NH Union Leader, September 23, 2002
By Carol Robidoux
Imagine
the biggest karaoke bar in the world and, center stage, a guy in a
glittering blue shirt and thinning hair, belting out that song by
Neil Diamond everybody loves, “Sweet Caroline.”
Now
imagine more than 10,000 people standing, swaying and singing along
as if the words to the song actually mean something more than they
do.
Right
there you have the climax of last night’s show at the Verizon
Wireless Arena, only it wasn’t a karaoke bar, and the man with the
microphone was THE man himself, Neil Diamond.
It
was a first for many New Hampshire fans who’ve waited a lifetime
for the seasoned crooner to make his way to the Granite State.
And
based on the sell-out crowd that spanned several generations of fans,
it’s possible Diamond is even bigger than he was when his string of
Top-40 hits began in the 1960s.
The
show opened with “Coming to America,” a real crowd pleaser — as
if any song about America could be a clunker these days. But Diamond
did it right, backed by his 17-piece band that included a four-piece
string section, horns, steel drums, guitars, keyboards, and backup
singers.
After
the first song, Diamond took a moment to playfully editorialize about
the quality of the Verizon’s sound system, which has been
criticized as too echoey, at times.
“It’s
a record crowd here at the Echo Capital of New Hampshire. But don’t
worry — the echo is absorbed by your clothing,” said Diamond.
“And so I’ve been asked by management to ask that you don’t
take your clothes off during the show.”
Of
course, the crowd went wild every time Diamond unleashed his subtle
sexuality. In particular, as Diamond prepared to sing, “Girl,
You’ll be a Woman Soon.”
That’s
when Annette Simard, 70, of Manchester noticed the singer was working
up a sweat. So she stepped to the front of the stage, pressed a white
tissue to her lips and then held it toward Diamond.
Slowly,
Diamond walked over toward Simard, knelt down for the tissue and,
before she knew it, was holding her hand. He sang the entire song to
her as they shared the spotlight, at times as he sat, or even
stretched his body out in front of her on the stage. The swooning
Simard covered her face at times and appeared to be weak in the
knees, as the crowd erupted in cheers and laughter.
“Has
anybody got a cigarette?” asked Diamond at the end of the number.
“Thank you, my darling. I’ll take experience over youth any day.
I like a woman who comes and gets what she wants,” he said, as
Simard stepped back to her front-row seat.
Throughout
the rest of the show Diamond proved that there are perks to
sustaining a career for more than four decades.
For
one thing, your fan base keeps regenerating, evidenced by the age
span of the crowd that included plenty of mother-daughter duos, such
as Patricia Salois, 51, and her daughter Christine, 26.
“I
like the way he moves,” said Christine.
“He
seems like an honest, down to earth guy,” said Patricia.
“There’s
no such thing,” said Christine.
“He
looks just like my father,” said Patricia.
And
there you have the essence of what it is about Neil Diamond that
makes it possible for him to keep a sold-out arena full of devoted
fans swooning for two-and-a-half hours.
Midway
through the show Diamond started churning out his hits, including
“Solitary Man,” “Holly Holy” and “Cherry, Cherry.”
He
even launched into a few of the songs that have made others famous,
like “Red, Red Wine,” which was never a hit for Diamond, but that
put UB40 on the map, and “I’m a Believer,” which has rounded
the charts twice — for the Monkees back in the 1960s and again last
summer for Smashmouth as part of the “Shrek” soundtrack.
Just
before 10:30 p.m. Diamond finished up with “I Am, I Said,” then
rewarded the crowd with an encore that included “Cracklin’ Rosie”
and “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show.
