On what he promises to be his last tour, Paul Simon kicked off his last show in Michigan with the song that bonded me to him forever.

In 1968, America was reeling. Race riots, political assassinations and the Vietnam War were tearing the country apart.

And then Simon and Garfunkel released a song about traveling across this vast land and hopes of finding "America". The single caught on nerve and rose up the charts. In it was the line "It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw", which for a ten-year-old me, long addicted to his transistor radio, was the coolest thing ever. My home town in a hit pop song!

The two hour, twenty five minute concert was highlighted mainly by Paul's solo work. Classic tunes from the "Graceland" and "Rhythm of the Saints" albums carried the night, along with standards like "Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard" and "Mother and Child Reunion".

But it was his new arrangement of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" that surprised the crowd. He had yet to play it at any of his other farewell tour stops. Simon commented that since he wrote it, the song "has a strange deterrent for me."

The show ended with a rollout of a slew of S&G hits, including that song started it all for the duo back in 1966, "The Sound of Silence".

After a rousing sing along to the "lie la lie" chorus of "The Boxer", the lights went dark and the Motor City said goodbye forever to Paul.

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