Rock & metal

Paul Simon

Paul Simon (born 1941), half of the duo Simon & Garfunkel and then a towering solo songwriter, is one of the pens that shaped American pop. From “The Sound of Silence” to the South African rhythms of “Graceland” (1986), his songs have become a universal repertoire. He performed three times at the Montreux Jazz Festival, in 2002, 2008 and 2011, always at the Auditorium Stravinski.

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Paul Simon in Montreux

2002: a first, the year of Bowie

On 8 July 2002, Paul Simon made his Montreux debut on the stage of the Auditorium Stravinski, for the festival’s 36th edition. It was the very first time he accepted the invitation of Claude Nobs.

That year the festival pulled off a long-awaited double: ten days later, on 18 July, David Bowie also came to Montreux for the first time. Two songwriters awaited for decades, on the same stage the same fortnight.

2008: second visit

On 9 July 2008, Paul Simon returned to the Auditorium Stravinski for the 42nd edition. Between Simon & Garfunkel songs, his solo years and the great tracks of “Graceland”, he ran through his whole catalogue before the Montreux audience, a soft hat on his head.

2011: the return

Three years later, on 14 July 2011, Paul Simon returned to the Auditorium Stravinski for the 45th edition. He was then touring “So Beautiful or So What”, released in the spring of 2011, backed by eight musicians, among them South African bassist Bakithi Kumalo, already present on “Graceland” in 1986.

Paul Simon and his guitarist Mark Stewart at the Auditorium Stravinski, at the 2011 Montreux Jazz Festival.© Lionel Flusin

For two hours he alternated bright, punchy numbers with ballads. The concert opened with “The Boy in the Bubble”, from “Graceland”, of which he would play six tracks that night. In the first encore, in a hushed silence, “The Sound of Silence” was carried by guitar arpeggios alone; later he saluted George Harrison with “Here Comes the Sun”, which he had sung at his side in 1976 on a television show. The evening closed, as it did throughout that tour, with “You Can Call Me Al”.

At the curtain call, “Funky” Claude Nobs came on stage to hand a rose to the hero of the night. This 14 July was part of a legendary line-up: Carlos Santana with John McLaughlin, B.B. King, George Benson, Sting and Quincy Jones’s tribute to Miles Davis all shared the bill of that edition.