This weekend brought some of the most acclaimed songwriters out to Rhode Island for the annual Newport Folk Festival. The likes of Courtney Barnett, The National, Valerie June, and The Felice Brothers made appearances along with a slew of revue shows to celebrate historic songwriters across multiple genres. On day two of the festival (July 23), just as the night was winding down, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats took the stage for the “American Tune Review”, a set dedicated to the songbook of the legendary Paul Simon.
The whole set was filled with guest appearances, Lee Fields joined The Night Sweats for “50 Ways to leave a lover”, Midlake came out for “St. Judy’s Comet”, and Lucius appeared on stage to help perform Simon’s “Mother and Child Reunion”. While these special appearances were equally surprising and enjoyable, nothing compares to the last four songs of the set as Paul Simon himself came out to close out his own tribute set.
With Simon officially retiring from touring in 2018, this appearance is one of the few live performances we’ve seen from Simon since he announced his retirement, the last one being at last year’s Global Citizen Fest. Simon joined Rateliff for the final four songs of the set; the duo performed “Graceland”, “The Boxer”, “The Sound of Silence”, and “American Tune”. The ladder two featured solo acoustic performances from Simon.
Check out the full setlist and footage from the American Tune Review below:
