On September 19, 1981 Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel held a free concert on the Great Lawn of Central Park in New York City. Nobody knew what to expect as far as public response was concerned. Would there be 50 aging hippies wandering into the park seeking some kind of validation? Or would there be 10 or 20,000 people? Nobody knew.

As the sun set on the evening of the show it became apparent that this was going to be a concert of historical proportions. More than 500,000 packed the lawn and adjoining areas in a mass whose end wasn't visible from the stage. It was a remarkable tribute to a duo that hadn't issued new music under the name "Simon and Garfunkel" in more than a decade.

These being the days before concerts with gi-normous video screens the vast majority of the crowd could hear but barely see the performers. But who cared? The price was right, the music was right, the weather was perfect and, as Simon (jokingly?) pointed out "The guys selling loose joints are donating half their proceeds to the city."

The concert begat an HBO special, VHS cassette, DVD and a multi-platinum live album.

Here is one of the highlights of the show, Art Garfunkel's soaring "Bridge Over Troubled Water". (Note: the video uploader has dated the piece "1982". That is when the HBO special aired.)