Tonight’s Music Hall audience was treated to a trip to Graceland thanks to a spectacular performance paying tribute to the great Paul Simon.
The Celebration of Paul Simon’s Graceland Live performance brought together frontman and viral Youtube guitarist Josh Turner with the energetic, flamboyant South African Cultural Gospel Choir for a whole evening of eclectic grooves.
For the first half of the show, Turner belted through a selection of Simon’s greatest hits and B-sides, peppered with frantic South African harmonies and dancing from the gospel choir.
But after intermission, the artists joined forces and played through the entirety of the 1986 classic Graceland, alongside an extremely talented backing band.
From the opening track of Boy in the bubble, all the way through to possibly Simon’s most famous hit of You Can Call Me Al, the tribute performance came suitably close to the real thing – so much so that the Music Hall crowd was more than willing to get up and out of their seats and sing along.
Other highlights included a touching performance of Homeless by the South African choir, and an encore of Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard from Simon’s second solo album.
A final rendition of You Can Call Me Al rounded the evening off perfectly, especially with the odd spectacle of those in fancy dress for Halloween boogieing down as skeletons and ghouls in the Music Hall aisles.
