The Diamondheads

Went to see Neil Diamond last night in Charlottesville. It was a great show and all I can say is that when I start qualifying for senior citizen discounts, I only hope to be in as good of shape as that guy.

I am not one of those freaky Neil Diamond fans (a Diamondhead). I like Neil the same way as I like Jimmy Buffett. I like him and I can sing along to a few of his greatest hits, but I don't own all of his CD's and I wouldn't go far out of my way to go to see a show of his.

However, when I heard on the radio that he was going to be playing in Charlottesville, I remembered that Daleen, my mom, and my sister Carla really like him a lot and would love to go see him perform. When I mentioned the show to Daleen, she got all excited and immediately asked if we could go. So, the morning the tickets went on sale, we were on our computer, ready to go, and bought three tickets. One for each of us and one for my mom. My sister already knew about the show and was getting tickets to go with some of her friends.

Daleen, my mom, and I headed for Charlottesville yesterday at around 3:30. Carla came later with her friends after she got off from work. The show started at 8:00, but there is a great restaurant in Charlottesville we wanted to hit for dinner. We went to The Shabeen, which serves traditional South African food. The food there is amazing, the service is great, and it's as close as you're going to get to the real deal without having to take an eighteen hour plane ride. I had the South African farm sausage (boerewors) and a type of corn meal mash which is not unlike grits (pap). Daleen had a steak pie that was awesome and my mom had lamb kebabs (sosaties). We had an excellent bottle of wine and finished everything off with ice cream and a twisty, honey-soaked, sort of doughnut thing (koeksister). I'm serious, the next time you're in Charlottesville, you should check them out. They're right across the street from the end of the pedestrian mall in downtown.

After dinner, we headed over to the John Paul Jones arena for the show. We got there just a little over an hour early and had a short wait till they opened the doors. While waiting, we talked to some other folks in line. The ladies standing behind us had seen Neil sixteen times previously. They were trying to guess which sequined shirt he was going to be wearing that evening... the black one... or the white one... By the way, the John Paul Jones arena is a great place to see a show. It's not all that large on the inside and the event staff definitely have their act together.

Once inside the arena, we got our seats transferred. They had closed off the area where we were originally supposed to sit, but they gave us new seats... behind the stage. When we realized we'd be looking a the back of Neil's head, we went back and they gladly changed us to seats where we could see the front of him. (During the show, several times, he did go around and sang to those folks sitting behind him.)

The show itself was great. His band was terrific. Like I said, Neil Diamond is in incredibly good shape for someone who has been performing for longer than I have been alive. He played some songs off his new CD and he played a bunch of old favorites. The audience, as you can imagine, consisted of mostly older folks. The crowd seemed somewhat subdued in the beginning of the show, but basically everyone was on their feet by the end. At the beginning of the show, they announced Neil would play for the entire show and there would be no intermission. At this announcement, we wondered how long the band would play. It ended up being two solid hours....amazing.

When I told a friend at work we were going to see Neil Diamond, he said, "I thought that guy died." "Oh no", I replied. "He is alive and well and selling lots of extremely expensive tickets for his shows. He is definitely doing something right." Overall, the show really was a good time and we had a great evening. Daleen, my mom, and my sister Carla all really enjoyed it. I can report that Neil Diamond is alive and well and has the kind of energy most folks his age would probably love to have. His best songs are just as good as they ever were and seeing them done live was a lot of fun. One thing you can tell though... he has been performing for over three decades, and he knows his audience. He knows what they like and has mastered the art of showmanship in regards to the folks that go and see him regularly.

So would I go see him again? When I bought the tickets for the show last night back in October, I was thinking this would be a once in a lifetime thing. Something we at least wanted to do one time. I have no doubt he'll be coming back for years to come and if the mood strikes us, we'd definitely get some tickets again..........