Legacy's 2017 double-CD/single-DVD/single-Blu-ray set
The Concert in Hyde Park captures a celebratory concert
Paul Simon gave in London's Hyde Park on July 15, 2012. For that show, he reconvened many of the musicians who played on 1986's
Graceland, including
Ladysmith Black Mambazo and
Hugh Masekela, and invited
Jimmy Cliff to play an extended mini-set early in the show, while bringing
Jerry Douglas on-stage to play on "The Boxer" near the close.
Simon runs through almost all of
Graceland but not in order ("All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints" is MIA). He punctuates the album with lively versions of his classic hits -- mainly from his solo career, although "The Sound of Silence" is here -- but the focus remains on the elasticity of
Graceland, since this band plays lively, somewhat unpredictable arrangements of these familiar numbers. More than the
Graceland material itself, these versions show how the album continues to inspire
Simon, pushing him to try new things even on old tunes. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine