SIMON AND GARFUNKEL DELIGHT LARGE CROWED AT
SAVVIS
By Barry Gilbert
Of the Post-Dispatch
|
BETH SCHLANKER /
POST-DISPATCH
Art Garfunkel, left, and Paul Simon open with the
song "Old Friends" during theirconcert at the Savvis Center Saturday in
St. Louis.
|
June 27, 2004
About 30 years ago, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel sang the
line, "How terribly strange to be 70." For the singers and many of their
fans, that point is a lot closer than it used to be.
Simon and Garfunkel, both 62, old and often-battling friends, performed
for about 14,000 other friends at Savvis Center on Saturday night. The
nostalgia appeal was undeniable, but so was the magnificent music in the
two-hour show.
Unfortunately, fans looking for an onstage love fest had to make do
with only the emotional tug of the music because there was little
interaction between the two men, who first met in grade school in Queens
in New York. Garfunkel and an uncharacteristically hatless Simon stood
shoulder to shoulder but rarely looked at each other, and it wasn't until
taking bows before the first of two encores that they touched, throwing
their arms -- briefly -- around each other's
shoulders. |
The majority of the crowd was
middle-aged but included many teenagers in groups and smaller kids with their
parents.
An opening montage on video screens showed images from the performers'
childhoods up to the present, making stops at civil rights rallies, anti-war
marches, Woodstock and other cultural touchstones.
Accompanying the video was an instrumental version of "Old Friends," and when
the lights came up on stage, the old friends were singing that signature song,
and the crowd stood and roared.
Following "Old Friends," the duo ran through six more songs, including "I Am
a Rock," "America" and "Kathy's Song" before turning the stage over to their
musical heroes, the Everly Brothers, for a strong miniset of four songs. The
Everlys also have feuded over the years, but you'd never have known it from
their warm stage demeanor.
Simon and Garfunkel, who recorded the Everlys' "Bye Bye Love," joined the
brothers for a loose and rocking version of that song, including Garfunkel on
air guitar.
Clearly many people had waited many years to see Simon and Garfunkel, who
have not appeared together on tour in 20 years.
Emily Bates, 16, of Chesterfield, became a fan through her parents, who were
watching the "Concert from Central Park" on TV five years ago.
"My mom called me in and said, 'Look at these guys,'" Bates said. "And I
really loved the simplicity -- that it was just two guys and great harmonies and
it was pure and relaxing."
Diana McGinness saw Simon and Garfunkel when they played the old Kiel
Auditorium in 1968 and remembers that "they were fabulous" then. McGinness, a
1968 Granite City High School graduate who now lives in Seattle, attended
Saturday with daughter Julie Meyer, who bought tickets as a Mother's Day
present.
On stage, Garfunkel noted that this tour marked the 50th anniversary of the
pair's friendship. Simon, alluding to their years-long estrangement, joked that
the tour also is the 48th anniversary of their first argument.
The six-time Grammy winners stuck to the Simon and Garfunkel catalog, with
the exception of "Hey Schoolgirl," a Top 50, Everlys-modeled single they
recorded as Tom & Jerry in the late '50s, and Simon's solo "Slip Slidin'
Away," which he said should have been an S&G song.
A rocking "Mrs. Robinson" was preceded by a video montage from the film "The
Graduate," and the main set closed, of course, with "Bridge Over Troubled
Water." The duo shared the verses in an affecting performance.
Two encores included "Cecilia" and "The Boxer," and the evening ended with
everybody "Feelin' Groovy," also known as "The 59th Street Bridge Song."
The impact of the pair's music is remarkable considering that their formal
association lasted only seven years and five albums before they broke up in
1970. But the passing years have only amplified its depth and
beauty.
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