I’ve just returned home from a very special experience: The Paul Simon concert at the international jazz festival in Molde, an open-air concert with approximately 10.000 people, not counting Paul and his eleven man band. Having read the Norwegian newspaper reviews, I can only agree with most them: This was a unique experience. Paul surpassed himself, as did the band, joking around, having fun on stage and giving the audience a two-hour journey into the musical wonderland of the (according to my heart) leading musician and musical poet of our time – eat your heart out, Bob Dylan!

Opening with a somewhat perfunctory version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, Paul and his band quickly got down to business with more gusto on the following 23 songs. And the audience willingly sang along –on “Mrs. Robinson”,  “Still Crazy” and – especially – “The Boxer”, where we all sang as loudly as we could: “Lie la la…..”. Paul himself smiled heartily as we all joined in on the chorus. The band members also grinned ever wider, especially Mark Stewart, who really seemed to have a wonderful night. Steve Gadd delivered an extraordinary performance – and one of the newspaper critics described him as follows: “In the background Steve Gadd ruled over time and space with the intensity of a locomotive, the force of a decathlete and the punctuality of an accountant.”

“Mrs. Robinson” was dressed in new robes for the occasion: The world music version gave new life to a song that previously has been one that I have tired slightly of. The band joined Paul in an off-key version of “Loves Me Like a Rock”, very funny, but not exactly beautiful. Mark Stewart and Paul gave us a simple, delicate and goose bump-developing version of Sound of Silence – only Paul, his guitar and Mark Stewart’s cello. Breathtaking! And the ten thousand that were gathered sang along in a whisper that barely could be heard. “Homeward Bound”, followed in the same low key.

Which songs touched me the most? Possibly “The Boxer”, “I Am a Rock” and “Still Crazy” – with a score of 12 on a scale from 1 to 10. The rest of the songs (with the possible exception of “Bridge”), scored between 10 and 11…

On this tour, Paul has told the media that this probably will be his last big tour. With the kind of show he delivered on the 18th of July, I certainly hope that he will reconsider. As the critic from the biggest newspaper I Norway wrote: You seldom see this kind of surplus energy on stage. Therefore he cannot say that he is considering to stop touring. Somebody talk some sense into that man! You are heartily welcome back to Norway, Paul. 

This is my second Paul Simon concert. I was lucky enough to be among the audience in Paris on the “You’re the One" tour, which was a marvellous concert. But this show was even better – one of the best concert I have ever attended!

Ståle Ertzgaard, 21st of July 2002