The Friday Morning “Nobody-Asked-Me-To, But-Here-I-Go-Anyway” Concert Review – Neil Diamond

(or, Why I Will Never Be A Professional Concert Reviewer…)

Neil Diamond…

Neil freakin’ Diamond…

Last, night, we finally got to see Neil Diamond live in concert – something I had expected to be about as likely as riding a unicorn in a polo match, seeing as how he had retired from touring a few years back. Well, apparently he’s back, and we weren’t about to miss his stop here in Calgary…

First, off, let me skip ahead. We sure did like not having to sit through some tepid warm-up act, while everyone around us was singing “Sweet Caroline”, long before the show even started. Neil Diamond fans sure do like their “Sweet Caroline”.

Mr. Diamond skips a warm-up act, performing almost a two-hour show with no intermission. That’s a whole lot of endurance fighting off the call of Mother Nature, for a man of Neil’s age. You just HAVE to be impressed…

If we had come to hear his monster hits (we did), we were inundated with them. Oldies, goodies, and unexpected treasure, like “Brooklyn Roads”, which he performed while sitting on a stool (like I say, the guy is in his 80’s, at least…), while photos and videos of his youth somewhere in New York City played on the big screen beside us. Touching, and warm – if those two descriptions are all that different.

Before I forget, in addition to being lifelong fans, Mrs. That Dan Guy and I have a special Neil connection. Whenever my hair gets to that stage where not even half a tube of BrylCreem can settle it down, I book a hair cut. My hair has “Neiled” out…

New songs? Three in a row from his brand-new album, which is well worth picking up, if you’re a Neil Diamond fan.

Who am I kidding?? If you’re a Neil Diamond fan, you already own it, along with the double-CD “Songs Neil Hums While Vacuuming”. The man is incapable of making bad records…

Highlights? The two-song encore, with “Cracklin’ Rosie”, and “Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show”, for sure. The second-time around performance of “Sweet Caroline”, immediately after the first performance was fun too. The only other artist we’ve seen do that was Paul Simon, also old as dirt, but awesome in concert.

If Neil is coming to YOUR town, I’d strongly advise you to catch the show. The man really knows how to play to a crowd, and for our show, there was every age group out in attendance.

Good times never felt so good…

Chow for now!!