National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, England

On stage; 8.21pm
Off stage; 10.13pm
Concert time; 1hr 52mnts.

Neil wore; Dark sparkling jacket, Black shirt with Gold & Red pattern on collar cuffs & shoulders, Dark trousers with Gold pattern down sides.

A sold out crowd at the National Indoor Arena gave the legendary Neil Diamond a tumultuous welcome as he returned to another of his Heartland cities for the first of 2 eagerly awaited performances tonight.

In my personal experience of following Neil Diamond over 4 decades I have come to the strong belief that Birmingham and its surrounding areas has perhaps one of the highest concentrations of passionate long time Diamondheads in the UK , and every performance here is memorable.

Birmingham has more great history with Neil than any other European city except London, Neil having first performed here at the old Odeon theatre in 1972 when I first heard him sing Hear them Bells!; he has revisited the city on every subsequent UK visit except 1977; on that occasion huge numbers of Birmingham fans simply moved a few miles down the road to take in Neil’s legendary Woburn Abbey performance.

This however was Neil’s first performance at the National Indoor Arena and how they welcomed him. Birmingham does LOUD like any other city you could mention!

As Neil appeared at the rear of the huge stage strumming One more bite of the Apple the noise was already deafening and when he took that walk with great attitude not a single seat remained occupied! As he kicked on into Holly Holy the devotees were by now on cloud 9!

The evergreen Beautiful Noise maintained a level of wild excitement and the Jazz Singer 1-2 with Hello Again, dedicated by Neil to “the people on the sides” and Love on the Rocks performed as ever with sincerity and feeling had this SRO crowd in dreamland! Neil was pumped up early and dispensed with his jacket at this point.

Cherry Cherry is simply a must-dance tune for those who can manage it, and even those few who chose to sit were clapping and swaying excitedly as Neil put first himself and then this sublimely talented band through a rigorous test, one that was passed by all with flying colours. Thank the Lord for the Nighttime served up more high energy excitement with Linda, Julia & Maxine pumping up the audience to ever higher peaks!

The new songs from the wonderful Home before Dark album were a winning hat-trick, with the beautiful title track already in the favourite’s catalogue of many, the advisory Don't Go There, and the great melodic promotional single Pretty Amazing Grace also proving that this is an album of true depth and quality.

Hot August Night will always excite, there cannot surely be a Neil Diamond fan anywhere that doesn’t own at least one copy, and so Crunchy Granola Suite, being reunited after 36 years with Done Too Soon, makes the hairs stand on thousands of necks! The superb Red Red Wine following straight after simply reinforced the nostalgic feel for the Greek Theatre all those years ago, and this fantastic crowd recognized the connection with standing ovations for all 3 songs!

Not even the harshest critics have ever been able to question Neil’s massive talent as a songwriter and 3 of the best followed in quick time; first the early boyhood stories in Brooklyn Roads and then the self-analysing, worrying but ultimately triumphant King that emerges in the iconic I Am.. I Said.. with the required pause for thunderous ovation upon ovation before Neil can close the song out, and finally! Solitary Man the early hit that Neil is rightfully so proud of!

Forever in Blue Jeans is a huge Birmingham favourite; who can forget the 1984 shows at the NEC where it was performed multiple times for an insatiable crowd?

Its reception tonight was equally fervent.

With everyone reeling from the overwhelming magic pouring over us Neil upped the levels again, with Sweet Caroline setting off another communal festival of love that simply had to be experienced to appreciate fully the input from this sensational audience. You don’t bring me Flowers provided another vignette of beauty and drama with Linda perfection personified for the zillionth time.

Linda again consented to Neil’s request to stay out front and soon they had the huge choir swaying in harmony through Song Sung Blue, and again had fantastic support from the ever energetic always smiling Maxine & Julia; I’m a Believer reminded anyone who needed to know that this is a great party song and all these thousands can’t be wrong!

Man of God adds a great gospel feel and Neil’s trademark quality lyrics, the warmth of the audience response confirmed the love for this great song; And so on to the outstanding Hell Yeah that by popular consent is THE triumph of this tour; placed among so many other gigantic favourites its rapid rise to prominence is as deserved as it is spectacular. I for one never tire of Neil’s various live albums, and surely this fantastic delivery must be first on the list for any future such recording!

As Neil took his bows and the ovations lasted long and loud you simply had to pause to marvel again at the longevity and genius of this greatest of all performers. My mind kept rewinding to Birmingham 1972; how could he possibly have even more energy and drive now than then? Who knows, but it is a fact and truly astounding!

But of course he still had something more to give and the arena simply bounced all around the city centre as Neil returned and delivered the great transatlantic chart hit Cracklin’ Rosie, still fresh and young after all these years, and with the ability to make us all still feel young too!

While we were still catching breath along came Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show!, quite simply UNBEATABLE!

Another series of massive ovations and Neil was gone, leaving the superb musicians he is so proud of to receive the generous acclaim of a special audience; it is impossible to praise this group too highly!

King with the wonderful shirts and stamina beyond belief, the quiet almost studious perfection of Reine, Doug & Alan, the chuckling humour of Tom, the perfect heartbeat that is Ron Tutt, the wonderful vocals and fun antics of Linda, Julia & Maxine, the synchronised brilliance of the Horn Dogs and the superb quality of the ever friendly ubiquitous Hadley, especially on Holly Holy & Hell Yeah!. What a fantastic team Neil has on stage and off.

Yet again the proud city of Birmingham wore its heart on its sleeve and gave Neil a welcome that he will surely remember forever and a day, and what is even better is we all have a speedy reunion tomorrow night!

Tonight's playlist; to be confirmed

#1;One more bite of the Apple/Holly Holy; #2;Beautiful Noise; #3; Hello Again; #4; Love on the Rocks; #5; Cherry Cherry #6; Thank the Lord for the Night time #7; Home Before Dark; #8; Don't go there; #9 Pretty Amazing Grace; #10; Crunchy Granola Suite; #11; Done Too Soon; #12; Red Red Wine; #13; Brooklyn Roads; #14; I Am.. I Said..; #15; Solitary Man; #16; Forever in Blue Jeans; #17; Sweet Caroline; #18; You don't bring me Flowers; #19 Song Sung Blue; #20; I’m a Believer; #21; Man of God; #22; Hell Yeah; WALK-OFF; #23; Cracklin’ Rosie; #24; BROTHER LOVE'S TRAVELLING SALVATION SHOW; Final walk-off Band Walk-off

Further great news for Neil tonight is that in its 4^th week on the UK album charts Home before Dark remains for a 2^nd week at the #3 position while the often reissued MCA collection The Best of Neil Diamond, originally released in 1996 during the Tennessee Moon tour and now with a Gold cardboard slip cover replacing the 2005 White cardboard slip cover is up to #7 in the UK album charts