost its promise or potency for him just yet. Who knows whether Wednesday was the last time Angelenos will get to see Simon perform live (this tour wraps next month in Seattle). If it was, then it was a beautiful benediction for one of America's defining songwriters. But if it wasn't, take any chance you get to see him again.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Paul Simon Sparks New Health Fears After Canceling Two Concerts Amid Ongoing Back Issues
Music icon Paul Simon is sparking new fears for his health after axing two upcoming shows due to excruciating back pain – leaving insiders fearing the 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters' singer is headed towards his sad last days. Now sources fear the 83-year-old voice of multiple generations is coming to grips that he's headed to the final curtain of his career — and life — as he is overwhelmed by a growing raft of physical ills. The shocking show cancellations last month came as the aging 83-year-old Graceland maestro must undergo a 'surgical procedure' to relieve 'unmanageable' back agony. As Globe has reported, the condition's the latest in a string of health woes including one that's robbed the 'Sound of Silence' singer of 96 percent of the hearing in his left ear back in 2023. The baffling and still undiagnosed hearing condition struck while Paul was working on his latest album, Seven Psalms, and kept him from touring and playing some of his more famous hits like, 'You Can Call Me Al.' 'Quite suddenly I lost most of the hearing in my left ear, and nobody has an explanation for it,' Paul says. 'My reaction to that was frustration and annoyance — not quite anger yet — because I thought it would pass, it would repair itself.' But sources say that only some of his hearing returned. Sources say the singer, who rocketed to super-stardom on a massive string of mid-1960s hits with his then-partner Art Garfunkel, has become resigned to his approaching final curtain. 'It's just the age we're at,' the musician notes. 'Gordon Lightfoot just passed away, Jeff Beck too. My generation's time is up.' Medical experts tell Globe that Paul's crippling issues are likely to grow worse — and his adoring public should prepare for his retirement. 'At his age, hearing, nerve and joint damage are only likely to increase,' says Dr. Gabe Mirkin, a Florida longevity specialist. 'The older we are, the harder it is to bounce back from such serious ailments.' A music industry source says Paul seems to be having trouble accepting the inevitable, adding: 'It must be total agony for him to come to terms with what is clearly a fast-approaching end.' Solve the daily Crossword
Fox News
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Paul Simon cancels concerts, set to undergo 'minor' surgery
Paul Simon was forced to cancel a string of concerts Saturday after suffering an injury. The "You Can Call Me Al" singer has been "struggling with chronic and intense back pain," which forced the cancellation of shows on the East Coast. Simon, 83, will undergo minor surgery in the "next few days," according to a post shared on his Instagram account. "Regretfully, Paul Simon must cancel two shows tonight June 28 and tomorrow night June 29 – at Philadelphia's Academy of Music," Simon shared online. "Paul has been struggling with chronic and intense back pain. Today it became unmanageable and demands immediate attention." The statement continued, "Unfortunately we have to cancel these shows at this time, as we don't have the ability to reschedule them. However, we are hopeful after this minor surgical procedure which has been scheduled in the next few days, Paul will be able to complete the tour as well as look into returning to make up these dates." It's unclear when Simon will reschedule the concerts, and concertgoers were encouraged to contact their local ticket providers for a full refund. Fox News Digital contacted Simon's representative for a comment. The "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" musician announced his "A Quiet Celebrations" tour in February, to coincide with his "Seven Psalms" album. The tour kicked off in April, and was supposed to end in Seattle in August. "The evolution of this extraordinary artist continues to unfold," a press release stated at the time. "In which Simon chose to perform in intimate venues where the acoustics are optimal in consideration of the severe hearing loss that he incurred over the last few years." In May 2023, Simon realized most of the hearing in his left ear was gone while he was creating the album. "Quite suddenly I lost most of the hearing in my left ear, and nobody has an explanation for it. So, everything became more difficult," Simon told The Times. "My reaction to that was frustration and annoyance; not quite anger yet, because I thought it would pass, it would repair itself." In 2018, Simon announced he was retiring from touring. In a social media post, he wrote, "I feel the travel and time away from my wife and family takes a toll that detracts from the joy of playing," adding, it "feels a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating, and something of a relief." His wife of over 30 years, Edie Brickell, sang a duet with him in the final section of "Seven Psalms," which includes the lyrics, "Heaven is beautiful/ It's almost like home/ Children, get ready/ It's time to come home." The couple share three children: Adrian Edward, Lulu and Gabriel Elijah. Simon was previously married to the late Carrie Fisher. The couple met in the late '70s but didn't wed until August 1983. They divorced less than a year later, in July 1984.
Metro
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Beloved singer, 83, cancels concerts after suffering 'chronic and intense pain'
A beloved singer has been forced to cancel shows after facing 'unimaginable' pain that 'demanded immediate attention'. Paul Simon rose to fame in the 1960s as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel alongside school friend Art Garkfunkel. After gaining a legion of fans releasing songs like The Sound of Silence and Bridge over Troubled Water, the American singer- songwriter went on to pursue a career as a solo artist in the 1970s. Throughout his career, Paul has won 16 Grammy Awards and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, realising his most recent album Seven Psalms in 2023. In April he kicked off his A Quiet Celebration Tour, which began in New Orleans and will travel throughout North America and Canada before ending in Seattle in August. However, this weekend he had to pull the plug on two performances just a few hours in advance due to ongoing health issues. Posting a statement online, his team explained that the 83-year-old could no longer play his scheduled shows at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. 'Paul has been struggling with chronic and intense back pain,' it began. 'Today it became unmanageable and demands immediate attention. Unfortunately, we have to cancel these shows at this time, as we don't have the ability to reschedule them.' 'However, we are hopeful after this minor surgical procedure which has been scheduled in the next few days, Paul will be able to complete the tour as well as look into returning to make up these dates. 'In the meantime, please go to your point of purchase or local ticket provider for a full refund.' Paul is next set to play at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center's Terrace Theater in Long Beach, California on July 7. His tour features the live debut of his Grammy-nominated album, Seven Psalms, along with a 'celebration of his timeless classics'. However when it was announced earlier this year, it was explained that he'd chosen 'intimate venues with optimal acoustics for this tour' as he had been dealing with 'severe hearing loss'. The musician had previously announced his retirement from touring in 2018 due to hearing loss. At the time he explained: 'I've often wondered what it would feel like to reach the point where I'd consider bringing my performing career to a natural end. Now I know it feels a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating and something of a relief. 'I love making music, my voice is still strong, and my band is a tight, extraordinary group of gifted musicians. I think about music constantly.' More Trending Last year he explained he's now lost 94% of hearing in his left ear and has been told by doctors that there is no cure, which has also left him unable to play certain songs from his catalogue, including his 1986 hit You Can Call Me Al. 'I'm going through my repertoire and reducing a lot of the choices that I make to acoustic versions,' he said on CBS Mornings. 'It's all much quieter. It's not You Can Call Me Al, that's gone. I can't do that one.' 'I guess what I'm most apprehensive about would be if I can't hear well enough to really enjoy the act of making music.' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Iconic star, 99, sparks concern after dropping out of event due to illness MORE: John Travolta reprises iconic Grease role 46 years after the original MORE: Who's who at Jeff Bezos's $10,000,000 wedding as A-list guests 'descend on Venice'
