"I am just a poor boy, though my story’s seldom told."
Few concert tours are game changers, and Paul Simon’s A Quiet Celebration Tour will stand the test of time as one of the remarkable ones. The 84-year-old singer-songwriter suffered a sudden, severe hearing loss in his left ear during the 2023 recording of his album Seven Psalms. Left with only about six percent hearing in that ear, the condition impacted how he perceives his own vocals and the stereo balance of his instruments. Amplified electric instruments became overwhelming. In order to perform live, Simon adjusted his performance style. He re-engineered how live shows operate by removing traditional stage monitors, keeping decibel levels very low, and relying on the acoustic precision of his bandmates playing quietly together.
These sound adjustments worked magnificently well for Simon, his 11 musicians, and the audience. While not an all-acoustic set, the subdued tone, particularly during the early part of the show, fed into a party intensity by the latter end of the program. Throughout the two and a half hour performance, every lyric rebounded clearly, every instrument sounded crisp and mighty, and the volume was kept low enough that the elder audience never needed earplugs.
"Hello, darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again."
Simon initially retired from touring in 2018 following his Homeward Bound – The Farewell Tour. At that time, he cited that the extensive travel and time away from his wife and family detracted from his joy of playing. Seven years later, he withdrew from retirement with his 2025 A Quiet Celebration tour, which included five concerts at the Beacon Theatre. The tour resumed in 2026 and included two nights at Forest Hills Stadium, a short distance in Queens from where Simon was raised and formed Simon & Garfunkel with Art Garfunkel. Simon noted that the first time Simon & Garfunkel played Forest Hills Stadium was in August 1966 -- 60 years ago!
This tour’s first concert at Forest Hills Stadium was similar to Simon’s opening night at the Beacon Theatre a year ago. At the start of each concert, Simon announced that he and his musicians would performance the entirety of his 2023 album, the spiritual Seven Psalms, followed by intermission. He and his band would then return on stage to perform “the hits.”
"On a tour of one-night stands, my suitcase and guitar in hand, and every stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one-man band."
At Forest Hills Stadium, Simon referred to the two main sets as halves, but that was not entirely correct. The Seven Psalms set was an approximately half-hour suite of seven interwoven songs that were largely unknown to the mainstream public. The longer second “half” consisted of 12 songs, and very few were hits; they were mostly deep cuts from his albums. In all, including the two encores, Simon performed seven hits among his 25 songs.
Perhaps Simon eliminated fan favorites like “Bridge over Troubled Waters” because he can no longer hit the notes. From the first song, Simon’s voice was fragile and starkly limited in range. To his credit, he did not attempt to disguise his limitations with blaring instrumentation, electronic enhancers like AutoTune, or backup vocalists. No apologies rendered, it is what it is, and Simon’s boldness in owning up to his disability became increasingly compelling, such that by the end of the first song, it was completely forgivable. Curiously, when the original recordings called for his voice to rise, he instead went down a scale, so when the enthusiastic audience sang along with the original highs, the contrast made for an interesting harmony with Simon’s lows.
"Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together; I've got some real estate here in my bag."
Rearranging the songs for the new dynamic, Simon invited his musicians to stretch several intros, outros and in-between-os. Whether it was a pair of acoustic guitarists, a flutist and string section or a trio of percussionists, the contributions were masterful, not at all filler. Simon’s wife, Edie Brickell, appeared on stage several times, contributing vocals and, on “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard,” the song’s well-known whistling melody.
Early in the second set, the first notes of familiarity came with newly-cushioned versions of Simon’s “Graceland” and “Slip Sliding Away.” Simon & Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound” was given a countrified arrangement. All along the way, the hushed solemnity of every song and the articulation of every lyric magnified the brilliance of Simon’s nearly seven decades of crafting songs. The audience cheered every reference to the New York area, from the New Jersey turnpike to the queen of Corona.
"Well, I'm on my way, I don't know where I'm going, I'm on my way, taking my time but I don't know where."
Simon closed the evening with a trio of Simon & Garfunkel songs. “The Boxer” was majestic and moving in its simplicity. For the second encore, Simon came on stage alone with just his acoustic guitar and sang the full version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “America” for the first time since the Kennedy Center Honors in 2021. Simon closed with a bare, stripped down version of “The Sound of Silence,” the point-of-origin song that launched his career in 1964.
At age 84, Simon has faced and defeated the challenges of doing what he was built to do – compose music and bring it to his adoring audiences. This was made possible by re-thinking how music is composed and performed. Thanks to an elaborate, advanced system of stage monitors placed close to his body—one over the shoulder, one on the floor, and one mounted near his waist while he sat—he was able to hear himself and his musicians. Keeping the volume low and the musical arrangement bright and compact made listening easy and engaging for his audience. Imagine what could happen if more musicians would break from the traditional speed-up-the-tempo and blast-the-chorus mode of performance.
"You just slip out the back, Jack, make a new plan, Stan, you don't need to be coy, Roy, just get yourself free."
All photographs by Jake Edwards
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Setlist
Seven Psalms
The Lord
Love Is Like a Braid
My Professional Opinion
Your Forgiveness
Trail of Volcanoes
The Sacred Harp (with Edie Brickell)
Wait (with Edie Brickell)
Main Set
Graceland
Slip Slidin' Away
Train in the Distance
Homeward Bound (Simon & Garfunkel song)
The Late Great Johnny Ace
Father and Daughter
Under African Skies (with Edie Brickell)
Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War
Rewrite
Spirit Voices
The Cool, Cool River
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
Encore 1
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard (with Edie Brickell)
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
Something So Right
The Boxer (Simon & Garfunkel song)
Encore 2
America (Simon & Garfunkel song)
The Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel song)
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The Manhattan Beat covers New York City's live music circuit. All articles are written by Everynight Charley Crespo. All photographs are taken by Everynight Charley Crespo, except when noted otherwise.
For a list of Manhattan venues that are presenting live music regularly, swing the desktop cursor to the right of the home page and click on the pop-up tab "Where to Find Live Music."
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