Paul Simon Is “Optimistic” About Returning to Stage Despite Hearing Loss

Paul Simon hasn’t given up on the idea of returning to live performances despite losing almost all of his hearing in one ear.

“I’m hoping to eventually be able to do a full-length concert,” he said in an interview with The Guardian. “I’m optimistic. Six months ago I was pessimistic.”

Simon embarked on a farewell tour in 2018 and performed what was billed as his final concert at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York that September. Speaking to The Guardian, he called it “an act of courage to let go” and described the “natural end” of his performing career as “a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating and something of a relief.”

After coming to the decision, Simon played a handful of one-off sets the following year and made sporadic appearances at New York City’s “Homecoming Concert” in 2021 and Newport Folk Fest in 2022.

However, Simon revealed in 2023 that he “quite suddenly… lost most of the hearing in my left ear” while recording his album Seven Psalms. Now, he tells The Guardian that it was a “scary, frustrating” experience.

“You’re in denial and then you’re overwhelmed by this change in your life because you now have a disability,” Simon said. “But even though it wasn’t pleasurable any more, I started to think that this was some new information that I needed to absorb into the piece. I started to focus on sounds, not from computers or synthesizers, but acoustic instruments used in unusual ways.”

After performing a seven-song set at “The Soho Sessions” fundraiser for the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss in September, there’s certainly reason for hope.