The article revisits the landmark Simon & Garfunkel reunion concert held on 19 September 1981 in New York's Central Park, staged 11 years after the duo's split and following a period of personal turmoil for Art Garfunkel, whose girlfriend Laurie Bird had died in 1979. The free concert marked a reconciliation between Garfunkel and Paul Simon, encouraged by friends including Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels, and came at a low point for both men's solo careers, with Garfunkel's 1981 album Scissors Cut flopping commercially and critically.

The free show on the Great Lawn drew more than half a million people, one of the largest gatherings ever seen in a major city, with all 10,000 T-shirts and 20,000 posters sold before the pair even took to the stage, raising funds to reseed the park's softball fields. Both Simon and Garfunkel later admitted to feeling immense pressure performing together again after a decade apart, but the pair delivered a widely praised set of their classic songs, including "Mrs Robinson", cementing the night as one of music's most memorable comeback performances.