Neil Diamond

BEC 03.11.15

There’s no doubting Neil Diamond’s stature at the upper echelon of great songwriters and performers. This writer has been watching Diamond bring his mix of top drawer songs and showbiz glitz to Brisbane for twenty years. Neil goes back even further with the city. He reminds us that when he first came here in 1976 we ‘only had one building … and one car’.

The set opens tonight with a singalong version of the hit he gave The Monkees, I’m A Believer. The opener lacks the impact of Crunchy Granola Suite, but Neil is in fine voice and his very large band, backing singers and horn section all get a work out. From here Neil prowls the foot of the stage, largely sans guitar, and delivers a masterclass in ballads. Highlights include Love On The Rocks, Hello Again, Long Fellow Serenade and the relatively new, Pretty Amazing Grace. Next comes a triumvirate any songwriter would kill to call their own, Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon, Play Me and Beautiful Noise.

A key moment in the set is when Diamond sits at the foot of the stage and talks about growing up, his early family life and his father’s penchant for making home movies. The Super 8mm starts to roll and Diamond delivers a spellbinding take on Brooklyn Road. Tonight, with Neil in the room  and those evocative images behind him the song occupies the same rarified realm as McCartney’s Penny Lane or Ray Davies’ Waterloo Sunset.

Shilo follows and then Neil plays three new tunes from his album Melody Road – Seongah and Jimmy, Something Blue and The Art of Love.

As you might expect, despite the calibre of the new material, there’s a mild lull in proceedings. (Tonight doesn’t include Solitary Man, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers or … Kentucky Woman). The mood throughout has been built on an intense but mellow groove. The volume could have been louder, but the evening lifts as Diamond leads the capacity house through a sing-a-long version of Song Sung Blue followed by an equalling engaging, Forever In Blue Jeans.

The acoustic guitar is at hand and Neil picks it up and delivers his unmistakable strum before leading into Cherry Cherry. The power of the song is dissipated by band introductions … and again, you want to turn the volume UP. Soolaimon is a knock out as is Holly Holy and the almost peerless, I Am … I Said.

When it comes to an encore it’s hard to match the triple punch of a rousing Cracklin’ Rosie, Sweet Carline and Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show. The show comes to a close with the majority of the room on their feet. Diamond has delivered over two hours of, at times, bloody sublime, music. He’s 74 now. And, God bless him … he can still sing and engage with an audience. Tonight just lacked that little bit of heat … that extra energy … that has made his concert tours so special in past years.

Words: Sean Sennett

Photo: Savannah Van der Niet