The Concert in Central Park It Be", and executive produced by Lorne Michaels, who had recently departed the NBC-TV comedy/variety series "Saturday Night Live". Simon himself financed the US$750,000 cost of the staging and the video recording. It is unknown how much HBO paid for the television and video rights of the recording; US$1 million according to some sources, over US$3 million according to others. The film includes the two songs that had not appeared on the album, and at 87-minutes, runs 12 minutes longer. HBO televised the film, "Simon and Garfunkel: The Concert in Central Park", on February 21, 1982, five days after the
The Stones in the Park concerts on 6 and 13 July, although the performances were not free. The festival was an important one for the Stones. They had not performed a public concert since their 1967 European Tour, and in 1968 had only performed at the NME Poll Winners Concert and at their television project "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus". In interviews, Mick Jagger stated that he felt the band's forte was performing live, rather than in the studio, and was keen to return to the stage. Blackhill Enterprises, which had already managed several successful concerts in Hyde Park, including a festival headlined