Paul Simon makes comeback with moving performance in Long Beach ...Middle East

Paul Simon has often said that the listener completes the song, adding their meaning to the words and emotions of his original creative spark.

As he performed at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach on Tuesday, with five more shows in Los Angeles in the coming week, that sentiment came back time after time in a concert that opened with all seven tracks on “Seven Psalms,” his most recent album, and a second set of hits and deep cuts from across his long career.

Let’s start near the end with “The Boxer,” one of three Simon & Garfunkel songs in the set. It’s the story of a poor boy and a boxer, struggling to survive in a harsh world. But as Simon sang the final verse, ” ‘I am leaving, I am leaving,’ but the fighter still remains,’” the song seemed also about its author in the late twilight of his career.

Simon, 83, had thought he was done with the road. Homeward Bound: The Farewell Tour, which played three nights at the Hollywood Bowl in 2018, was supposed to be it, though it almost never is for any artist who’s ever said they were through.

But Simon came to believe it truly was the conclusion; his hearing loss convinced him he’d not be able to hear his band well enough to ever step on stage again.

Then “Seven Psalms” arrived, seven songs that came to him as an interconnected suite of meditative reflections on life, love and the world and universe around us.

After its release in 2023, Simon embarked on A Quiet Celebration Tour in April which reached Long Beach on Tuesday and continues with five nights at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles over the week ahead.

Simon walked on stage at the Terrace Theater to a standing ovation, the audience joyful not just for one more tour, but that he’d made it to Long Beach at all. The show was originally scheduled for Monday but was bumped back after back problems led to back surgery about five days ago to alleviate the pain and allow him to continue.

“I’m very grateful for the chance to be here,” Simon said, before explaining the structure of the show – all of the new album in the first set, then after a break, a second set of “hits and songs that I meant to play and never got to.”

Certainly, many in the audience had little or no experience with “Seven Psalms,” a collection that deserves serious listening and study. These are not songs every fan knows by heart, such as “Graceland,” which opened the second set, or “The Sound of Silence,” which closed out the encore.

They’re quieter contemplative tunes, perhaps an elegy for Simon’s life and career, the last testament, maybe, of one of the greatest-ever American singer-songwriters.

“The Lord” opened the show as it does the album, its narrator questioning the nature of the universe and its creation. “When the cold wind blows the seeds we gather from the gardener’s glove live forever,” Simon sang.

“Nothing dies of too much love,” he finished with a line he told Stephen Colbert on a recent episode of “The Late Show” is something of a theme for “Seven Psalms.”

At 83, Simon’s voice is definitely a softer instrument than it once was, with a waver here, a quaver there as he made his way through the night. But a great artist adapts to the changes of time, and Simon has done that here. His vocals remain emotive and true despite a fragility that sometimes creeps in, and the song choices and arrangements are crafted to place his voice and acoustic guitar in the best possible settings.

Other highlights of the first set included “My Professional Opinion,” a gently swing,ing bluesy number that energized the crowd after the somber opening numbers. “Your Forgiveness” arrived with lovely accompaniment on flute, violin and cello.

“Trail of Volcanos” felt inspired by Simon’s early days as a troubadour. “When I was young I carried my guitar down to the crossroads and over the seas,” he sang, a lyric inspired perhaps by his pre-fame travels to the folk scene in England. “Now those old roads are a trail of volcanoes exploding with refugees.”

After “Sacred Harp,” for which Simon’s wife, singer-songwriter Edie Brickell, shares the vocals, the first set closed with “Wait,” the clearest expression of Simon’s gaze upon the nightfall that approaches.

“Wait. I’m not ready yet, I’m just packing my gear,” he sang with Brickell adding harmony vocals. “Wait. My hand’s steady, my mind is still clear.”

And then, in the final lines: “Heavеn is beautiful, it’s almost like home. Children! Get ready it’s time to come home.”

Heavy stuff, sure, but as beautiful as any songs he’s written, and well worth the time spent with the record before or after these shows.

After a break, Simon and his band, which sometimes numbered as many as 12 when Brickell joined in, returned for a healthy round of more familiar tunes, though not all of them were the big hit singles of his catalog.

A mostly acoustic version of “Graceland” kicked off the second – remember, this is a quiet celebration, and gentler stuff surely works best with Simon’s ears these days. With bassist Bakithi Kumalo on stage, the band on tour includes the last living member of the original “Graceland” band of African musicians with whom he made that album.

Fan favorite “Slip Slidin’ Away” got the audience softly singing along, and two songs later, they cheered loudly at the opening notes of “Homeward Bound,” the first of three Simon & Garfunkel tunes in the show.

A pair of rarer tracks arrived next. “The Late Great Johnny Ace,” which was inspired by the deaths of the R&B singer of its title, President John F. Kennedy, and John Lennon, had been played live less than 30 times before this tour, according to online performance trackers.

“St. Judy’s Comet,” a song written after the 1972 birth of Simon’s eldest son, Harper, had only shown up in setlists 10 times before the tour. With a gorgeous arrangement that featured Nancy Stagnitta on flute, it’s a special treat for fans on this tour.

Other highlights of the latter part of the show, during which Simon’s voice grew stronger than the first set, included the wonderfully titled “Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War,” which showed off the violin, cello and vibraphone in the band, and a pair of songs, “Spirit Voices” and “The Cool, Cool River,” from his album “The Rhythm of the Saints.”

“Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard” closed the main part of the show, fans once more singing along and cheering for Brickell who popped out once more to whistle a verse of the melody.

The encore opened with the introduction of drummer Steve Gadd, whom Simon noted had just come to New York City as a young man when they recorded “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” one of Simon’s biggest solo hits (and an iconic drum intro). “The Boxer” was beautiful both in performance from the stage and the huge audience chorus taking over on the “lie-la-lie” choruses.

Then, after bows for the band, Simon stayed for one last song, playing “The Sound of Silence” to close his show as he’s done for many, many years. There’s perhaps a deeper poignancy in its opening line – “Hello darkness, my old friend” –  these days, and tenderness of feelings between Simon and the audience, all of them older now than when this Simon & Garfunkel song arrived.

Simon has said the song is about the inability of people to communicate. On Tuesday, everyone in the theater heard and felt him loud and clear and beautifully.

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