FIRST IT was the Queen, then Obama, and now musical royalty Paul Simon picked Ireland as the first date on his European tour for his new album So Beautiful, So What Tour.
The last time Simon played here was 2006 in the Point Depot and there was a sense of intimacy in Vicar Street last night. There’s a lot to be said for seeing a legend in a venue of this size: facial expressions matter, even enthusiastic emissions of spittle are fine because proximity trumps watching an artist on a big screen.
So does Simon, who tells us "it's nice to play a club". The diminutive singer ambles out on stage at 8.15pm trailing his sizeable band of nine. There's no support act so the audience knows a night of non-nonsense professionalism and at least 20 songs are on the way. The band kick off with the 1986 classic, The Boy in the Bubblefrom his Gracelandalbum. It's the first of several songs from an album that is a definite career high point. Three songs in, after a singalong rendition of 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, Simon asks us can we "do anything about the weather".
He splices the set with new material and old favourites like a rapturous version of The Obvious Child. The band are exceptional, a motley crew, not of drafted-in session dudes but people Simon trusts with his songs and who clearly love playing them as much as does. There's grand piano, xylophone, piano accordion and spoons on strings. There's also a handful of covers thrown in, including a 1950s retro version of Elvis' Mystery Train, Here Comes The Sunby The Beatles (second encore), Jimmy Cliff's powerful reggae anthem Vietnamand Wheelsby Chet Atkins – but it's Simon's own songs the awed crowd have come to hear.
Nostalgically, there's a crowd-pleasing solitary Simon Garfunkel song, The Sound of Silence, which he renders to pin-drop silence, left until the final lap of a near-perfect performance.
Simon turns 70 this year but plays with the passion of his Mrs Robinson-era self. It’s an epic performance and with a bit of luck he’s not even considering retirement.
