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Old 01-22-2018, 09:37 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Default Brooklyn's favorite son calls it a career...

From www.neildiamond.com:

Quote:
JANUARY 22, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEIL DIAMOND ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT FROM CONCERT TOURING

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND TOUR DATES CANCELLED


Legendary Artist Will Continue To Write, Record & Pursue New Projects

Legendary singer, songwriter and performer Neil Diamond today announced his retirement from touring due to his recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. The onset of the disease has made it difficult to travel and perform on a large scale basis but will allow Mr. Diamond to continue his writing, recording and development of new projects. Based on his doctors’ advice, the third leg of Diamond’s 50th Anniversary tour, set to land in Australia and New Zealand this March, has been cancelled.

“It is with great reluctance and disappointment that I announce my retirement from concert touring. I have been so honored to bring my shows to the public for the past 50 years,” said Neil Diamond.”My sincerest apologies to everyone who purchased tickets and were planning to come to the upcoming shows.

I plan to remain active in writing, recording and other projects for a long time to come.

My thanks goes out to my loyal and devoted audiences around the world. You will always have my appreciation for your support and encouragement. This ride has been ‘so good, so good, so good’ thanks to you.”

The Australia and New Zealand leg of the 50th Anniversary tour (announced by TEG DAINTY in November, 2017) was scheduled to visit a number of outdoor stadiums as well as arena and winery shows in Australia and New Zealand. This would have been the third leg of the 50th Anniversary tour with Diamond selling out shows in the U.S. and Europe throughout 2017.

In making the announcement, Paul Dainty, President and CEO of TEG Dainty stated: “I am devastated and saddened to hear the news of Neil’s illness and his retirement from touring. I have had the honour of promoting Neil’s numerous tours in Australia and New Zealand, he is one of the world’s greatest artists and we and his thousands and thousands of fans here will miss seeing him tour down under.”

On January 24th, Diamond will celebrate his 77th birthday and on January 28th The Recording Academy will honor him with its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.
One of the seminal figures in the singer/songwriter genre - too often dismissed as a lightweight, as a consequence of his pop-chart success and flashy, arena-scale stage shows - and a major influence on my own vocal/performance style...

God bless, Neil, and best wishes for a long and healthy life...
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Old 01-22-2018, 10:13 PM
reeve21 reeve21 is offline
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Thanks for the post, Steve, Neil is one of the best! I would buy my mom his records as gifts when I was a teenager, and then "sneak" listening to them, even though I thought I was too cool for Neil Diamond....but I always enjoyed his stuff and sharing it with her. And Mom is almost 83 and still rockin' hard
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Old 01-23-2018, 03:53 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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For sure, Bob, and it's a shame a lot of his "deep-cut" album stuff never got wider recognition - he was every bit as good (and prolific) as the more highly-touted names in the S/S genre, far better than most IMO, and a number of his more obscure cuts still figure prominently in my own solo-acoustic repertoire; difference is that his focus was always more musical/poetic than topical/political - probably cost him a lot of potential fan base in the '60s/70s - and none of his contemporaries could pull out all the stops and rock the house the way Neil could in his prime...
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Old 01-23-2018, 04:45 PM
Nyghthawk Nyghthawk is offline
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From the old 9 volt transistor radio I had as a kid I can still hear "Cracklin Rosie" and "Sweet Caroline." Sorry to hear of his illness.
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Old 01-23-2018, 06:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa View Post

One of the seminal figures in the singer/songwriter genre - too often dismissed as a lightweight, as a consequence of his pop-chart success and flashy, arena-scale stage shows - and a major influence on my own vocal/performance style...

God bless, Neil, and best wishes for a long and healthy life...
He is indeed the consummate 20th century Troubadour
I played Hot August Night till the grooves wore out. And always covered some of his songs in my gigs. Hope his retirement goes smoothly. Parkinson's is a tough road to walk .
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Old 01-23-2018, 08:32 PM
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One of the first three full length recordings I ever bought (1970) was his "Shilo" album. Now called "Classics - the early years" Definitely the soundtrack of my early youth.

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Old 01-23-2018, 09:25 PM
Dr. Spivey Dr. Spivey is offline
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I've always considered Neil to be a huge talent. I'm a bit surprised there hasn't been more response to this thread.

Sad to hear he has Parkinson's.
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Old 01-23-2018, 09:58 PM
Denny B Denny B is offline
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I was a huge fan of Neil Diamond in his early years...his songwriting and his powerful performance skills were second to none...

I pretty much lost interest when he started doing duets with Streisand, and going "Vegas", but still enjoy listening to his earlier material...

I'm sorry to hear of his diagnosis...Parkinson's is a terrible disease for anyone to live with...
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Old 01-23-2018, 10:13 PM
FOG01 FOG01 is offline
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It's impossible to think of the acoustic and not think of Neil Diamond. My thanks and very best wishes to him and his family.
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Old 01-24-2018, 07:39 AM
tubetone74 tubetone74 is offline
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A true legend.
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Old 01-24-2018, 07:44 AM
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I hate to see him deal with Parkinson's.

Bob
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Old 01-24-2018, 01:04 PM
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As a late teen I learned a few of his songs, Cherry Cherry, Solitary Man, Kentucky Woman, I truly enjoyed his earliest work the best. He was a great musical and entertainment treasure for us
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Old 01-24-2018, 01:29 PM
RustyAxe RustyAxe is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by golfreggie View Post
As a late teen I learned a few of his songs, Cherry Cherry, Solitary Man, Kentucky Woman, I truly enjoyed his earliest work the best. He was a great musical and entertainment treasure for us
This made me chuckle. Those three songs done as a set were the reason I quit a "country and southern rock" band after two gigs. When the band leader called those (not on the set list, of course) songs one after the other I knew I was gonna have to have "the talk".

Good songs, sure, and Neil will be remembered as one of the greats of his era, but in a southern rock band?
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Old 01-24-2018, 09:05 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RustyAxe View Post
This made me chuckle. Those three songs done as a set were the reason I quit a "country and southern rock" band after two gigs. When the band leader called those (not on the set list, of course) songs one after the other I knew I was gonna have to have "the talk".

Good songs, sure, and Neil will be remembered as one of the greats of his era, but in a southern rock band?
While I might question a couple of the bandleader's choices in that context - BTW I sat in with a country band at a Lancaster County (PA) barn dance years ago and we pulled off a credible version of "Solitary Man" - Neil's love for country music and the artists that make it runs deep, and the respect is mutual:

After several appearances on the Goodtime Hour, Neil would write this '70s hit for Glen Campbell:




Sharing the stage with two legends (FYI Johnny Cash released his own cover of "Solitary Man" around this time - and that's the Carter Family singing backup on "Brother Love"):






An early venture from the "Sweet Caroline" album, recorded live in 1972 and my favorite break-up song (don't ask):




- and something more recent, perhaps hinting at his imminent retirement:

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Old 01-25-2018, 08:51 AM
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Hard for me to imagine any more easily rocked up songs than Cherry Cherry or Kentucky Woman ,,,,, North ,South, East or West .....

I'm guessing The Almond Bros or Lynyrd Skynyrd et.al. could S. Rock the snot out of those two songs without blinkin' an eye, or battin' an eyelash ...

And I would think Solitary Man is just beggin' to be rolled out something like the the arrangement on this song .



Genre Phobia, luckily does not factor into the mindset of the great ones who can skate across a genre's like ice, take something, and make it their own ......

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