Paul Simon’s triumphant comeback tour meets Disney Hall: Concert Review

Here comes Rhymin ‘Simon. It is not a phrase that we would have imagined to say again, in connection with a concert tour, after Paul Simon Packed his official farewell tour seven years ago. There was reason to believe that he had valid reasons for highlighting it as his real farewell to road shows, and not as the type of fake pension that so many artists pay in and then again. But he has found solutions to the questions that may have kept him off the stage. When he kicked off a five -night stand on Walt Disney Concert Hall This week, Simon was a whole 40 exhibitions in his “silent celebration” excursion in 2025. And he sounded … yes, softer (which promised in the tour title!) But really, unabated. We have never had a better reason to be happy that someone went back to their word.

You may be looking at Moniker “A Quiet Celebration Tour” and asks, as your first question: Well, how very Tyer? And the answer is: Not terribly much. You should not mistake this for a completely acoustic tour, although it is the tone taken before the show’s interruption, when Simon and his band play back their latest album, 2023’s “Seven Psalm’s,” in their front-to-back, suite style whole, mostly solemn and without much in the way of tempo or electricity. But then, in the other act and the codes, you get 15 directory selection, including some songs that count as rebellion by Simon standards. The evening turns into a party, despite his best intentions to keep it down.

There is a subtlety to what makes this tour so successful that really has something to do with volume or the appearance of it. Simon has as many as 11 players on stage at a time, and during the classics they all play more or less the same very busy parts that they would have played before, on a “graceland” or a “cool, cool river” or even a “me and Julio down at the school yard.” Still, the arrangements have been calibrated so that the highest songs seem constantly so long called, almost impossible, to match what could be a little different for Frontman this time. Every feeling of it will not come as a complete surprise to the audience, as Simon has been open to his hearing issues and says that only through an elaborate, advanced system with stage monitors he has felt that he could reasonably tour again. There is also the question of his voice, which is a little softer with age. It is as if everything has been fine to let Simon act his age (which is 83), without doing any kind of stint on the rich and rude performances.

The performance for “Seven Psalm’s” is referred to by Simon as “first half”, although through the actual volume it is well below it. It is safe to guess that most of the audience will be unknown with the record, and this is where the booking of fine art joints like Disney Hall comes in handy, since even participants who have not come to see the symphony where still easily intuit can be suitable for a kind of HYS and some focused attention. The people “Seven psalm” is quite a lot in the meditative, impressionistic and spiritual end of their spectrum – with the exception of “my professional forgiveness”, which comes in the middle of the suite and lands with a playful Blues feeling. It has Simon who struggles with the concept of God and explore irrevocated relationships in the later chapters in life, and it is not easy to grasp at first listen. But perhaps the performances on this tour are many more people to check out one of 2023’s most unfairly overlooked album, one that has exactly the ambition and the personal meaning you hope for from a great artist who has no desire to go into the good night.

The seven song titles from this album appeared useful on an overhead screen when their number came up to offer an indication of the transition without anything so Gauche that actually paused the music for applause. But the album is really more than seven numbers, because the opening song, “The Lord”, gets several unspoiled reprises like the suite lanes. That song alone, in his many iterations, is counted as a big last day Simon work, as he is thinking about all possible ways to look at the Lord, from Shepherd to Destroying Ball, with both the most Christians and the most irreverent images. When he sings through everything you will not exactly know if the singer is a believer or hardened skeptic, but you know that Simon, the mysterious poet and baseball nuts, have covered all bases.

His wife, Edie BrickellCome out to the guest on the song Cycle’s two last parts, “The Sacred Harp” and “Wait”, which she apparently does every night on the tour. She stands on the opposite side of the stage from Simon, to sing her parts, but in the musical spirit, at least, they are so close to the two owls located on the “Seven psalm’s” album cover. A concept album that starts to be about God finally ends in something more known in this life – the binding with another person – and when they sing “Amen” in harmony to end the bike, it feels like it has to do with Simon for eternity and by putting a divine seal on his and Brickell’s existing love affair.

And then the longer other “half” rewards the fans for any patience with the opening with a set that hits all Simon Fandom Pleasure Centers. He meets almost al’s obvious biggest hits (albeit no “bridge over worried water” or “you can call me al”) and finds some deeper cuts (like “St. Judy’s Comet”, a 50-year-old track from “There goes rhymin ‘Simon” who had apparently not even been performed a dozen times before this tour).

