Simon and Garfunkel to play in Hyde Park
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Simon and Garfunkel, the duo responsible for some of the most enduring songs of the Sixties, are planning a comeback concert in London's Hyde Park this summer.
Their first appearance together in Britain for 22 years looks likely to rival their legendary performance in New York's Central Park in 1981, which was attended by 400,000 people.
The concert could become one of the largest live music events in Britain as a generation of baby boomers are enticed by the prospect of seeing one of the defining musical partnerships of their youth reunited.
Hyde Park has been chosen because "the site is flexible in size", a spokesman for the Royal Parks said. Organisers are expecting that, if it goes ahead, the concert could attract the biggest crowds since 250,000 people saw the Rolling Stones play there for free in 1969. Negotiations are under way between the Royal Parks and the concert promoters Clear Channel to arrange the concert, scheduled for 17 July.
The concert will also mark half a century of a volatile but often inspired friendship between the two men. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, both 62, first met as 11-year-olds in the New York borough of Queens.
They split acrimoniously in 1970 as their landmark album Bridge Over Troubled Water was released.
After a bad-tempered reunion in 1981, the pair reformed in 1993 for a series of concerts in New York. They patched up their differences to perform at the Grammy awards last yearand are continuing a series of 19 concerts in the US, billed as the Old Friends tour after one of their albums.
BIG GIGS
ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL, 1970
An estimated 500,000 people descended on the island for its third festival. The line-up included the Doors, Jimi Hendrix and the Who.
OASIS, AUGUST 1996
Manchester's finest played to more than 250,000 over two nights at Knebworth at the height of the Gallaghers' popularity.
ROBBIE WILLIAMS, AUGUST 2003
375,000 people saw the former Take That star over three nights at Knebworth.
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