Simon and Garfunkel The Concert in Central Park (1981)

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The Concert in Central Park
A man with curly hair, Art Garfunkel (left), and a shorter, smiling man, Paul Simon (right).
Live album by Simon & Garfunkel
Released February 16, 1982
Recorded September 19, 1981
Venue Great Lawn, New York City
Genre Folk rock
Length 75:51
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Roy Halee, Phil Ramone
Simon & Garfunkel chronology
The Simon and Garfunkel Collection: 17 of Their All-Time Greatest Recordings
(1981) The Concert in Central Park
(1982) 20 Greatest Hits
(1991)Show more

The Concert in Central Park is the first live album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released on February 16, 1982, by Warner Bros. Records. It was recorded on September 19, 1981, at a free benefit concert on the Great Lawn in Central Park, New York City, where the pair performed in front of 500,000 people.[1][2] A film of the event was shown on TV and released on video. Proceeds went toward the redevelopment and maintenance of the park, which had deteriorated due to lack of municipal funding. The concert and album marked the start of a three-year reunion of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

The concept of a benefit concert in Central Park had been proposed by Parks Commissioner Gordon Davis and promoter Ron Delsener. Television channel HBO agreed to carry the concert, and they worked with Delsener to decide on Simon and Garfunkel as the appropriate act for this event. Besides hit songs from their years as a duo, their set-list included material from their solo careers, and covers. The show consisted of 21 songs, though two were not used in the live album. Among the songs performed were the classics "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", and "The Boxer"; the event concluded with a reprise of Simon's song "Late in the Evening". Ongoing personal tensions between the duo led them to decide against a permanent reunion, despite the success of the concert and a subsequent world tour.

The album and film were released the year after the concert. Simon and Garfunkel's performance was praised by music critics and the album was commercially successful; it peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 album charts and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The video recordings were initially broadcast on HBO and were subsequently made available on Laserdisc, CED, VHS and DVD. A single was released of Simon and Garfunkel‘s live performance of The Everly Brothers‘s song "Wake Up Little Susie", which reached No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982; it is the duo's last Top 40 hit.