WHILE they may be fatter, balder and older than when they ruled music, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel let the years slip, slide away last night, playing the songs of their youth at Madison Square Garden.
Garfunkel’s voice was angelic throughout the performance – still able to soar to the impossible high-note crescendo of the finale, “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
And the diminutive Simon anchored the pair’s music throughout the two-hour concert with his earthy guitar work and simple, yet rich tenor.
The set list played like a great “best of” album. The dynamic of the program rested on contrasts.
The dark “Sound of Silence” was balanced by the light “At the Zoo.” The quiet of the song of reminiscence, “Old Friends,” from which the tour takes its title, was shattered by the uplifting “Homeward Bound,” played in what became a jam-band arrangement.
And it was fitting that on the day New York got its first dusting of snow, “Hazy Shade of Winter” played prominently in the early set.
When the tour opened in Pennsylvania in October, it was clearly a very well-rehearsed performance, albeit a stiff one.
Now that most of the 31-city tour is behind them, the two men – who have been friends, partners and enemies over the course of their 50-year acquaintance – seemed loose and to be having fun at their hometown opener.
Who knows if there’s any bad blood left in these 61-year-old men who’ve been making music together since they were 11? But at last night’s show, there was warmth in the harmless jabs at the history of their feuding.
Garfunkel said it all could have been avoided by calling the band Garfunkel & Simon.
Simon remarked mid-show, as if it had to be said at all, that “so many of my songs were greatly enhanced by Art Garfunkel’s voice.”
At this performance, Simon’s statement remained true.
When they sang together in harmony on songs like “American Tune,” “The Boxer” and “Mrs. Robinson,” you felt shivers down your spine.
At the end, these sons of Queens sent their fans home whistling the song that mirrored how they felt: “59th Street Bridge Song.”
You know, “feeling groovy.”
The Simon & Garfunkel tour continues at MSG tonight and tomorrow, and plays the Meadowlands arena Sunday and Monday. Tickets are available for all of these performances.