CONCERT REVIEW: Paul Simon's Quiet Celebration Tour returns to Toronto with enduring songs

· Toronto Sun

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“I am leaving, I am leaving but the fighter still remains,” sang Paul Simon — now 84-years-old — as he wound up the Simon & Garfunkel classic The Boxer to a cheering crowd on Thursday night at Toronto’s RBC Amphitheatre.

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The encouragement from his fans to sing those lyrics — and the “Lie, la, Lie” chorus we enthusiastically all sang together — seemed to suggest that while Simon’s in the twilight of his career, his fighting spirit remains still intact even if his actual singing voice is sounding more fragile these days.

His latest trek may be called A Quiet Celebration Tour, which he first brought to Toronto last May with a triumphant three-night stand at Massey Hall, but Simon’s enduring songs remain his strength.

Helping him stay vital is wife/sometime singing partner Edie Brickell, 60, who joined Simon and his impressive 11-piece band with various multi-talents — including a string section who sang backup — on stage during the first set for new songs, The Sacred Harp and Wait, and later during the second set for Under African Skies and Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, for which she provided the whistling.

Simon has suffered severe hearing loss over the last few years and it was during the recording of his 2023 conceptual musical work, Seven Psalms, that he began to steadily lose the hearing in his left ear.

The condition initially took touring off the table but with help from the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss, and his own production team, Simon redesigned his entire stage setup to make performing work, including moving monitors to surround him.

For some reason that system worked better in the intimate confines of Massey Hall than the open-air amphitheatre.

Simon opened with Seven Pslams material

Otherwise, Simon opened the show with the sombre and serious songs from Seven Psalms, with each tune preceded by its title in white letters on a black video screen and there was an element of hushed prayer to tunes.

But after that well-received opening set, my favourites were the Brickell-backed songs, Simon — initially dressed in a blue suit but returning in a red jacket, jeans and a baseball cap after a 20-minute intermission — came back swinging with Graceland.

In fact, his current band includes bassist Bakithi Kumalo, who’s the last remaining band member from the Graceland band sessions, and Simon would dip into that popular album again later in the second set with Under African Skies and Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (the first song of the night to get the audience on its feet and clapping and singing along).

Other crowd-pleasers proved to be Simon & Garfunkel classics Homeward Bound, The Boxer, and the show-ending The Sound of Silence (which just featured Simon solo on acoustic guitar), and solo songs Rewrite, The Cool, Cool River, and mega-hit 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.

Best featured players awards go to standout guitarists Mark Stewart and Gyan Riley, which is really saying something given the vast talent who shared the stage with Simon.

SET LIST

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)

(INTERMISSION)

Graceland

Slip Slidin’ Away

Train in the Distance

Homeward Bound (Simon & Garfunkel song)

The Late Great Johnny Ace

Father and Daughter

Under African Skies (with Edie Brickell)

Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War

Rewrite

The Cool, Cool River

Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes

ENCORE

Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard (with Edie Brickell)

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

Something So Right

The Boxer (Simon & Garfunkel song)

The Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel song) (solo acoustic)

RATING: *** (3 out of four)

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