The musicians first met at school

The pair, who split up acrimoniously in 1970, will embark on their first tour in 20 years next month.

Shows in Michigan, Chicago, Minnesota and San Jose in California have already sold out.

Two more dates in California and two in Ohio have sold 90% of tickets, with more dates still to go on sale.

"We just put Chicago and St. Paul, Minnesota, on sale, and they both sold out within minutes," said Jerry Mickelson, co-president of Chicago-based promoter Jam Productions.

"Tickets just blew out so quickly. Demand is huge," he added.

Reconciliation

Tickets go on sale on Monday for dates in Denver, Portland in Oregon, Seattle, Las Vegas, Phoenix in Arizona and Anaheim and Los Angeles in Calfornia.

Tickets for the second leg of mostly Northeast and Southern venues will be released at the end of November.

Additional dates will be added in Chicago, St. Paul, Detroit and possibly San Jose.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel went their separate ways after their 1970 album Bridge Over Troubled Water, but have performed together occasionally since.

Their most recent appearance was at the Grammy Awards in February, where they sang The Sound of Silence.

A new greatest hits album with 32 tracks will be released to coincide with the tour.

After meeting as children, the pair's first single as Simon and Garfunkel, A Hazy Shade Of Winter, was released in 1966.

That was followed by songs like Mrs Robinson, Scarborough Fair and The Boxer, which were hits around the world.

The pair have a history of strained relations but reunited for a US arena tour in 1983 and played 21 sell-out dates in New York 10 years later.