It happened when he was about to sing his fifth song ”That Was Your Mother”, Paul Simon encouraged people to stand up and dance. His audience, obediently, crowded round the stage and did so. What promised to be a pleasant night ended up becoming a memorable evening, in which singer-songwriter showed he is one of the legends of the music who still has a lot to say.
Simon, small, smiling, conducted a virtuous ten member band in which everyone seemed to play everything. They understood each other so well that it seemed they had been playing together for years. His work over the years has been extraordinarily varied and yet always somehow the same. He has the capacity of turning any music into Paul Simon music. He is definitely the perfect “musical tourist”: he can own what he borrows, and shows it the respect of making it serve him rather than treating it with the disguised condescension that is deference.
He may not be as outstanding on the stage as other contemporary singers, but his voice is nearly so crystal clear as when he was a teenager. His song “Bridge Over Troubled Water” was the perfect end to a concert that turned out to be really special.
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