Can I get some applause?

Last night was Neil Diamond. It was the culminating event of my birthday weekend and I was very excited. Got off to a bit of a rocky start--rushing home, barely changing clothes, running the carpool all over the North Side and then racing to the UC and getting there 40 minutes early. Nice to get there early, but I would have loved 5 minutes at home to brush my teeth and refresh myself a bit. No matter. Jen, my Mom and I ate something and headed to our seats at about 7:55 PM. The announcer told us that there would be no seating during the first song (which was never actually enforced, though it was a nice idea) and that the lights would end abruptly--which they did about 10 - 15 minutes later.

Neil opened with Crunchy Granola Suite—not a favorite of mine, but soon the show was rocking. He played some of my favorites (Play Me, Forever in Blue Jeans, Cherry Cherry, Cracklin’ Rosie, Soolaimon, I Am I Said…). We were clapping, swaying, singing and having fun…at least the 3 of us were. I think that someone accidentally sat us in the ”No Fun” section. Almost all of Section 308 sat through the whole show—even through America and some through Sweet Caroline. Seriously, it’s Neil Diamond. He is a little bit country, a little bit folk, a little bit Rock ‘n’ Roll, a little bit cheesy and a lot of fun. You are supposed to clap and dance and sing. Why go if you are not going to have fun?

Shout out to the 2 women in front of us—Section 308, Row 11—who did not once move or clap—not even at the end of a song to show appreciation. They uncrossed their arms only a few times to look through binoculars, but I don’t know why they bothered. It didn’t change their disposition at all.

Real shout out to the couple (not sure if it was straight girl and PGA or an actual couple) who were a few rows ahead and to the right of us. They danced and sang to every song…as it should be.

All in all though, Neil was a blast. Great show—even when we thought he was making out with his backup singer after “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” (she turned out to be one of the members of the band’s wife). Neil was all I thought that he would be and then some.