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Two songs in his set at Flushing Meadows Corona Park at the last stop of his Homeward Bound farewell tour, Paul Simon put down his guitar and put on a black baseball glove. "It's like two miles from where I played baseball in high school," he said. "It's dark, but you know what? I will play a quick match. He then tossed the ball into the New York crowd and asked anyone who caught him to repel him. It took three attempts, but he finally found a fan able to propel him directly into his glove with a satisfying snap. The crowd applauded with joy at the moment of impact and Simon let out a smile big enough to be seen from about 1000 feet.
It was a typically happy moment about what could have been a pretty melancholy affair. After all, everyone was watching one of New York's greatest composers playing the last stop of his last tour. But instead of turning it into a sad evening of reflection about the passage of cruel time, Simon – a few weeks away from his 77th birthday – made it a party in the park where strangers could join for "Diamonds On the Soles "of Her Shoes", harmonize on the chorus of "The Boxer" and jump up and down by shouting every word to "You can call me Al". the fact that it was the end of his last tour, although his eyes seemed a little foggy towards the end of "Homeward Bound".
As with every show on this tour, it started with a rearranged interpretation of Simon & Garfunkel's classic America. It's a lasting song that has worked in every situation, from David Bowie to post-9/11. Concert for New York City to a Bernie Sanders 2016 ad campaign. And now, in the Trump era, the "empty and painful" kid in the bus seemed to speak for many Americans. The name of the president was never pronounced, but after a haunting "American melody" towards the end of the night, Simon said, "Strange moments, huh? Do not … give …
"America" went straight to "50 ways to leave your lover", "The Boy in the Bubble" and "Dazzling Blue" from his neglected 2012 triumph So beautiful or so what. He paved the way for an evening where he switched between his greatest hits and the familiar album cuts to true devotees. "Most of these songs I'm going to play tonight, I think you know them, maybe you'll be fewer," he said from the beginning. "But the rhythm pieces are all written with the idea that you're going to get up and dance."
They certainly danced, especially when he launched the opening chords of "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard" and that everyone had the unique chance to sing about "Rosie the Queen of Corona" in Corona. His wife, Edie Brickell, even came to deliver the famous whistle solo with impressive skill. The mood then subsided when the music group yMusic came to the fore to accompany Simon in "Rene and Georgette Magritte with their dog after the war," an incredibly obscure movie. Hearts and bones song that he resurrected on his new album In the blue light. This album was a commercial movie in 1983, but the weather was very nice with him.
Jake Edwards Photography
"I have a strange relationship with this next song," Simon said. "I wrote it a long time ago and when I finished it, I thought to myself," Hmm, it's better than usual. "Then I gave it and I did not sing it for a long time, even though sometimes I tried it during tours, even though I 've never had it before." impression that it was mine since the original versions are so unique. But this being the last tour, I will play my lost child. "
He was talking about "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and when he says "gave in", he means that he let Art Garfunkel sing on it. It was the only time he was about to recognize his separate singer partner all evening, though his image appeared briefly a few times during a photo montage associated with "Homeward Bound". Garfunkel booked his own party in Rochester, Minnesota, completely eliminating the slim possibility that they would gather for the recalls. But even if adapting to Garfunkel's original is a very difficult task, Paul's arrangement was still very beautiful and one of the highlights of the evening, especially when a Spirit Airlines plane flew over the crowd on the way to Laguardia. as he started the verse "sailing on the money girl".
As the clock began to turn at the end of the night, the scale of the event began to diminish even though Simon was doing his best not to recognize it. Cheerful songs like "Late in the Evening" and "Kodachrome" were imbued with an unusual sense of sadness and the crowd fell on a stunned silence during a devastating "The Sounds of Silence" that took finished the evening. He wrote this song 55 years ago in the bathroom of his childhood home and it became the success of Simon & Garfunkel in 1965. And now, all the saga of his life was redoing his path. He did not need to explain this to the crowd. We could all feel it.
It is certainly true that we will never know what the show meant for Paul Simon, but thankfully that does not mean he is now completely retired. Hopefully that means he will continue to record new music and play from time to time. I hope it means we have years and years of new music from Paul Simon in front of us. But if it is not the case and he has really succeeded, he could not have written a better ending than this one.
He put down his guitar when it ended and looked at the sea of spectators, soaking their love one last time. He then raised his arms in triumph and approached the microphone to say only seven words before leaving: "It means more than you can know.
Jake Edwards Photography
Paul Simon Setlist
America
50 ways to let your lover
The boy in the bubble
Bright blue
Who was your mother rewrite
Mother and child meeting
Me and Julio Down by the schoolyard (with Edie Brickell)
Rene and Georgette Magritte with their dog after the war
Can not run but
A bridge over troubled waters
Bracelet
Voice of Spirit
The obvious child
Questions for angels
The Cool, Cool River
Diamonds on the soles of his shoes
You can call me al
Bis:
Late in the evening
Still crazy after all these years
Graceland
Encore 2:
Connected to the house
Kodachrome The Boxer
American Air
The sound of silence
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