This evening we saw a living legend. By the time I had properly woken up to music Paul Simon was well into his third cycle of popularity with the eponymous Paul Simon (1972). By then Tom and Jerry and Simon and Garfunkel were long behind him and yet There Goes Rhymin’ Simon (1973), Still Crazy After All These Years (1975),  and the great Graceland (1986) were still before him and now, with So Beautiful or So What (released in April) he has demonstrated that, at the ripe old age of 69, he is still able to write and perform great music. His concert this evening was simply wonderful. He has a tight band of musicians and the rolling set of songs (he was on stage non-stop for over two-and-a-half hours) was well constructed to vary rhythm, period and genre. Throughout his energetic performance he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself and yet he is midway through a punishing schedule of daily concerts (tomorrow he’ll play Paris, the day afterwards, Rotterdam, and so on). The first of his encores was a simple acoustic version of The Sounds of Silence. This is somebody else’s recording elsewhere but it gives an idea. Songwriters would give their eyeteeth to write such a single perpetual classic – he has written many; truly, a living legend.