Living legends are in short supply these days but with 45 years in the business and a back catalogue others would kill for, Paul Simon surely qualifies. But would he live up to the legend? A lacklustre set with his old mucker Art Garfunkel in the RDS a few years ago prompted fears that he might be touring simply to make up his losses on the disastrous musical Songs From The Capeman. But such concerns were soon dismissed as he took to the stage beaming at the rapturous reception from the sold-out crowd and proceeded to put on the best show I’ve seen this year. Wearing a green shirt and his now trademark baseball cap he looked better in the flesh than in some recent photos which showed him to be drawn and pale. And with a magnificent eight-piece band in tow (including legendary drummer Steve Gadd) he was in fine voice and performed a set covering his entire career.
Solo hits such as ‘Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard’, ‘50 Ways To Leave Your Lover’ and ‘Slip Slidin’ Away’ made up the earlier part but there was still room for the S&G classic ‘Cecilia’, updated with clipped Afro-rhythms, and one of the stand-outs from his new Surprise album, the poignant ‘Wartime Prayers’
Songs from Graceland included the title-track, a vocally astonishing ‘Diamonds On The Souls Of Her Shoes’ and inevitably, ‘You Can Call Me Al’ which met with an ecstatic response.
The syncopated ‘Late In The Evening’ had the crowd on their feet again and the encores (all three of them) included gems like ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’, ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and a couple of earlier S&G hits, ‘Homeward Bound’ and ‘The Boxer’.
Pure genius.