Paul Simon, 83, Announces Return from Retirement For New Tour Amid Hearing Loss

Paul Simon has announced that he will be returning to touring after retiring in 2018.

Simon, 83, stepped back from live performing due to hearing loss, but confirmed on Tuesday, February 18, that he will be back on the road for a 52-date A Quiet Celebration Tour to support his 2023 album Seven Psalms. The vocalist will begin his upcoming tour in New Orleans at the Saenger Theater for two nights on April 4 and 5.

Simon’s A Quiet Celebration Tour is scheduled to run through August with stops in Nashville, Chicago, Toronto, Boston, New York City and a final three shows in Seattle from July 31 through August 3 . Tickets for the entire tour will go on sale on Friday, February 21 on Simon’s website, where fans can also find a full range of dates and venues for the trek.

According to a press release, Simon personally selected the venues for A Quiet Celebration Tour to ensure proper acoustics. His production team collaborated with the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss to create a stage setup that wouldn’t impede Simon’s hearing further.

His 15th studio album Seven Psalms marked a return to music five years after giving up live performances. Simon only used acoustic instruments on the record, in addition to collaborating with a cappella octet Voces8 and his wife Edie Brickell.

Simon has sporadically performed live over the last seven years, including at a Grammy Awards tribute to his career in April 2022 and on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in March 2024 to promote Seven Psalms.

Simon most recently performed at Saturday Night Live‘s 50th anniversary special on Sunday, February 16, where he opened the show by duetting with Sabrina Carpenter on the Simon & Garfunkel classic “Homeward Bound.”

His long-time musical partner Art Garfunkel confirmed in December 2024 that the pair were back on good terms after “a period of estrangement.”

“I know we met up recently for the first time in years,” Garfunkel told Live with Kelly and Mark. “We had a period of estrangement for some years until — he has a son that moved into the place that I live in and I knew I was going to run into Harper [Simon] and Harper set up a dinner and Paul and I hung out, first time in years. And it was very touching.”

Simon & Garfunkel have had a notoriously rocky relationship since they formed a vocal duo briefly known as Tom & Jerry in 1956. The childhood friends frequently clashed over their artistic visions and decided to split permanently in 1970.

The pair have reunited numerous times over the past 55 years, including for a 1981 Central Park reunion concert that attracted more than 500,000 people. In 2015, Garfunkel placed the blame solely on Simon’s shoulders for splitting up the group.

“It was very strange. Nothing I would have done,” Garfunkel told The Telegraph of their split. “I want to open up about this. I don’t want to say any anti-Paul Simon things, but it seems very perverse to not enjoy the glory and walk away from it instead. Crazy. What I would have done is take a rest from Paul, because he was getting on my nerves. The jokes had run dry.”

Simon & Garfunkel last performed together in 2010 as part of an American Film Institute tribute to Mike Nichols, the acclaimed director who memorably used their music in 1967 movie The Graduate.