THE US: There were lots of smiles, bobbing heads and clapping hands in the audience of 9,000 who gave a warm reception in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Thursday night to Simon and Garfunkel, the 1960s folk-rock duo who had not toured together for 20 years.
There were few twentysomethings, more balding heads and greying hair. The duo, who have sold more than 40 million albums in the United States, played crowd favourites such as America, The Sound of Silence and Mrs Robinson. Simon belted out Bridge over Troubled Water and Garfunkel easily hit the high notes on The Boxer.
Simon turned 62 on Monday, and Garfunkel's 62nd birthday is on November 5th. For two decades their friendship, which began in childhood, has been strained to the point of breaking. But their Old Friends tour of America (with confident predictions of a European leg to follow) is an effort to put that behind them.
"We met when we were 11, we started to sing when we were 13, and we started to argue when we were 14," Simon joked.
Garfunkel said the two met in the sixth grade in 1953.
"And it occurs to me that it's been 50 years of this thing we do," he said.
The duo, who last toured in 1982-83, shared warm smiles and often patted each other on the back. Until a performance at the Grammy Awards in February, they had not played together since 1993.