On Saturday, April 24, 2010, Simon & Garfunkel performed at the 2010 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Due to health issues, Art Garfunkel struggled through the performance, supported by Paul Simon. Seeing the two onstage as the show was coming to a close, someone in the audience would be surprised that it would be the last concert the two performed together.
The two would reunite briefly two months later for one song, “Mrs. Robinson,” at an American Film Institute Life Achievement Award tribute to director Mike Nichols. But the New Orleans Jazz Festival remains the last show the two did together.
Through the years, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel became almost as well known for their feuds and breakups as for their beautiful harmonies and great library of recordings. And then there were the various reunions, including the famous 1981 Concert in Central Park. Another one of their reunions was the 2010 New Orleans Jazz Festival. It was not meant to be their final concert, and many additional shows were planned as part of the tour.
In New Orleans, though, Art Garfunkel had been sick and showed up with what was later diagnosed as vocal cord paresis. The difficulties with his voice during the show led him later to explain, “I was terrible, and crazy nervous. I leaned on Paul Simon and the affection of the crowd.”
His voice struggles and the ensuing support from Simon and the crowd highlight the main set closing song, “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” While reports regarding earlier parts of the show focused on the troubled performance and ruined songs, the closing number was a triumph, at least in context of Garfunkel’s problems.
Oh, if you need a friend,
I’m sailing right behind;
Like a bridge over troubled water,
I will ease your mind;
Like a bridge over troubled water,
I will ease your mind.
Garfunkel made it through the difficult song, supported by his lifelong friend and sometimes nemesis, and urged on by the crowd. It is beautiful to watch, especially in light of the message of the song about supporting a friend.
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” was the closing number of the 15-song set. But the two came back on stage for an encore with three more songs, “Sounds of Silence,” “The Boxer,” and “Cecilia.” It would be the main closer “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” though, that remains most remembered for the song’s reliance on Garfunkel’s challenged solo voice to hit the high notes.
Yet, despite what appears to be love and good will between the two men onstage in New Orleans, that good will would be lost once again after the performance. They had to cancel the rest of the tour due to Garfunkel’s vocal problems.
After the show, Garfunkel looked forward to eventually continuing performing as a duo. But his claim to Simon that he would be able to continue within a year did not come true. Simon felt Garfunkel was not honest about the seriousness of the problem. Once again, their exchanges damaged the trust between the two men. The distrust, as well as the friendship, went back to when they were teenagers (when Garfunkel first felt Simon breached a trust by signing a record deal without him).
After the New Orleans performance and delays, more words were exchanged through the media. In a 2015 interview, Garfunkel called Simon a “jerk” and “idiot” for breaking up the duo, though he still left open the possibility of a reunion. But in 2016, Simon said, a reunion was “out of the question” and that the two men no longer even talked.
Garfunkel’s voice did return, as shown by a 2019 solo acoustic performance of “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” But with the exception of the short 2010 tribute to The Graduate director Mike Nichols, Simon and Garfunkel never returned to the stage together.
While we can still hope for a reunion, Paul Simon announced his retirement from touring in 2018. But he has appeared live since then, including a 2019 show where he sang “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
What is your favorite Simon & Garfunkel song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
While recently re-watching the movie Primary Colors (1998) for the umpteenth time, I noticed a song I had never really noticed before. It occurs after John Travolta’s character Gov. Jack Stanton meets with Larry Hagman’s Gov. Fred Picker. In a key scene near the end of the movie that was directed by Mike Nichols, Stanton walks away from Picker’s southern mansion singing a song.
, by Robert Penn Warren.