The band received much more training on some of these oldies than on the more minimalist and hypnotic “seven hymns” material. The presence of two veteran sides in Simon’s role was made for particularly memorable and even touching moments. The base player, Bakithi Kumalo, was introduced as the last surviving member of Simon’s original South African “Graceland” band, and his link to the Frontman’s (no doubt) most essential era was invaluable with some volatile signature vocalizations. At the same time, Steve Gadd, one of three drummers or percussionist in the ensemble, was back in the fold from the early 70s to play what could count as pop music most famous snare drum, on encore of “509 ways to leave your lover.” And if it’s not worth the price of entry …

Horns and strings had their place -mostly the latter, with Viola player Caleb Burhans and cellist Eugene Friesen who managed to sound like almost a full Kronos quartet up there sometimes. (Friesen’s instrumental entwining with Simon’s acoustic guitar under a stripped part of “Slip Slidin ‘Away” was a wonderful example.) Nothing was too radically reorganized, although you could notice that “Homeward Bound” had been subtly transformed into more of a country song, between the train -like sound on the train of bridges of bridges of bridges of bridges of bridges

The screen in this half was used for individual photo illustration instead of the former act’s song titles: if you ever wanted to see the actual photo that inspired “Rene and Georgette Magritte with his dog after the war,” there you had it. And “The Late Great Johnny Ace”, which had an unusually expansive spoken introduction to Simon, climate with the sight of Johnny Ace, JFK and John Lennon side by side on the big screen, each of them with “Johnny Ace” as the caption under his name.

Brickell made a return look and went in from the wings to contribute a whistling solo to “Me and Julio down at the school yard.” On this song, which served as a climax for the main set, it was like the evening had been the concert equivalent with “Benjamin Button” – who started with Simon in his advanced years and looked at the big one in addition and ended with him as a schoolboy.

But the release grew bleak again, with Simon finally alone on stage with only his acoustic guitar for the company, which returns things to a point of origin in a different way with a final reproduction of “The Sound of Silence.” Just as we were all born in dust and dust, we will return, it is with silence, perhaps for one of us, but especially for a Paul Simon who (together with a garfunkel) had the existential anthem that his flucky first No. 1 crushed 60 years ago.

To return to a burning question, or at least one that was on the fans’ mind before this tour began: what is The sound of Simon right now – especially his singing voice? When he showed up on the “SNL 50” special recently, there was some alarm because he does not sound as youthful as, his duet partner Sabrina Carpenter. Or, to give the spotlights more credit, as robust as he even did on his previous tours from the 21st century, before retirement. The answer to that should be a soothing, for anyone who has not yet caught the tour and is thinking about making a resale ticket before it is over. The best way to describe it is that you, for perhaps the first 60 seconds of the show, can be beaten by how Simon’s voice sounds a little more fragile, at this age … and then after the short period of adjustment, you forget it. It is rare to notice many high notes that have been scaled down by age, and you never have to worry about missing any notes. (And he didn’t let worse wear to just undergone the rear operation for acute pain that forced him to interrupt a couple of previous show … The only reference to being under the knife was a recognition at the top of the show that he had “the craziest week.”)

So in other words, he sounds like an 83-year-old Choirboy. How lucky are we unexpectedly allowed to share their sanctuary again?

Setlist for Paul Simon in Walt Disney Concert Hall, July 9, 2025:

Set 1: Seven Psalm’s
“The Lord”
“Love is like a braid”
“My professional opinion”
“Your forgiveness”
“Trail of Volcanoes”
“The Holy Harp”
“Wait”

Set 2:
“Graceland”
“Slip Slidin ‘Away”
“Exercise at a distance”
“Homeward Bound”
“The late big Johnny Ace”
“St. Judy’s Comet”
“Under African Heaven”
“Rene and Georgette Magritte with his dog after the war”
“Rewrite”
“Spirit Voices”
“The cool, cool river”
“Me and Julio down at the school yard”

Codes:
“50 ways to leave your lover”
“The boxer”
“The sound of silence”

The remaining dates on Paul Simons 2025 -Tour:
July 12 Disney Hall, Los Angeles, ca
July 14 Disney Hall, Los Angeles, ca
July 16 Disney Hall, Los Angeles, ca
July 19 Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, ca
July 21 Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, ca
July 22 Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, ca
July 25 The Orpheum, Vancouver BC
July 26 The Orpheum, Vancouver BC
July 28 The Orpheum, Vancouver BC
July 31 Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Wa
August 2 Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Wa
August 3 Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Wa