The first time I saw Paul Simon live was in 2018 during his farewell tour at London’s Hyde Park in front of 60,000 people. He had retired from touring due to severe hearing loss, so you could imagine my excitement when, seven years later, he announced a tour across intimate venues in the U.S. The legendary singer-songwriter will bring his A Quiet Celebration Tour to the Ryman Auditorium for three nights, though I was able to catch him at an earlier stop. The show opens with Paul Simon and his band performing his 2023 album, Seven Psalms, in its entirety. The album runs for 33 minutes, and it’s a meditation about faith and mortality that captures the human condition in a way that only Simon can do. After a short intermission, Simon returns with his band to perform some tracks from his extensive catalog, including deep-cut songs that he rarely performs live. After global acclaim for his work with Art Garfunkel and his own prolific solo career, Simon must find it difficult to narrow down a set list. But he certainly didn’t disappoint when I saw him, as he performed classics like “The Boxer,” “Graceland” and “Slip Slidin’ Away” before ending with a profound performance of “The Sound of Silence” — which fittingly left the audience speechless. ADAM DAVIDSON