Retirement and then return to touring

Paul announced that he would be retiring from touring in a letter to fans in February 2018 and played his final concert in New York that September – although he didn't rule out a return to performing.

Simon released the album In the Blue Light in the same month and did make a return to the stage in San Francisco in 2019 for charity.

He then made a return to the stage earlier this year for the A Quiet Celebration tour - even though he had revealed in a 2023 interview that most of the hearing in his left ear had gone.