Dan Haynes and Pete Richards make up "Bookends" - a Simon and Garfunkel tribute. Although they bear no physical resemblance to Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon, all you have to do is close your eyes and you can honestly believe you are listening to the real thing.
The show comprises Dan and Pete singing but it is interspersed with video footage of Simon and Garfunkel and a narrative providing us with interesting information about them and a potted history of their partnership and rise to success. It was a nice supplement to the evening's entertainment.
They sang a selection of songs from the five studio albums in chronological order, opening the show with "Bookends" which I always find very moving.
Dan and Pete are both immensely likeable, humble and unassuming. When they did the obligatory plug for their CD, they did it very modestly and seemed quite embarrassed...or maybe this was a clever marketing ploy...! There is no brashness or overconfidence, just two men performing and clearly loving what they’re doing. They have certainly honed their craft to perfection.
The show is what I would call a "dinner party" concert. It is quite sedate but it's really nice to actually sit in a theatre and watch something where the audience is giving its full attention to the performers on stage and not swilling pints of lager, eating noisy snacks or going on Facebook (don't get me started on theatre etiquette). Dan and Pete held everyone's attention right from the start and it was quite spellbinding at times. Even the songs I didn't know were fascinating to listen to because it was like hearing them being performed by the original artists.
Fourteen songs later and that was the end of part 1. I did have a little chuckle as the interval came to an end and people were coming back in with drinks...hot drinks. No wine, no lager. Tea and coffee. How very refined!
Part 2 started off with Mrs Robinson – to my ears, it sounded a little different to the original. The singing was perfect but I was just a little bit disappointed in the musical arrangement, sorry chaps.
On stage with Dan and Pete for part 2 were Leos Strings: a string quartet who really enhanced the evening's entertainment.
Dan and Pete did a bit more talking in the second half and we learned that Pete developed stage fright at one point, culminating in him running off when he was about to join Dan and sing with him (not in their current format as a Simon and Garfunkel tribute). He certainly seems to be over that now (I'm sure he appreciated the reminder!) and said that his new fear would be that Dan would get his own back...to which Dan pointed out that "wouldn't tonight be a great opportunity". Gentle, unassuming humour which really endeared them to the audience.
Apparently, tonight's show was the largest audience they've ever played to and they seemed genuinely humbled and overwhelmed by this and kept thanking us for coming. Dan took a photo of the audience – for his Dad. Just too cute!
They performed "Punky's Dilemma" for the first time, apparently they only decided to do this three days ago. Well it didn't show and was executed brilliantly so no worries there.
Of course, you say "Simon and Garfunkel" and most people's first thought is 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'. I was looking forward to this. The album "Bridge Over Troubled Water" has a lot of fond memories for me as my Nana owned it and I learned all the songs in the 70s and we'd sing them together (except for 'Cecelia' which contains the phrase "making love" so we had to "la" over that bit). Dan and Pete explained that neither of them played the piano so they had developed their own arrangement of 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'. Unfortunately, it didn't really work for me as I feel that you just can't perform this song – particularly as a tribute act – without the iconic opening piano chords and the continuous piano accompaniment which rises and falls with the emotion of the song. No disrespect at all to their own version but I would have much preferred them to remain faithful to the original. I would make a similar observation about "Cecelia" which they performed as an encore – it just seemed to lack a little of the upbeat tempo and fun of the original as it didn't have all the percussion accompaniment.
The second half ended with Bookends so that was a very neat and tidy circular route taken through some great songs. To finish the evening, there was an encore of three songs.
If you ever wanted to see Simon & Garfunkel perform live but never had the chance – go and see Dan and Pete. Their vocal similarity is uncanny.
This was a lovely, feel good evening full of nostalgia, performed by two really nice people who seem genuinely amazed by their popularity. I wish them good luck in their tour which continues until November. If you want to catch them next time round in the North West, they will be performing in Altrincham on 16 June.
Reviewed on: 2nd April 2016
Reviewed by: Nicky Lambert
