I was at the Manchester Arena Simon and Garfunkel concert on Wednesday evening.

I suspect that if the people who were critiquing the concert had been at that event, rather than (as I assume) the Hyde Park London gig, that they would have had a different vire not only of the audience, but also of Simon and Garfunkel.

If you want to read what a reviewer of that concert thought, look here :

Manchester Online

and what the rest of the audience thought have a look here.:

reader comments

Here's what I said there:

"With over-the-odds tickets from Ebay, we drove down in the afternoon from Glasgow. I had misgivings that this would be a perfunctory rehash of old and tired material, delivered in an off-hand way. Not only should I not have worried, I could not have been further from the truth. I've read the phrase "soundtrack of their lives" before, but it was never more apt than last night.

The arena was packed with people of a "certain age", and we had a blast. But the songs were fresh, with revisited arrangements, and the subtle re-phrasing that comes when a performer has known and delivered a song for may years. It was not music-by-numbers.

"Old Friends", it said. Well, they are certainly getting on a bit, and I don't know if they are friends now, or not. But they made me like their music all over again. They made me remember what I liked about them when I was growing up, and washed away the dullness of ear that comes with the years of listening to the same original versions. I hope to hell they have recorded some of this tour...

The best concert I've ever been too? Yes, I'd go along with that. At any rate if I ever go to a better one, I'll be sure to come back and tell you...
Steven Clark, Glasgow
15/07/2004 at 16:32"

I don't know what the Hyde Park concert was like. But it could not have been better than Manchester...