AN AMERICAN ICON
NEIL DIAMOND... LIVE IN HOUSTON
October 12, 2005 - I've grown up listening to Neil Diamond and have
always been unapologetic about it. When I found out he was
going on a world tour, I scoured the internet for weeks seeing
whether he'd make it to Austin or not. He didn't, hitting
Houston, San Antonio and Dallas instead, but I made the trek to
Houston to see the show.
This was my fourth time seeing Neil in concert, and the drive
across East Texas was filled with his tunes the whole way. The
crowd was exactly as you expected, older, dressed nicely, a calm
etiquette throughout the streaming crowds.
As the crowd filtered in, the public address announcer made the
standard announcement about the lights dimming abruptly when the
show starts with no late seating. A throwback to a time long
gone, the announcer also said Neil would play without an
intermission with no opening acts.
I thought the opening song would be Brother Love's Travelling
Salvation Show, but as the stage rose, and a melody of synthetic
choruses climbed through the arena, we were greeted with Crunchy
Granola Suite. The show continued on, with Neil running
through hit after hit, goading the audience into yelling louder and
louder. I was ecstatic, but more restrained this time than
previous shows. |
picture borrowed from
the
Neil Diamond Homepage website.
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Neil sounded great, even at 64, and his deeper, gravelly voice was
aided on a few songs by the backup singers or the crowd filling in with
some of the ranged notes or complete choruses, but there was just too
much stuff going on throughout the show. His band, with three
horns, two guitars, piano, synthesizer, drums, bongos, and three dancing
singing girls, was way too much and took the heart and soul away from a
lot of his music.
Instead of keeping the original tone of the songs and placing the
spotlight on his writing and voice, the hits - Sweet Caroline, Crackling
Rosie, Cherry Cherry, Red Red Wine all were hyped up pieces of crap by
the time the bongos were added and a synth overzealously upstaged
everything. He brought the crowd to its feet - and the Allman
Brothers tie-dyed t-tshirt wearing bearded redneck behind me - to their
feet for a sweet version of America - complete with a black and white
video of immigrants arriving at Ellis island. The video switched
to color, and an American Eagel swooped in, with the New York's skyline
behind him. The crowd, already orgasmic, almost audibly sighed
before cheering wildly when the skyline of New York still included the
Twin Towers. All the energy soon dissipated though, as Neil calmly
walked the crowd through a few songs from the hideous Jonathon
Livingstone seagull album, complete with a seagull flying over purple
ocean waves and an orange sky.
There's a certain amount of fluff I'll tolerate and accept as a fan
of Neil Diamond, but what I admire most about his work is the
songwriting and his early performances. When he did concentrate on
the songs - when he sat down and sang Kentucky Woman and an excellent
version of the Grass Won't Pay No Mind, and the centerpiece song of the
night - my favorite - I Am I Said - he was spot on and heartfelt.
Neil doesn't need girls dancing like caged monkeys or an over-energetic
bongo player or even a Saxophonist wearing a Viking hat (all of which,
unfortunately, were in person and over the top).
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When he had it?
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A definite sadness overtook me when
Neil grabbed a guitar and sorta played and sorta pretended as he
strummed slowly on a few songs, sitting on a stool. It was
then that I flashed back to what must've been his early years, a
struggling artist writing songs about what mattered to him, free of
the obligation of cranking them out live 200 nights a year for
thirty years.
A lonely cigarette, some old wine, his guitar and his songs.
I left the show with a smile on my face but slightly horrified of
what I actually just witnessed.
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UPDATE:
All of my feelings were cleansed in the news of a rumor that Rick
Rubin was producing the newest Neil Diamond album. He produced the
final three albums of Johnny Cash's life, and were unbelievable.
It's unfair and not right to compare Neil to Johnny, but if there truly
is something in the tank beyond the flashy entertainer shell that Neil
has become, this could be the greatest thing to happen to Neil Diamond
in a long time. Here's the
news story, Twelve Songs comes out on November 8th.
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