Paul Simon London Palladium 12th December 1975
I first saw Paul Simon in the historic surroundings of the London Palladium in December 1975. He had just released his fourth solo album “Still Crazy After All These Years” and I went with my friend Ian. We bought day returns and went down to London by train, catching the midnight train home after the concert. Paul had just released a single from the album, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”. “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” was a No 1 hit in the US, but only reached No 23 in the UK singles charts. The concert was the second of four nights at the Palladium. He also played a concert in Birmingham and in Manchester. Simon played songs from “Still Crazy After All These Years”, plus several Simon and Garfunkel classics. I remember that we both really enjoyed the concert, and that he finished with “Sound of Silence”, which has always been my favourite of his songs.
Penny Valentine reviewed the concert for Street Life at the time and described Paul Simon as “immaculate”, commenting on how the audience “checked their coats neatly and queued neatly afterwards to get them. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d ordered interval tea like a matinee crowd. They had come to pay homage. They did it through three encores then they quietly left. It was a very polite evening.”
Based on published setlists from the period, it is likely that the set was something like this:
Set 1: America. Duncan, Something So Right, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Loves Me Like a Rock, Some Folks´ Lives Roll Easy, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Me & Julio Down By the Schoolyard, Homeward Bound, Mother & Child Reunion, I Do It For Your Love, You´re Kind, Bluesette
Set 2: Have A Good Time, Still Crazy After All These Years, My Little Town, The Boxer, Mrs. Robinson, Gone at Last, American Tune, The Sound of Silence
Paul Simon’s band: Steve Gadd (drums), Randy Brecker (trumpet), Richard Tee (piano), Tony Levin (bass), Michael Brecker (sax), Hugh McCracken (guitar), Toots Thielemans (harmonica), Jessy Dixon and possibly Phoebe Snow (vocals).
31 Jul
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by Thom Hickey on July 31, 2014 at 9:49 am
Envy you this one! Regards Thom.
Posted by Cliff on May 7, 2017 at 2:24 am
ah, I was there, a Canadian
travelling, last night in London
before a long overland journey
across much of Africa,
bought a ticket from scalper
third row center,
Africa and Paul Simon altered
my life