The farewell concert of Paul Simon in Queens is close to the final tour



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Under an almost complete moon in Flushing's Queens Corona Park on Saturday, September 22, Paul Simon, who brought poetic details and literary significance to popular music as part of Simon & Garfunkel, before embarking on a Adventurous Solo The career that drew 21 hits from Billboard Hot 100 and two Grammy albums of the year was the last of the show's farewell tour. And while he had just played two other final shows at Madison Square Garden from September 20 to 21, this one was special: the 76-year-old artist was bidding farewell on a stage just "a stroll from 20 minutes by bike "from where he grew up.

Playing your last show to a crowd of thousands of people not far from your childhood has to be a real journey, and Simon seemed very aware of this reality as he watched the crowd at Sound of Silence. " broadcast of two hours and a half. "It means more than you can know," he told the audience before leaving the scene and retiring after a tour (Simon made it clear that he was not going to did not remove Rhymin in the studio).

This moment of Wild StrawberriesApart from the reflection, the mood of the evening was largely festive, more stupid than serious. Simon thrives on stage as a storyteller, sharing personal stories and sneaking between songs. While explaining how the song "Rene and Georgette Magritte with their dog after the war" goes back to the collection of books by Joan Baez (Baez has also released Friday a rave review of Simon's MSG show when she played at the NYC Beacon Theater). the fireworks began to appear a few kilometers away. With a false exasperation, Simon pointed to them and asked frantically, "Can you keep the fire going?" I'm trying to tell a story about Rene Magritte.

As a result of a floating "Kodachrome" – which opens on the mysterious lyrics of "all the bullshit I've learned in high school" – Simon looked towards his alma mater neighbor and said: School, "before laughing and admitting," In fact, I had a good time there.

The Forest Hills High School had a boost earlier in the shoot – and inspired a small sports entertainment. "It's two miles from where I played baseball in high school," Simon recalls. "It's a bit dark, but you know what? I think I will play a fast game.

He was not joking. Simon took a glove and threw a baseball in the crowd no less than three times, with members of the lucky audience charged to send him away. This was probably not the safest activity, since the megawatt lights were boring in Simon's eyes, but quite impressive, after two unsuccessful attempts, the third throw came down squarely in the glove of ############################################>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Simon's waiting. hands of the stage).

Between baseball and his dance (he made some fancy steps during the Zydeco ceremony in "That Was Your Mother"), it's clear that Simon does not call him one day on tour because he's slowing down. He makes a live show, performing with emotion and reading each lyric as a master of theater. The classical sextet yMusic increases his songs with an acute urgency (especially on the In the blue light the arrangement of "Can not Run Goal", and his scathing rock band bursts with irrepressible energy on upbeat numbers like "Late In the Evening", which saw Simon incorporate a bit of "Lucille" of Little Richard and "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard". The latter was a special delight: his wife, Edie Brickell, trotted to take care of this iconic sibilant section and, of course, excited the crowd to hear Simon sing about "Rosie Queen of Corona" in Corona Park.

With five songs of awesome artistic achievement that is Graceland, five classics of Simon & Garfunkel and the vast majority of his solo tubes present and taken into account, there was not much to do about the set-list. Even the songs that casual fans may not know – the aforementioned "Magritte" and "Can not Run", or "Dazzling Blue" in 2011 – are so immaculate compositions that the crowd has remained frozen at Instead of folding in their phones or go to the bathroom en masse.

Of course, all this makes it particularly sad Simon did the tour. All the fervent applause was bitter; In the back of your mind, you realized that this was the last time you savored one of rock's most consistent talents by playing songs that are part of our collective cultural fabric. You do not need to be part of the counterculture of the '60s to see reflections of yourself in beautifully articulated existential hymns like' America 'and' The Sound of Silence '. moved by "Graceland" or "The Boy In the Bubble". The universal appeal in Simon's composition was reflected in the crowd, which – while being dominated by the baby boomers – was full of twenty and thirty dancing, singing and passing smiles from abroad to the # 39; abroad.

There is something about an outdoor concert in New York City that promotes a sense of temporary belonging. The implicit historicity of the event certainly exacerbated this state of affairs – especially given Simon's past triumphs with open-air concerts in New York, his legendary 1981 meeting with Art Garfunkel on his return to the park in 1991 Realistically, with great musical quality, jokes and baseball hijackings, it's reasonable to think that Saturday's concert will remain at Paul Simon Lore as an essential outing in a career punctuated by them.

For a final, it was perfect.

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