Simon and Garfunkel set for tour

Promoters are negotiating to bring legendary folk duo Simon and Garfunkel to Australia.

Dates have been tentatively locked in for early next year, with two rival promoters now bidding.

The pair, whose infighting over money is legendary, last re-formed for a tour in 2004.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel reportedly demanded $1.1 million between them for each show.

The new tour will follow the release of a vintage concert recording, Live 1969, in September.

The duo’s last Australian tour was in 1983.

After shows in New York and Japan in 1993 they played at 2003’s Grammy Awards, and a tour that year earned $73 million. Shows in 2004 earned $35 million.

The duo have sold more than 40 million albums with hits including The Sound of Silence, I Am a Rock, Hazy Shade of Winter, Mrs Robinson and Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Other notable debuts this week include Pearl Jam’s seven-disc live boxed set “Live at the Gorge” (Monkeywrench/Rhino), which sold 19,000 to land at No. 36. The Paul Simon double-disc “Essential” album (Warner Bros.) starts at No. 42 with 17,000, while late Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole debuts at No. 44 with “Wonderful World,” selling 17,000 units. It’s his biggest sales week ever, helping him garner his second No. 1 on Billboard’s Top World Music chart.