Paul Simon brings out Bob Weir to close out Outside Lands festival set

Paul Simon greets his fans during his set at the 2019 Outside Lands in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Calif. on August 11, 2019. Paul Simon greets his fans during his set at the 2019 Outside Lands in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Calif. on August 11, 2019. Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate.com Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate.com Image 1 of / 139 Caption Close Paul Simon brings out Bob Weir to close out Outside Lands festival set 1 / 139 Back to Gallery

Paul Simon announced his retirement from touring in February 2018.

But 18 months later, on Sunday night in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, everyone gathered at the main Lands End stage to hear the iconic rocker play with a small orchestra for two hours to close out the annual 2019 music festival in Golden Gate Park.

Simon, it seems, has a soft spot for San Francisco. Last month, he promised to donate the proceeds of his performance at the fest to the San Francisco Parks Alliance and Friends of the Urban Forest, making the 2019 festival one of the greenest ever — a point he reiterated to the crowd early in his set.

RELATED: The wildest, coolest and chilliest festival fashion looks at 2019's Outside Lands Music Fest

But he also shared an anecdote about his intimate connection to the city. Way back, he had been in San Francisco for a festival organized, he said, by Joan Baez's sister.

"I was here to play a duet with Joan, and we were rehearsing (when) she took a phone call," he recalled. "So I took a book down from a shelf and it was book from (surrealist artist) René Magritte. There was a photo — it said 'René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War,' and I thought, 'What a great title for a song."

RELATED: This ultra-luxe Outside Lands ticket is $1,600. Here's what it gets you.

It's far from the first time Simon had told that story, but it still felt as intimately conveyed as ever. And so the rest of the set went: It could have been the first or 100th time anyone had seen Simon play. For a Millennial, and no doubt for those even younger in the festival audience, it all felt special, from "You Can Call Me Al" — his first outro — to "Graceland" — his return to the stage for the encore.

But Simon still had something particularly memorable in store: an onstage collaboration with Bob Weir.

"I came to the Haight-Ashbury ... and I met (Bob Weir) in 1967," he said, recalling a time when he knocked on the door of a Grateful Dead house. "But actually this is our first duet."

Together, the pair, with Weir on a steel string guitar, performed "The Boxer," before Simon closed out the night solo on "The Sound of Silence."

It was a fitting, mellow send-off after a busy weekend, as the thousands of attendees shuffled towards home, onto the streets of the city.

Edit: This article has been updated to clarify that Simon retired from touring, not performing.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGate digital editor. Email: apereira@sfchronicle.com | Twitter: @alyspereira

