Paul Simon and Sting rock TD Garden Monday night

Paul Simon and Sting are one of the few musicians that deserve a standing ovation for just walking onto the stage. A whole head shorter than Sting, Simon strummed on his guitar, playing a melody that took the audience a moment to recognize as Brand New Day, but when they did, the TD Garden erupted with cheers and dancing.

“I’ll sell the stock/We’ll spend all the money//We’re starting up a brand new day,” they harmonize, and the stadium booms the next verse with them.

For the next two and a half hours, Paul Simon and Sting trade songs and stories with the audience, and there isn’t a single dull moment. While he’s on the stage alone, Sting gives the audience a taste of both his independent music and several songs he wrote while in the band The Police, when it was still together. He treated everyone to both fast and slow tempos, from Fields of Gold and Roxanne to Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (which was, for the first time, loud enough).

Simon’s solo session featured several songs from his famed album Graceland, work from when he was a part of Simon & Garfunkel, and others. There wasn’t a single dull moment.

The highlight, however, came at the end, when Sting and Simon came together to sing a duet of Bridge Over Troubled Water. Simon took his standard verse, and he and Sting came together to sing the chorus. After that, Stink took over, whose strong voice is a stark contrast to Garfunkel’s wispy, high voice. At first, it was clear the audience didn’t know if the rendition would be successful, but Sting killed it. He brought something of himself to the song.

After the band members and backup singers had quit the stage, Simon and Sting huddled around a single microphone with their two guitars and closed the show with When Will I Be Loved by the Everly Brothers; it was it was the perfect ending to one of the best concerts the TD Garden has ever seen.