If your mum is a Packed to the Rafters fan who can't stop humming 'Sweet Caroline', she'll love you for buying her tickets to this.
Neil Diamond has a singular place in the pantheon of popular music. His story is one of how an introspective kid from Brooklyn went from struggling songwriter to multi-platinum global superstar, both as songwriter and entertainer. Aussies can’t seem to get enough of him. His 1972 double concert album, Hot August Night, was a phenomenon here, spending 224 weeks on the Australian charts, and is thought to be part of the musical collection of one in five Australian homes.
If you’re aching for some live Diamond action, this might be the closest you’ll get. Australia’s two finest concert halls will host Hugh Sheridan (Packed to the Rafters, INXS: Never Tear Us Apart) in this live concert accompanied by a handpicked band featuring 19 of Australia’s finest musicians.
Apparently, Sheridan didn’t know a great deal about Neil Diamond when he was first approached about this show, but as he immersed himself in Diamond’s catalogue, he quickly fell in love with the songs, relating to many of the lyrics as well as the tunes.
“My whole experience with Neil has just been falling in love with the man and his music. These songs run deep in my soul and that’s what drives me here ... I am musically and personally invested in this but what is so special about Solitary Man is that I am not playing or acting as Neil Diamond. I am bringing myself and my heart and my intense passion to these songs,” Sheridan said in a statement.
Songs include the Hot August Night classics; ‘Crunchy Granola Suite’, ‘Cracklin’ Rosie’, ‘Sweet Caroline’, ‘Holy Holly’, ‘I am I said’, and ‘Song Sung Blue’, balanced by Diamond’s reflective love ballads and the lyrical beauty of songs like ‘Love on The Rocks’, ‘Play Me’, and ‘Canta Libre’. The pure pop genius of ’60s tunes ‘I’m a Believer’, ‘Girl You’ll Be a Woman Soon’, and ‘Red Red Wine’ which have leapt generations, will also be featured.
Solitary Man premieres at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on Friday, October 21, with Melbourne’s Hamer Hall to follow on Friday October, 28. Tickets are on sale from 9am on Monday, August 15.
