A farewell to the road for Paul Simon

NEW YORK — Farewell tours don’t always mean farewell. Still, they are a ripe time for appreciation and appraisal. Paul Simon’s concerts and a new biography offer the opportunity for both.

Simon’s “Homeward Bound” tour began last week in Vancouver and takes him across North America, to Europe and an eventual conclusion with three dates back home in New York City.

Simon, who’s 76, isn’t retiring. He has an album due out this fall and promises he’ll still occasionally appear on stage. Since he started writing songs as a teen-ager, it’s hard to imagine that impulse shutting off forever. He’s done with the idea of long concert tours, so if you live in Greensboro, Austin or Orlando and want to see him perform, this is probably it.

Jimmy Jeong / Associated Press Paul Simon kicks off his Homeward Bound: The Farewell Tour in Vancouver, British Columbia, last week.