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Old friends once again, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel have lined up thirty-five dates for their first tour in twenty years.
Though the launch date was initially slated for October 18th in Auburn Hills, Michigan, the duo added an October 16th show in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which will now serve as the tour opener. The shows will run into mid-December, wrapping in Florida.
"We want to stay as true to the spirit of Simon and Garfunkel as we can," Simon said last month. "If not note for note, we certainly don't want to reconfigure [songs]. We plan to capture it as it was. There's a tremendous emotional undercurrent, because decades of our lives have passed. I'm mostly thinking about reconnecting with people who knew us when we were young. The performances and experiences are freighted with potential for something extraordinary to happen. I hope it will happen."
Those two decades passed after Simon and Garfunkel briefly settled their differences for a 1983 tour, prompted by their successful 1981 concert at New York City's Central Park. Often at odds with one another over the years, Simon and Garfunkel focused on their respective solo work after that tour, reuniting only for a three-week run of shows in New York in 1993. Their current reunion was prompted by their appearance at the Grammy Awards earlier this year, where the duo performed "The Sounds of Silence" and received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
"This is a very deep, old friendship," Garfunkel said. "There has been a deep, buried affection. It was the Grammys that forced it out of burial. It was truly a joy to hang out with Paul and sing."
For the Old Friends Tour Simon and Garfunkel will be backed by drummer Jim Keltner, pianist Warren Bernhardt, guitarists Mark Stuart and Larry Saltzman, percussionist Jamey Haddad and keyboardist Rob Schwimmer.
Simon and Garfunkel tour dates:
10/16: Wilkes-Barre, PA, Wachovia Arena
10/18-19: Auburn Hills, MI, Palace of Auburn Hills
10/20: Cleveland, Gund Arena
10/22: Columbus, OH, Schottenstein Center
10/24-25: Chicago, United Center
10/26-27: St. Paul, MN, Xcel Energy Center
10/30: Denver, Pepsi Center
11/1: Seattle, KeyArena
11/2: Portland, OR, Rose Garden
11/4-5: San Jose, CA, HP Pavilion
11/6: Oakland, Oakland Arena
11/8: Las Vegas, MGM Grand Garden Arena
11/9: Phoenix, America West Arena
11/12: Sacramento, ARCO Arena
11/14: Anaheim, Arrowhead Pond
11/15: San Diego, Cox Arena
11/17-18: Los Angeles, Staples Center
11/28: Atlantic City, NJ, Boardwalk Hall
11/29: Uncasville, CT, Mohegan Sun
11/30: Toronto, Air Canada Center
12/2-4: New York, Madison Square Garden
12/7: East Rutherford, NJ, Continental Airlines Arena
12/9: Philadelphia, Wachovia Center
12/11, 13: Boston, FleetCenter
12/14: Washington, DC, MCI Center
12/17: Miami, American Airlines Arena
12/18: Sunrise, FL, Office Depot Center
ANDREW DANSBY
(October 2, 2003)