Paul Simon and Sting: On Stage Together: 2014/2015

Good neighbours...

The initial situation was exciting: Two singer/songwriters from different generations and backgrounds were performing together for an evening. Here, Paul Simon from New York, born in 1941, head of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel in the 1960s; there, Sting from Northern England, born in 1951, head of the peroxide-blonde new wave pop trio The Police in the late 1970s. Both have been solo artists for some time and have travelled far and wide, occasionally disturbing both purists and their own audiences.

The announcement of a joint concert is no longer surprising when you know that the two are New York neighbours. Still, it was hard to imagine exactly what the two would do together, even less so when they performed with their full bands. The answer came with the very first song. Both bands, a total of 16 musicians and a female singer, took the stage together and played Sting's "Brand New Day," which Paul Simon gave a verse to. The same thing happened in reverse for Simon's "Boy In The Bubble." A statement of intent: This wasn't meant to be a battle of the bands, but rather a collaborative effort. After an initial song ping-pong, Sting played his own extended set, with musicians from Simon's band joining in periodically.

It was precisely the abundance of instrumental possibilities that made this evening a pleasure for the most part. Several musicians in Simon's eleven-person ensemble are multi-instrumentalists, skilfully switching from guitar to saxophone, from piano to percussion. A rock-pop orchestra with endless possibilities – and some outstanding personalities like drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and pianist David Sancious from Sting's band. Thus, surprises were in store around every corner; even well-known songs sounded exciting again – for example, thanks to a tuba solo.

The biggest surprise, however, came from the two older singers with their vocal fitness. Despite all the joy, a certain discrepancy at a high level was evident. Sting is a good singer and a wonderful interpreter of other people's songs. He demonstrated this, for example, as a replacement for Art Garfunkel in "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Compositionally, however, he can't hold a candle to the older American. Sting loves grand gestures and impressed the 9,000 listeners with his big hits, from "Roxanne" to "Every Breath You Take"—the latter a beautiful duet with Simon. In addition to these memorable pieces, he also performed less memorable songs like "The End of the Game."

Simon, who is known as a notoriously grumpy perfectionist, seemed relaxed, unfazed by the self-botched intro to "The Boxer," revealing an unexpectedly playful side. He celebrated songs from his long career, omitting some well-known pieces and instead revisiting lesser-known areas of his work. He contrasted hits like "You Can Call Me Al" and "Me And Julio" with gems like the less than crowd-pleasing, meditative "The Cool Cool River" from the underrated album "Rhythm Of The Saints." All in all, it was 160 wonderful minutes, with plenty of variety and refinement, featuring diverse and mostly excellently played music.

(c) Neue Zürcher Zeitung by Eric Facon