By KEN HOFFMAN
Copyright 1999 Houston Chronicle
When Neil Diamond was a teen-ager,
looking out his New York City bedroom
window and scribbling down words that
one day would become monster hits
around the world, his dream was to own
a Gibson acoustic guitar, just like the
one the guitar manufacturer designed
especially for the Everly Brothers.
Forty years later, on a Friday night
in Houston, Diamond told this story to a
packed Compaq Center. Then he strapped
on Gibson's newest custom guitar,
the Neil Diamond model, and strummed
the chords to songs that 15,000
swaying, adoring fans could name in
three notes backward and forward.
Diamond, with a little less on top and
a little more around the waist, performed 2
1/2 hours without a break. He has a
rare command of the stage. Working in the
round, he confidently blended his
greatest hits with three songs from his new CD
of movie classics and even broke out a
holiday chestnut, The Christmas Song.
Diamond has been one of pop music's
most successful concert attractions for his
entire career. He has a full, rich
voice that practically growls on dusty rockers
like I'm a Believer, the No. 1 hit he
wrote for the Monkees, and his own
smashes like Thank the Lord for the
Nighttime, Cracklin' Rosie and Cherry,
Cherry.
He is a very dramatic singer, with
broad gestures that punctuate a song's
emotions. When he sang Hello, Again,
he held his arms out to embrace the
audience with an undeniable sincerity.
Of course, fans erupted for the songs
they remembered hearing on their car's
AM radio, probably the first car they
ever owned. It's difficult to think of one he
didn't play. He clapped his hands,
swiveled his hips and took the audience back
to the '60s with early hits like Sweet
Caroline, Solitary Man and Girl, You'll
Be a Woman Soon.
He did the Jonathan Livingston Seagull
suite from his Grammy-winning
soundtrack, including Be, Skybird and
Lonely Looking Sky. There were songs
from his biggest-selling album, The
Jazz Singer, like Love on the Rocks and
America, with U.S. flags streaming
from the ceiling when he recited the Pledge
of Allegiance.
Hokey? Sure. Did the fans lap up every
moment? Definitely. More people
probably pledged allegiance to the
flag Friday night in Compaq Center than
voted in Saturday's runoff elections.
Another wonderful segment of the show
was Diamond's respectful crafting of the
movie songs As Time Goes By, Unchained
Melody and Can't Help Falling in
Love. He did them beautifully, with
love for these songs in his voice.
Diamond was dressed in a shimmering
blue shirt and black school pants. His hair
was short and combed back. He has
matured into a consummate adult
entertainer, with a warm humor about
himself. He knows his fans, has grown up
with them and delivers exactly what
they expect.
By the time he climbed onstage for his
encores, Soolaimon and Brother Love's
Traveling Salvation Show, he was
exhausted, his shirt was soaked with
perspiration and the audience was
drained from standing ovations and
screaming, "We love you, Neil."
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