The Guthrie Brothers, a brother duo from Wisconsin, led the crowd through the show, titled “Scarborough Fair — A Simon and Garfunkel Experience.”
Throughout the night the brothers told stories about the classic folk-rock duo, quizzed the audience with trivia and performed songs with audience participation encouraged. It was more than just a tribute show.
“The one thing we avoided was calling it a tribute show, because really what it does is pay homage to a folk duo that changed a generation,” Lisa Reiss, the president of Pearl Production, said.
The two brothers have traveled all over the country performing their Simon & Garfunkel show for six or seven years, Reiss said.
Their show in Bloomington marked the end of a short, three-day tour of ?the Midwest.
Jeb Guthrie told the crowd they were glad to be here after planning the show for a year.
“It’s a real pleasure to be here and play our appreciation for Simon & Garfunkel,” he said.
The songs the brothers performed spanned the entirety of Simon & Garfunkel’s career, from “The Sound of Silence” to “Cecilia.”
They even reached backward to the years before their career, playing “All I Have to Do is Dream” by the Everly Brothers and “Hey Schoolgirl,” a song that Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel performed on American Bandstand in 1957 under the name of ?Tom & Jerry.
“I know it’s not just Simon & Garfunkel, but it’s really just seminal in their career,” Guthrie said.
The crowd raised its voice to join the brothers in their performance of “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” with Jeb Guthrie conducting the crowd through rounds of the song’s hook, “ba-da-da da da da da, feelin’ groovy.”
Earl Singleton, a professor at the IU Maurer School of Law, attended the concert because the Guthrie Brothers’ brother-in-law is a colleague of his.
Singleton said he loves Simon & Garfunkel, most likely having first heard the band while in ?college in 1967.
Singleton also said he doesn’t think anybody can quite do justice to Simon & Garfunkel’s voices and the way they harmonize, but that the Guthrie Brothers are doing a good job.
Steve Bailey said he and his wife came to Bloomington from Upland, Ind., for a weekend away from the kids and decided to go to the show.
Bailey said after adjusting to the fact that it’s not Simon & Garfunkel onstage, it’s really a great show.
He said his father, who was a big fan of Simon & Garfunkel, introduced him to their music when he was young.
“There was a time when I set up my own little record player and tape deck together and I would do little radio shows,” Bailey said. “So I would pull out all of his albums and I would act like a disc jockey and I would play through all the ?Simon & Garfunkel.”
