I saw Simon and Garfunkel in concert twice, once at the Honolulu Civic Auditorium (now the site of the Blaisdell Center) when they were beginning to be popular in the early 60’s, and once at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in the early 2000’s.
Before the concert at the Staples Center, Paul Simon was seriously ill with the flu and the show was not certain; however, in the end, it was phenomenal with the Everly Brothers and Simon and Garfunkel bringing down the house.
I was in the upper deck, above and to the left of the stage at the concert in Honolulu. At one point, in the middle of a fast song, Paul Simon reached up with his left hand and retuned a string. That was so amazing to me that I can still see it in my mind!
What I didn’t realize at the time was that the life of an artist, when they became popular, was beholden to their fans. I thought the life of a popular performer was carefree with enormous amounts of free will to do whatever they wanted.
Not so. The show must go on. Even the great Paul Simon had to come out and perform despite being ill.
Perhaps, that is what made him so great.