Paul Simon is one of those artists who has earned the right to do whatever the heck he wants — or nothing at all. Thankfully, in a situation that could’ve seen the music legend hang up his guitar forever, Simon found a path forward that will bring him to the Riverside Theater for a pair of shows May 17 and 18.
With a very on-brand name, “A Quiet Celebration Tour” will take Simon across the United States and into Canada for a series of mini-residencies that starts April 4-5 in New Orleans and wraps up July 31-Aug. 3 in Seattle.
The journey is described as a chance for Simon to expand the experience he created on his last album, Seven Psalms, into live venues with “pristine acoustics.” Those exacting standards are understandable considering the potentially devastating scenario that Simon found himself in while recording the LP.
During that process, Simon began losing the hearing in his left ear — a development that made live performances in particular a potentially insurmountable challenge. With help from the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss and his own production team, Simon reworked his stage setup to surround himself with monitors (something you can see in his recent performance at Saturday Night Live’s 50th Anniversary Special).
After sorting out the technical side of things, Simon set to work translating Seven Psalms to a live environment. The album is a single piece of continuous music in seven movements, and the show at the Riverside Theater will include his interpretation along with selections from throughout his storied career.
Tickets to both performances at the Riverside on May 17 and 18 go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. this Friday, Feb. 21, online and at the Pabst/Riverside box offices.
