Paul Simon plays final concert in Queens: Setlist + Video
On Saturday night, The Boxer hung up his gloves for the final time, and he did so a the place where it all began. Paul Simon wrapped up his “Homeward Bound” farewell tour at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Flushing, New York — minutes from where he grow up.
“I’ve often wondered what it would feel like to reach the point where I’d consider bringing my performing career to a natural end,” Simon said of the farewell tour. “Now I know: it feels a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating and something of a relief. I love making music, my voice is still strong, and my band is a tight, extraordinary group of gifted musicians. I think about music constantly. I am very grateful for a fulfilling career and, of course, most of all to the audiences who heard something in my music that touched their hearts.”
Explaining his decision to play his final concert at Flushing Meadows Park, Simon added, “It seems more like fate than coincidence that I should do the final show on this final tour at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. I could have ridden my bike from home to the park in about 20 minutes, when I was a kid. But this is less a goodbye than a farewell. Thank you all for the ride, I had a great time.”
The setlist for Simon’s final concert spanned 26 songs, including two separate encores. The show began with Simon & Garfunkel’s “America” and was followed up with other seminal tracks including “The Boy in the Bubble”, “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”, and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” with yMusic. The evening closed with performances of “Graceland”, “The Boxer”, and “The Sound of Silence”.
Watch fan-shot footage and see the full setlist below.
Simon told the crowd that he was open to playing one-off performances in the future, but “Homeward Bound” marks his final tour.
Setlist:
America (Simon & Garfunkel song)
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
The Boy in the Bubble
Dazzling Blue
That Was Your Mother
Rewrite
Mother and Child Reunion
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard (with Edie Brickell)
Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War (with yMusic)
Can’t Run But (with yMusic)
Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel song) (with yMusic)
Wristband
Spirit Voices
The Obvious Child
Questions for the Angels
The Cool, Cool River
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
You Can Call Me Al
Encore:
Late in the Evening
Still Crazy After All These Years
Graceland
Encore 2:
Homeward Bound (Simon & Garfunkel song)
Kodachrome
The Boxer (Simon & Garfunkel song)
American Tune
The Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel song)
